every moment of the rest of her life in Kaceyâs shadow if it meant keeping her sister healthy. And alive.
âI promise not to look at or talk to anyone,â Kacey said.
She was serious, and Lacey felt sick. Physically, like she had a ball of warm, mushy clay in her stomach.
âI made a mistake, Kace.â She prayed her sister was emotionally open enough to read her. âThose things I said, I was blowing off steam...â
âYou were right.â
âBut itâs not your fault. You donât do anything to attract people. They just gravitate to you.â
âIâd give anything to send them your way. Well, not the Deans. But the good ones...â
For some bizarre reason a vision of Jem Bridges popped into her mind. âItâs really okay,â she said. âIâve been on my own for more than a year.â Since sheâd moved out of the condo she was sitting in and transferred to the Santa Raquel branch of California state social services. âAnd Iâm over all that.â At least in any way that mattered.
âYou arenât just saying this? You really want me to come up?â
How could her sister have been hurting this much over the talk theyâd had when Lacey had told her she was moving out, and Lacey hadnât known?
âLook me in the eye,â Lacey said now. And when Kaceyâs gaze was glued to hers, she leaned in closer. âFeel me, Kace.â
Kacey nodded.
âNow you tell me. Do I want you to come up and stay with me?â
The tears that filled Kaceyâs eyes hurt Laceyâs heart. And she was ashamed of herself for having caused her sister so much pain.
CHAPTER TEN
J EM HATED HOW much Lacey Hamiltonâs brief intrusion into their lives had affected them. If the vulnerable look on Tressaâs face when heâd picked Levi up from Ameliaâs little beach house on Monday afternoon hadnât been enough, the fist clenching his own gut as he dropped Levi off at day care on Tuesday would have done it.
But heâd already been disturbed by Laceyâs effect on him.
Fantasies of the woman had followed him all over his boat as heâd spent the weekend alone in his garage, building his dream, with a couple of jaunts out to celebrate the holiday.
Dillon, his most trusted foreman and college buddy whoâd dropped out to marry his pregnant girlfriend, had had him over on Saturday night for a barbecue with him and his family. On Monday heâd met a group of the guys at a local bar for a couple of brews.
Still, if it hadnât been for the social worker hanging around in the back of his mind all the time, he wouldnât have worried at all when he had to leave his son in safekeeping so he could get to work on time Tuesday.
Levi had been a little weepier than usual.
Weepy. A girlie term. Which didnât describe his son at all. But the little guy hadnât been whiny, and he really hadnât cried all that much, either.
Heâd just almost cried over things that normally didnât bother him. Like being told that he had to go to day care when heâd wanted to spend the day with Jem.
And finding out that they were out of peanut butter and heâd have to have his toast with just jelly that morning.
The woman had said their file was still open, but with no active investigation. But what if she heard that Levi showed up at school out of sorts?
He knew why Levi was upset. And he kind of blamed Lacey Hamilton for that, too. When he was feeling particularly sour. Mostly he knew the woman had just been doing her job. That sheâd invaded their lives out of true concern for Levi. And that sheâd done exactly as heâd have wanted her to do, as heâd have done, if Levi were really in any kind of danger.
But didnât she see that her descending on them as she had had affected all of them?
Levi had had a nightmare Sunday night. According to Tressa, heâd been screaming
C. J. Cherryh
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