The Summer of Winters (14 page)

“That so? Well, if not me then who?”

Justin took his partner’s hands and looked him in the eye, his gaze never wavering. “Brody is to blame for what he did to her, plain and simple. And if Paige never sought help, it wasn’t your responsibility to make sure she got it. You can’t be responsible for the choices people make. It’s just like with your brother Ray. You always act as if it’s your fault he’s in prison for holding up that liquor store.”

“I don’t know,” Mike said with a half-hearted shrug. “I do sometimes think that if I hadn’t worked so hard at avoiding him when we were growing up, if I’d actually been a real big brother to him, maybe his life would have taken a different course.”

“Such the martyr. You can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. You need to put some of that down.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Well, at the very least let me help with the heavy lifting. I mean, that’s why you told me, isn’t it? To lighten the load a little.”

Mike smiled. Not much, just a minute lifting of the corners of his mouth, but it was something. “I bet you didn’t know you were in a relationship with such a basket case.”

“Actually I’ve known you were a basket case from the very beginning, I just never knew why.”

“Well, now you know.”

“Yeah, now I do.”

“Think less of me?”

“Of course not. Now what do you say we get out of here?”

Mike nodded and took Justin’s hand, allowing the other man to pull him to his feet. They started back around to the front of the house, and Mike paused to take one last look around the backyard. Without the bamboo forest or the tangle of bushes, it hardly resembled the world of his childhood. Which was maybe a good thing.

Back at the car, Mike got in the passenger’s side, letting Justin take the driver’s seat. Checking his watch, Justin said, “Well, we have time to go grab some food before we get ready for the reunion. Unless you just want to eat there.”

Mike didn’t answer right away, and when he did his voice was soft. “Let’s just go get our stuff and head back home tonight.”

“Are you sure? When I suggested that earlier, you wanted to stay.”

Mike stared out at the house again, looking so shabby in autumn sunlight. “Yeah, I’m sure. There’s nothing for me here.”

Justin nodded and started the car. As he pulled away from the curb, Mike craned his next to look at the green house where the Moore family had once lived, and he gasped softly when he thought he saw a figure ducking around the side of the house. It was just a brief glimpse, but it had looked like a woman in a faded yellow dress with curly blonde hair.

“What’s wrong?” Justin asked, taking his foot off the gas.

“Nothing, it’s just…I thought I saw…”

“What?”

Mike shook his head and faced forward again. “Nothing. Let’s just go.”

So Justin drove them away, leaving the past behind.

This time, Mike didn’t look back.