Or had he merely exchanged one frustration for another? He wasn’t sure Lizzie would supply that name and number he’d asked for. He’d let that—and his still simmering anger—lie for the next few days. While he was gone, he didn’t have to see her coming and going next door. He didn’t have to think about her accusation. Did you tell Jack?
He continued on to the kitchen, then dropped into his usual chair at the table. His parents took the end seats. The family routine should have comforted him. It didn’t. His mother’s face had a gray cast, and there were dark circles under her eyes, their normally merry brown missing their golden glints. When she pushed a plate of brownies toward him, he saw her fingers were swollen.
“Mom, talk to me.”
She pursed her lips, stared at the tabletop. “What’s new, you mean? Not much except—you’ll remember Mrs. Thackeray, your fifth-grade teacher? Well, she—finally—met a man.” A faint tinge of color rose in her cheeks. “Can you believe? If I ever knew a confirmed spinster, that was her. Still, you never know, do you? She actually fell in love with the geometry teacher at the high school—”
“And eloped,” his father finished, jumping up to pour coffee for everyone. “He was a widower, been alone for some time.” He plunked mugs in front of Dallas and Millie before taking his seat again. “It’s the talk of the town since Christmas. What do you think of that?”
An obvious smokescreen. “I think it’s fine to learn what everyone’s doing, but you’re avoiding the real subject.”
His mother couldn’t seem to meet his gaze. “Don’t be silly, Dallas. If the only reason you left Kansas was to check on us, you wasted the long drive. And I’d be very disappointed.”
“I flew,” he corrected her. “I didn’t want to leave my job for too long, so I cut out the drive. Hadley’s a hard taskmaster but a fair one. He gave me some days off to see you.”
“We’re not children.” Dad scowled. “If your mother tells you she’s fine, then she’s fine. And I’m telling you again, she is. I hope you won’t spoil this visit by probing for some truth that doesn’t exist. Now, try that coffee. There’s a new shop in town. I bought their latest arabica today while your mother was taking her daily walk.”
As if his mom were training for some Olympic track event. Dallas had seen her version of exercise, a lone spin around the block at a snail’s pace. He’d have to go with her while he was here. Gauge for himself how bad the heart failure was. Maybe speak to her doctor himself.
For now, Dallas knew better than to press the issue. He’d only end up making them mad, and even more defensive, and he wouldn’t learn a thing. “By the way, Hadley sends his regards,” he said.
Mom brightened. “We can’t wait to meet him and those darling babies. His new bride too, of course.” Until last December, all four of them had been lost to Dallas. If Hadley hadn’t finally located him through Dallas’s website, he’d never have seen him again either. “Maybe we’ll drive down to meet everyone later this summer.”
“Sure. If you’re up to the trip,” he said.
His dad shook his head. “A wife and family. That’s a far cry from way back when.” He looked at Dallas, who looked away. “I can only imagine what your brother went through—”
Dallas murmured, as he had with Lizzie, “Let’s not talk about this, okay?”
The bad memories threatened to crowd in again, to take him under. All those foster homes, the cold ones and the hot ones, where every day was a threat...and Joe already knew what had happened to Hadley, to Dallas.
He’d begun to sweat. Stop thinking about all that. But Millie didn’t agree.
She laid a hand over his, her eyes steady on him. “Honey, you should talk. It’s not healthy to bottle things up.”
“You’re telling me?” He eased his hand back to fiddle with his spoon. “You’ve spent half this visit so far avoiding your own health issue.”
“That’s not an issue,” she insisted. “As we get older, who doesn’t need a few medications to keep going?” She paused. “But Dallas, you’re young. Turning thirty-one this year—where does the time go?—and still unmarried.” Her features grew wistful. “Without the grandbabies I’d like to have, I might add. Sometimes, even now, I can’t help but see that frightened little boy who’s still inside you. The child who’d lived too long in foster care and came to us so damaged, so afraid.” Her voice had quavered.
“You were beaten, neglected, even starved in that last place,” his father said. “You watched Hadley being taken away.”
Yes, he thought. Because of me.
“What does that kind of thing do to a child? To both of you?” Millie’s eyes had filled. “I don’t mean to upset you, but some things need to be reexamined. There are times when I think you chose that rough-and-tumble career of yours not to be vulnerable like that again to anyone. We’re proud of you, Dallas, but maybe you’re standing in your own way.”
“That’s enough.” He pushed his chair back, then left the kitchen, unable to sit there another second. Inside, he was shaking, cowering as if expecting another blow. His brother had been his protector. Hadley, don’t leave! After he’d gone to detention, Dallas had finally found solace with the Maguires, and a boyhood that had been denied him until then. His parents—not his birth mother and father, who’d left their two kids to the state—had saved him. Millie and Joe were a united pair, and he loved them with all his heart. But they also drove him up a wall.
He’d watch
