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"Do you believe him when he says he couldn’t have been the father? He’s sixteen, alers have sex" She was proof of that one "But Chris hasn’t seeroups"

JT dropped the boot on the floor beside the other "I think he’s telling the truth Except I can’t help but wonder what’s up with this friend Miranda or whoever she is She’s obviously sleeping with someone, and she didn’t turn to the father What the hell’s wrong with the guy that she wouldn’t go to hinancy secret flicked her conscience "I know I should have told you about the baby sooner"

"Thank you" He nudged one boot closer to the other with his toe, lining the back in the chair when in the past days he would have unzipped his flight suit partway, made himself at home "There’s obviously a proble to like his girlfriend turning to Chris"

"You’re thinking about the car accident?"

"Just running through possibilities I can’t seeet away from the fact that you were in Chris’s car, and da Once the van hit you, it didn’t sowas deliberate and sruntled boyfriend?"

"Could be an explanation Horether can be a lethal combination"

"And you need an explanation"

"Don’t you?"

"Accidents happen"

"And sometimes they don’t" He leaned forward, elbows on his knees "Look, I don’t want to argue with you about this Especially not nohen it see some headway earlier We never finished our discussion in the truck--about trying to work things out"

Headway that ground to a halt when he’d one that route once and ended up with her heart shredded "We’ve tried before--"

"Hold on I’s like they are for a while longer We still have the weekend before you can drive There’s the question of what’s going on with Chris Why shake things up?"

Because she didn’t think she could survive watching JT’s broad shoulders walk out of her life again

"No need to decide now Tuesday, I have a flight I can’t cancel or change Lots of prep work, too Why don’t we regroup after that?"

Putting off answering seeht with the taste and smell of hiht thing, babe, you’ll see" He scooped his boots up and stood "’Night, Rena"

He leaned and kissed her On the lips, lingering a full two seconds beyond a peck but not long enough for her to gather her thoughts and object

Then he was gone, the fa up the stairs

And thank God he hadn’t pressed her for o in the back seat of her BMW, she was afraid she couldn’t tell thisat the restaurant"

JT stared up froe workout area "What brought that on?"

"Just don’t like it there"

"You’re going to have to do better than that" He extended his arh his third set of ten reps His job required less lifting these days as things became more mechanized, but the physical exertion still let off steam He had steam to spare at the moment, and he needed the time to check up on his son "A ations"

Accusatory brown eyes stared back down at him "Really?"

"There’s a difference between divorce and quitting" He huffed through lifts Muggy gusts of air through the openby the tool bench providedaround the scent of sweat and ht," JT counted to calm his frustration as well as mark his repetitions "Nine, ten"

He hefted the two hundred fifty pounds onto the brackets, releasing the bar with a clang He swung his feet around to the side, snagging a towel fro his head "So, son? Reason for quitting?"

Chris shrugged, baggy T-shirt rippling "Exa up I need to study and, like, with those extra deliveries Miranda was talking about, the job’s taking up lotsI could, uh, quit at the restaurant for a feeeks and then find so else once surabbed the gallon

Chris swiveled away to adjust the weights, decreasing to one-twenty for his go-round on the bench "My boss, Mr Haugen, won’t go for that"

"Do you wantout the deliveries?"

He jerked around "No!"

JT set down the jug on the Astroturf covering concrete "Did he let you go and you don’t want to tellelse"

The reasonstrue in his tone Bottoh, he couldn’t make his son stay with the job Chris could just screw up and get fired if he wanted out that ue with a kid ants to studyelse once school’s out You’re not going to lie around here all summer while your mother and I are at work"

Chris dropped onto his back on the weight bench, feet to the side on the ground "Is this about the stuff in the trash again?"

"Partly" JT stepped in place to spot for his son "I understand you feel that you can’t betray a friend’s confidence But be careful If this girl’s boyfriend starts gunning for you--"

"He won’t"