In My Dreams

She sank smoothly into the chair. “The seniors in Beggar’s Bay have to move their center. They’ve formed a nonprofit and would like to buy a building the city is offering for sale. Would you look at it with me and see what you think?”

He thought a minute. “I’d be happy to, but you should have the building inspected. You’ll want experts to check for mold, pests, whether or not the heating system is sound, the plumbing and electricity are...”

“I think our lawyer’s already arranged for that, but I’d just feel better if someone I know would look at it and talk to me about it in words I understand.”

“Why are you responsible?”

“I’m not, really. I’m just nosy. Thorough. If I’m going to help raise money for the seniors to buy it, I’d like to make sure it isn’t going to collapse around them or make them sick.”

“Sure. What time do you want to go?”

“Sometime in the afternoon...”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up.”

“I have a meeting with my insurance agent and I’m not sure how long it’ll take. Can I come for you?”

“Are you a good driver?” he teased.

“At least as good as you. I’ve never had a vehicle blow up around me.”

“Good. Probably not a lot of IEDs on Main Street.”

She looked immediately apologetic. “Sorry. That’s nothing to joke about.”

Watching her expression, he thought of how she was usually cheerful and kind, though he noticed quick changes of mood sometimes, the sudden dimming of a smile. He’d like to know what was behind that. “It’s all right,” he said gently.

Suddenly he wanted to know more about her. “Working with seniors can be rewarding, I think. Is that why you got into nursing?”

She was silent for a few moments, then, apparently deciding she could trust him with the truth, said, “No. When I graduated I went straight into pediatrics.”

“Wow. That’s the complete opposite.”

She laughed. “My first day at Puget Sound Children’s Hospital, I walked down the corridor and paper airplanes, balls, various missiles were flying about. The children were sick, but not quiet. That gave me a laugh and encouraged me.”

Jack watched as that dimming took place.

“But...caring for children is sometimes worse than there are words for, you know?”

She looked into his eyes. He looked back, knowing exactly what she meant. Different battlefields, but death was death. “I do know.”

The moment stretched. Abruptly the back door burst open and Ben stood there in a dark jacket and slacks, a grin on his face. It was a look Jack remembered from their childhood. Ben had it all and he knew it.

He looked from his girlfriend to his brother, an eyebrow raised in question. “What’s going on? You two are looking grim.”

“I just asked Jack if he’d come with me to look at the Cooper Building. The seniors want to buy it for a new seniors’ center.”

“I thought Ken Forman had it sewed up.”

“Is that the lawyer who also wants to rent the building?”

“Yeah.”

“Not yet. We’re still in the running. And the town’s getting together to raise money so the seniors have more money to offer. City council is split on whether to add to the tax rolls or do something for the common good.”

Ben raised a skeptical eyebrow. “A better offer than Forman, a divorce lawyer, can make?”

“Maybe. This is a generous town.”

He let her have that, but clearly didn’t believe it. “Okay. But let’s shelve all that for now and go have some dinner.” He looked at Jack. “You got everything you need?”

“Ribs and potato salad.”

Ben made a sound of approval. “Heaven on a plate.”

That earned him a scolding glance from Sarah. He turned back to Jack with a theatrically swift change of expression. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know that could clog your arteries and...”

Sarah pitched in. “Stop his heart.”

“Yeah. Stop your heart.” Ben looked firm. “I’m sure Sarah brought you something gross and grassy that would be much healthier...”

She smacked Ben’s arm with her purse, fighting a laugh as she headed for the door.

“How’s it going with the carriage house?” Ben asked, backing toward the door.

“Pretty well. Took everything I couldn’t throw away into the basement.”

“Okay.” Ben waved at Jack as he turned and left. “Enjoy the ribs.”

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_0bc95641-8763-5dae-8878-0aab695bfe8b)

JACK WENT TO the front window to watch his brother and Sarah drive away. Even in the third grade, Ben had been a secure and confident kid. Jack had acted like one, but Ben had really been one. His parents were nice, normal people, and they’d loved him. Jack, on the other hand, had had a mother who was always in a twilight world, somewhere he couldn’t reach, and he’d been scared all the time because there was usually no one around to tell him what to do.

Sometimes a friend of his mother’s would take his sisters for a few days and he’d spend the time at Ben’s without even being missed. He’d dreamed of having the life Ben had.

One day he did, but getting what he’d wanted had taken a terrible toll on everyone else. Ben’s parents had taken him and his sisters in that night and he’d heard Ben campaigning to keep them. They hadn’t been able to, of course, because the girls still had fathers who wanted them, but Ben had been eloquent.

“It’s been just me all this time,” Ben had said vehemently. “Well, I could really use a brother. So, you know, I learn to share and stuff. So I don’t get spoiled. ’Cause I could use help with taking out the garbage and the errands.”

Jack had heard Gary reply, given with a trace of humor. “All right, then. We’ll make Jack your brother.”

There’d been a moment’s silence. Then he’d heard Ben’s voice, high with thrilled disbelief. “Really?”

“Really. But you have to be quiet about it until the girls are gone.”

Until the girls are gone. Jack had felt elated at the prospect of living with the Palmers, but the elation had drained from him at the knowledge that his sisters would have to go to their fathers.

He found it odd as an adult that children would be sent to live with a parent who’d abandoned them, but knew the Department of Human Services’ optimum solution with disrupted families was to put them back together. And both Miguel and Donald had wanted their daughters. In all fairness to them, his mother had had the DHS caseworker convinced she would do better—as she probably believed herself—so they’d probably believed a prolonged custody battle wouldn’t have been in anyone’s best interest. Which was why the girls had stayed with their mother.