“At work.”
By benefit of being the youngest, Lilah had lived under their father’s reign of terror the shortest amount of time, something Linc almost envied. But she also had no memories of her father before he’d become so angry. Before their mother walked out and too many years of lost jobs and bad get-rich deals made him mean about things that most parents would shake their head about and go, “Kids. What can you do?”
“Look, he won’t come to Wilmington.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Even if he does, he won’t come right away. He’ll go home. See his buddies.” The ones who weren’t dead or also in jail, anyway.
“But you could come here. Get a job in Wilmington. Then we’d all be closer and safe.”
“I just started here. I can’t pack up after a couple months.”
“Right.” Her voice wobbled. “Sure.”
He closed his eyes. Even the first few months after he left, talking to them had been hard. Impossible to see them too, because at some point someone would mention their dad, and then he’d have to...He was still too afraid and too ashamed, even now, to look them in the eye. They didn’t know he’d been there with Mickey. He hadn’t even gone home. Instead, he’d hitchhiked to Charleston, made up a lie about a job on a construction site, and never looked back.
Eventually, over the years, the requests for visits dried up. He missed it at first, but then his absences became one more thing he and his sisters didn’t talk about, until they had nothing left to talk about at all. If he told her, she might understand. She was his sister, after all. If he told her he was gay, she might still love him, right?
You worthless fag. Not worth the dirt on my boots.
His father’s words, not meant for him, still haunted Linc. People got hurt when he was too selfish to think about his actions.
The SFD got called out on three false alarms that night. Linc bought a lot of donuts which did nothing to stop the ache behind the backs of his eyes.
The sun rose, and he stood at the edge of the bay watching it, trying to clear the unease settling in his stomach like cement. His dad was coming. No matter where Linc lived, he’d have to face him. Have to tell his family the truth, and then risk seeing the same disgust on their faces he’d seen on his dad’s seven years ago.
He blinked as the sun peeked over the roof of the town hall, and shafts of red-orange poured over the pavement. The beams were the color of Avery’s hair, and the pink in the sky was—Linc shook himself. He couldn’t be thinking like that.
“Hey, rookie!” Vasquez called. “Kitchen needs cleaning.”
The task was simple enough but would keep him focused. Linc ignored the light creeping toward him and disappeared into the station.
