All a Man Is. Janice Kay Johnson

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      Her face crumpled. “I know. Oh, God, Alec. Did we do the right thing?”

      He wanted to promise her they had, that Angel Butte was the idyllic town they’d hoped for, but he was beginning to wonder if there was any such thing. He’d grown up in Southern California, used to the tangle of overcrowded freeways and the yellow light of smoggy mornings. He wondered guiltily what her Minnesota hometown looked like.

      “I think so,” he said, unable to resist a gentle squeeze before he had to let her go. “It’s not like Liana knew her friends that long. Maybe moving so soon after the last time is hard on them, but I have to think doing it quickly is better than waiting.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry the house is so, uh, unprepossessing.”

      “What?” She lifted her face to his, surprise in those extraordinary eyes. “Don’t be silly. The duplex looks like it did in pictures, except better. You’ve had more work done than you admitted to, haven’t you?”

      He didn’t say anything. Normally careful to keep his distance, he hadn’t been this close to her since he’d held her after the funeral. Her skin, tanned to a pale gold, was as smooth as a child’s, her lashes surprisingly long without any help from mascara. Her upper lip had an unusually deep dip in it that made him think of the pretty mouths painted on dolls.

      If he bent his head just a little...

      Her eyes widened at whatever she saw on his face.

      Clenching his jaw, he released her.

      “What if I keep Matt tonight?” he asked. “I’ve got one of the bedrooms set up as a spare.”

      “Really? You’d do that? Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

      “Yes, but I could drop him at the hotel on my way. We could all have breakfast at the Denny’s there.”

      “I would love that,” she admitted. “I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been having distinctly unmaternal thoughts about him.”

      Having regained his self-control after a brief but significant battle, Alec was able to laugh. “How shocking. And this was the first time?”

      She chuckled, a delicious ripple of sound. “Okay. You’re right. There have been a few previous moments I’d have put him up on Craigslist if I thought I’d get any offers.”

      “It’s a phase. He’ll get over it.” Alec hoped.

      Julia smiled. “They’re fighting again.”

      “Then let’s go separate them.”

      “Okay, but first—” She astonished him by stepping closer to kiss his cheek. She was blushing when she sank back to her heels, but her eyes held his. “Thank you. I can’t tell you what this means to me, so I won’t even try. But I want you to know—”

      He shook his head and took a chance, placing his finger over her lips, feeling them quiver. “No. I love those kids, too. If you’d taken them away, it would have destroyed me.”

      For a moment they only looked at each other, their defenses lower than usual. He hoped she couldn’t see the part he didn’t say: losing her would have destroyed him, too.

      Especially losing her.

      “How come you get the biggest room?” his nephew said, startling Alec, who hadn’t noticed the kids coming back into the kitchen.

      Alec leveled a stare at the kid. “Because she’s the adult and pays the bills.”

      Matt contented himself with rolling his eyes.

      “Uncle Alec suggested you spend the night with him,” Julia said, her tone neutral.

      The boy shrugged and ducked his head. “I guess that’s okay,” he mumbled.

      Not exactly enthusiastic, but close enough.

      Alec studied Matt, sorry to see that he hadn’t grown to speak of in recent months. He’d been a shrimp at this age, too, a curse he had especially resented because Josh, two years older and therefore taller at every stage anyway, had grown steadily all along. The height and physical-maturity issue might have something to do with Matt’s behavior, if he’d been trying to convince his buddies that he was big and bad, too.

      He was a good-looking kid, though, with the same dark hair and eyes as his dad and Alec. Alec could see Josh in his face, more square-jawed and less angular than Alec’s face. The shape of his eyes came from Julia, though.

      “Then let’s take your mom and Liana to the hotel.”

      His eyes narrowed and that square jaw jutted out. “Wait. Then they can go swimming and I can’t.”

      Julia looked at Alec, a hint of panic in her eyes.

      “It’s late,” he said. “The swim can wait until tomorrow.”

      Matt grumbled during the entire drive back to the hotel. Alec contemplated how his own father would have dealt with that kind of back talk. Maybe there was something to be said for old-school parenting.

      Saying good-night took only a few minutes. Julia had checked into her room earlier but their suitcases were still in the trunk of her car. Alec walked her and Liana into the lobby and watched them get onto an elevator. He couldn’t make himself move until the elevator doors closed and cut off his last sight of her. Then he went back out into the warm night, where Matt waited by the Tahoe.

      Alec unlocked the doors. “Long drive, huh?”

      He was treated to more bitching. Why did they have to drive? Even if Mom wanted to, she could have let them fly. Or hired someone to drive the car here.

      “Every time I played my iPod, she made me turn down the volume. What difference does it make to her how loud my music is?”

      “Do you know what you sound like every time you talk about your mom?”

      Matt gave a one-shoulder shrug that said louder than words, Who cares?

      “My father would have taken his belt to my backside if I’d talked about my mother that way.”

      “You don’t know what she’s like.”

      “I know your mother pretty well,” Alec said mildly.

      “You just think you do,” Mattie sneered.

      Alec signaled to turn into his driveway. “You make life pretty unpleasant for everyone around you when you act this way.”

      Matt turned his head away. “So, who cares? You don’t have to see me. I wish you’d just let us stay in L.A. Why’d we have to move, too?”

      “Because it was the right thing for all of us as a family.” Alec turned off the engine. Laying his forearm across the steering wheel, he turned enough to look at his nephew. Into the silence, he said, “Your mom and I talked to you about it.”

      “I was happy there.”

      “No, СКАЧАТЬ