9. The Slap
CHAPTER NINE
Dalton
The Slap
D alton didn’t know how long he stared, watching Brooke’s hips sway as she walked as far away from him as possible. He just kept playing over in his mind what she’d said, and what it implied. She thought she hadn’t mattered to him when he’d left town. Which implied she had cared when he left, and that she had missed him? And for the first time, he realized how much more he’d lost when he stayed gone.
Their friendship had begun by a random coincidence when he’d found her in the library on a Saturday, reading the book he needed to take out. He’d put off an assignment, and had a paper due the following Monday. But after he convinced her to tell him what she thought about the book, they read the ending together, taking turns passing the book back and forth. She’d even edited his paper the next day before it was due and he’d gotten an A+. After that, he’d find her around school with another book in her hand, or under a tree in the park when he was out for a run. She was a grade below him, but he developed a habit of looking for her, like they had their own game of hide-and-seek.
He would ask about her favorite books, and she would pretend to be interested in his sports. But the best part about their friendship was that it had nothing to do with being popular, or captain of the baseball team, or their last names. They just enjoyed each other’s company.
Looking up, he cursed. They’d sat for hours under this tree, her favorite place in the park. But then his parents died, and he’d left in a fog of grief. And she was right, he never gave much thought to anyone else missing him. All his classmates had graduated and were headed off to different schools. He didn’t have a girlfriend, and he didn’t know how to cope with his parents’ deaths, so he left.
“How’s that saying go, you can always go home?” a deep voice asked.
Dalton stood to find his brother Wes, out of uniform for once.
“I think whoever wrote that assumed the person would be welcomed home,” Dalton said.
Wes faced the field with his arms crossed, his eyes on the game. “I think the writer assumed the person would be going home to stay and not just pulling a drive-by.”
“What makes you think this is just a drive-by? I said I was going to be helping Gran out and would be here indefinitely.”
Wes looked him over. “You unpack your luggage yet?”
“Navy habit, to live out of a bag.”
Wes nodded. “Mm-hmm, did you start that habit?”
Dalton sighed. “I get it, you’re pissed I left, but I was eighteen. The Naval Academy accepted me, and I had to give them four years after graduation. It’s not like I was off being a vagabond. I needed to get out of here and make something of myself.”
“I wasn’t mad that you left, I was mad you never came back.”
“When are you going to give me a break?” Dalton asked.
Wes’s head turned so he could look him in the eyes. “Tell me why you didn’t come home for fifteen years. Then we can get past it.”
“Are we doing family therapy now? Maybe we should wait for Levi and Gran to join us.”
“Maybe we should, because I think there’s a lot more to it than Mom and Dad dying. And if you’re not sure how long you’re staying, that means you’ve already got one foot out the door.”
“It doesn’t sound like you’ll mind too much, Wes. If I didn’t know any better, it sounds like you’d rather I stayed gone.”
“I’m just not looking forward to dealing with Gran’s disappointment. I know she called and said something to get you to come home, but when that gets resolved you’ll leave again.”
“Good to know you won’t be included on that short list of people that’ll miss me. No one wants to be where they’re not wanted.”
“Don’t pull that crap on me. You left us, remember?”
“I don’t know how I could forget when everyone is so hell-bent on reminding me.” Dalton kicked the dirt. He didn’t want to rehash every reason why he left. Not yet, and maybe not ever.
“I’ll see you at Gran’s tomorrow for dinner,” Wes said before walking off.
Maybe Dalton did need to make things a bit more permanent, even if it wasn’t forever. It was going to take at least a few months to get all the appointments his gran needed, and to find her someone to help around the house and get her to agree to accept the help. Maybe that would be enough to get Wes to forgive him.
He searched the crowd as the game hit the fifth inning, but everyone was lining up for the food trucks and concession stand. He spotted Brooke next to Miles laughing at something, but then her head turned and she caught him watching her. Or maybe she was looking for him and he caught her. She was another reason for him to stick around Sandy Point. He wanted to know what she meant about being left behind.