“No.”
The word was simple, certain. Final. Tony caught theundercurrent with his own sense of perfect radar and cameto a stop before he got near the bright light that spilled outof the kitchen along with the echoes of Johnny’s outrage.
“I want to fly,” the boy said with every ounce of yearning in his young heart.
“You do fly,” she said, walking into view, her posturebetraying her struggle, her hand up in a futile gesture ofcomfort. “Honey, you’ve put in more time in the air thanmost adults. You’ll keep flying, I promise. We can look intoa college program that could help you toward an airline—”
“I want to fly fighters.”
She looked over to Peaches, looked to her son. Straightened against some terrible weight and shook her head. “We’ll talk about it later, Johnny. We have company fordinner.”
“But you don’t understand! You just won’t listen!”
“We’ll talk when we have the house to ourselves.”
“Mom—”
“Later.”
Tony knew that tone of voice. His mother had used itevery time she meant “not in your lifetime.”
Evidently Johnny recognized it, too. He spun on his heeland stalked away from her, his eyes glittering with all the anticipation that had just disintegrated before him. Tonyhurt for the kid. He knew what it meant to have a dream likethat. He knew what those kind of dreams cost, what they did to a person, to his family.
Johnny wasn’t going to want to hear it from him, though.“What are you doing here?” the boy demanded, findingTony standing just inside the dining room.
“Johnny!” Claire protested instinctively.
Tony just smiled. “A little respect, please. I cooked the dinner you’re going to eat tonight.”
Johnny shot an accusing look back toward the kitchen,another at Tony, his frustration too close to boiling over for Tony’s comfort. It might have, too, if Jess hadn’t leaned herhead around the banister of the stairs behind him.
“Shut up,” she hissed with all the disdain of a sister.“You’re just making it worse.”
Johnny looked up at his sister, and his expression meltedjust a little.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” she assured him. “Butonly if you shut up and get up here.”
And, amazingly enough, he did.
Tony waited but couldn’t hear anything from the two co-conspirators, so he did his best to look unaffected as hewalked on into the kitchen.
The first thing he noticed was that Peaches wasn’t payingattention to him anymore. The second was that Claire wasactually trembling, her hands clenched to her sides, her eyesdamn near glassy. She didn’t see Peaches in her kitchen anymore, didn’t know that Tony had walked in. She wasfighting a battle that took up all her energy, and Tony wasn’tsure she was going to win.
Tony faltered to a halt. He knew exactly what was happening. He’d seen it too many times not to. He knew whatto do about it, too.
If Claire had been one of the guys, Tony would have just slipped his arm around her and walked her out into thebackyard, away from prying eyes, away from inconsiderate questions and unknowing demands. He’d walk her and talkto her, his voice quiet and steady and easy, a drone of comfort that would finally worm its way through the storm thatraged inside her to let her know she was safe. To let herknow that whatever she did, Tony would understand, because he’d been there. He’d walked the halls at night. He’d startled at the noises, done his damnedest to drown out therage and the guilt, screamed himself awake when the oldghosts had crept too close.
He’d been there, and he knew what she felt.
But she wasn’t one of the guys. She didn’t know the rules,because she hadn’t participated. She didn’t realize that shewasn’t the only one facing this.
She wouldn’t let him close or let him talk or let him physically push her away from the demons.
But even as he thought those things, Tony found himselfwalking over to her and slipping his arm around her shoulder.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes, Peaches,” he said, hisvoice already soft and nonthreatening as he turned her toward the back door. “Let the kids eat when they’re ready,okay?”
And Peaches, with his glowering distrust and his massively protective arms, simply held the back door open asTony guided Claire through.
