“That won’t be necessary.”
“Feliz Navidad!”
He ended the call at the exact moment that someone knocked on his door. The only people likely to visit him here—Ben, Natasha, Genevieve—he didn’t want to talk to. So he didn’t get up.
Half a minute passed. Then came another knock, followed by words. “Open up.”
The young female voice didn’t belong to either Natasha or Genevieve, which meant this person was probably knocking on his door by mistake.
“It’s Blair,” she called.
Luke rested his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. As little as he wanted to see Ben, Natasha, or Genevieve, he wanted to see Blair less.
More knocking.
Her arrival was like the arrival of a speeding ticket. Bad news that couldn’t be ignored.
He opened the door. Though he kept his expression neutral, shock rolled into him at the sight of her. She was much older than he’d expected. This ... teenager . . . was Blair?
She’d dressed in military-style boots, camo pants, a long black-and-white graphic T-shirt, and a black leather jacket very much like his own. A knit hat covered most of her medium-length brown hair. “Hello, big brother.”
“How did you find me?” he asked.
She raised her chin to a confrontational angle. “Mr. Coleman teaches at our school. I asked him for your address.”
Ben was going to hear about this from him. “How old are you?” It came out more like an accusation than a question.
“Almost sixteen. So ... can I come in or what?”
He answered by stepping out of the doorway. She clomped inside. “Sweet place.” She moved farther in, studying the surroundings.
He followed at a distance.
She’d been a kid the last time he’d seen her. A skinny little kid with a ponytail and sparkly shoes.
He hardly knew her or her twin sister, Hailey. So, what did he expect? That they’d remained frozen in time? Still. The girl he remembered and this teenager didn’t even seem like the same person. It would have been easier to believe this was a stranger rather than the girl with the sparkly shoes.
Blair and Hailey had been babies when he’d left home. During his years in Atlanta, his mom and dad had repeatedly reached out to him. They’d even shown up on his doorstep with the girls occasionally. Each time, seeing them had made him feel like dirt. The last time they’d forced a family visit the twins had probably been six.
After he’d gone to prison, his parents had insisted on coming to see him there, too. He’d told them that interacting with them was hard for him, but if they had to come for reasons of their own, they could. However, he’d asked them not to bring Blair and Hailey to the penitentiary. It had been bad enough for his parents to see him in a jumpsuit. There was no way he wanted young girls to see him that way, to be brought into that environment. His parents had honored his request.
Since he’d come back to Misty River, he’d talked to his parents on the phone a couple of times, and they’d come by here once. They frequently invited him to their house.
He hadn’t taken them up on that.
Estrangement was easier and less painful for everyone. He wished—had wished for a long time now—that they’d let that happen.
The central truth of his life was that he’d let himself down. But he’d also let his parents down. Horribly. He knew it. They knew it. Every time he spoke with them, he was confronted by all his mistakes.
Blair pointed to the puppy pen. “Do you have a dog?”
“No. I’m just fostering one at night for a couple of days.”
“Because of your job at Furry Tails?”
“Yeah.”
“It seems like a strange job for a guy like you. Why are you working there?”
