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Lacey’s silence left him room to say more and he added, “He’s not ready to join a swiet fro in any water It’s only seven feet across, but the point was to know that wherever he fell in, he could get to the side”

Again, Tressa’s plan had been good, well thought out

“But you weren’t there to see the actual lessons?”

“No” He reret He’d have liked to have been included But he got so e his ex-wife her share of big moments alone with him “I was in San Francisco for a California contractors’ convention and also to meet with a potential client and work up a bid for me to send one of my crews up to work on a complex of condominiums”

“You were gone awhile, then”

“Yeah” He leaned back, put his feet up again and took another sip of beer “A little over a week It’s the longest I’ve ever been away since Levi was born, and I gotta tell you, it wasn’t easy I called hiht I think he handled the separation a lot better than I did”

Wow Talking to soood Daood He hadn’t realized howa companion

“And by the tiot back, he kne to swim?”

“Yep But that’s kind of been the story of Levi’s life He masters new skills as soon as he puts hisWhen he was tenon to the chair he’d pulled hi from the chair to the couch”

Suddenly he was back to doubting again Kacey an

d Lacey had been alone with Levi that afternoon And the boy had been subdued at dinner Because he was exhausted, Jem knew, but

“Why the questions about hi to swim?” he asked now “Was there a situation with hi I should know?”

Levi could have run off toward the water—though if he had, it would surprise Jem Levi knew the consequences—no beach for the rest of the su near the water alone

He started to sweat until Lacey said, “He was perfect at the beach Kacey didn’t tellyou should know, Levi did”

Everything inside Jeround, he sat forward, staring in the dark toward the pavers he’d laid himself