Chapter 16

GABRIEL

I had to move and speak fast before anyone inside realized we had a visitor. Pop was in no mood to take my word for anything, so I jumped in the backseat before he could get out of the car and ordered Tommy to drive.

"Where?" He looked in the rearview between Pop and I for instructions, but Pop was too busy looking me over.

"Anywhere, just get outta here."

"You're good; tell me what happened in there."

"Give me a minute, Pop; I'll tell you everything." First, I had to get my thoughts together. Now it all makes sense. The gaunt, far away look I'd noticed since my return that I'd suspected was about more than her mother being ill or dying.

And Jr., nothing will convince me that he didn't know or suspect something. The look on his face when he ran into the room, his own rebellious nature that seems to have ramped up here of late, and his willingness to self-destruct.

Why didn't I think of any of this? Because I didn't care. I didn't expect to, at any rate. But I can'