Page 29 of Midnight Creed

“I’ll see what I can find out,” she promised.

“Okay.”

Satisfied, he capped the last marker and set it aside. Then he lifted the sketch pad for her to see. Taylor did a quick glance out at the water and back to the pad. Three abstract figures rode their surfboards over the waves that were wild and brilliant. Somehow, he had managed to even capture their movement. The sky behind them was ablaze with the setting sun.

“Oh, Will! It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

Dora was wrong. Her son was definitely not a doodler.

19

Santa Rosa County, Florida

“Is Taylor mad at you?” Brodie asked Jason on the drive home

“What? No. Why do you think that?”

She shrugged. “You’ve been checking your phone all night. You don’t look happy about what you’re reading. That’s usually what you do when she’s mad at you.”

He didn’t answer. She needed to change the subject. She wasn’t supposed to ask personal stuff.

“The Geminids meteor showers should be visible for the next several nights,” she said. “If it’s not cloudy.”

“That’s cool.”

More silence.

“It’s from an asteroid and not a comet,” she said.

He nodded. More silence. This time Brodie stayed quiet.

Then Jason said, “She’s not mad at me. Maybe a little disappointed.”

He dragged his fingers through his short hair and added, “Well, maybe a little mad, too. She wanted me to have dinner with her and Will tonight.”

“You really like Will. So, what’s the problem?”

“It’s poker night.”

She waited to see if he was joking. Or sarcastic. She really needed to figure out the nuances of humor.

When she took too long to respond, he said, “I rescheduled a training session last week, so we could see each other.” He rubbed at his jaw and stared straight ahead. “I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like I’m the one always readjusting my plans. Like her schedule is more important than mine.”

Brodie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say here. Taylor was a nurse. It did seem like she never knew what her work hours were, even though she was assigned to the pediatric floor. It wasn’t like she was an ER nurse and on call.

“It’s like she doesn’t even think about me until she wants to—” He caught himself. Kept his eyes from her. “Until she wants to see me.”

That’s not what he was going to say. But he had made it clear he didn’t want to talk about his sex life with Brodie. He told her that when Brodie had asked too many questions on their road trip to Nebraska a couple of months ago.

Again, Jason didn’t wait for a response. This time changing course, almost as if he needed to get his mind back on track. “I know she wants to get full custody of Will, so she has to work her schedule around that. I just...I don’t know. I just don’t want to be an afterthought. I don’t want to be the last thing she makes time for. Does that sound selfish or just totally lame?”

Now he glanced over at her.

“No. I don’t think it’s lame or selfish.” But she was curious. “Why doesn’t Will live full-time with her now?”

“It’s kind of complicated.”

“Complicated you don’t know? Or complicated you don’t want to talk about it?”