“What did you do?”
“Beat him with a metal bat.” The confession was like opening a new wound, only this one didn’t bleed. This one sizzled in cauterized relief. “Scared him senseless. Didn’t seem enough, though. After all those years he’d scared me. But every once in a while, I remember that look in his eyes, that fear.” And he’d reveled in it. “That why you took Matt Knight’s gun?”
Kyle frowned. “I’m not a thief,” he spat. “My father took that gun. I took it from him so no one would mess with me. What are you going to do?”
“You mean about you?” Luke did his best to look surprised even as he processed that bit of information. Rex Winters had a thing for guns. Great. “I’m going to give you a chance to make things right. With me, for yourself and your future. You’ve been hanging around here the past couple of days. Watching what’s going on over there.” Luke glanced over his shoulder at the youth center.
Kyle shrugged.
“You and me, we’re going to come to an understanding, Kyle. I’m going to forget about the bottle you cracked over my head and that gun you never should have had, and you’re going to help me and Jake Gordon get this youth center off the ground. You show up, you help, you leave the attitude outside and you become a productive member of this town. You do that and I’ll delete the report I wrote up charging you with assaulting a police officer and possessing stolen property. You don’t want to spend years in JD do you? Lose what’s left of your childhood because of actions you’re wishing you could take back?”
Kyle shook his head, but only for a moment before the suspicion appeared to resurface. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you care?” The anger radiating off this kid could have powered a small country.
“Because someone has to.” Luke got to his feet, brushed off his pants. “You’ve got until Friday afternoon to decide. There’s a van coming to take a bunch of kids camping for the weekend. Up at Milkweed Lake. You’re welcome to join.”
Kyle gave him a quick nod. Luke took it as a promising sign.
“Be at the youth center by three o’clock. You be ready to work and make some changes. Otherwise I’ll issue a warrant for your arrest. Understand me?”
Kyle nodded, his already pale face going a shade paler.
“You have someplace safe to go? Food?”
“I got a place.” The defensive tone did nothing to hide the lie.
“You need food, you go by the Butterfly Diner. No strings. No obligation. Holly will make sure you’re taken care of. One thing, Kyle. Whatever you decide to do from this day on is on you. You accept this deal, it’s you accepting responsibility for your actions. And your future. It’s a second chance. Don’t blow it.”
* * *
HOLLY DID THE waiting wiggle jiggle as she debated knocking on Luke’s door late Wednesday afternoon. She may as well have been doing the Texas two-step for as much dancing around as she was doing.
Oh, this probably wasn’t a good idea. Visiting Luke at this house, which appeared as if it had survived a military assault, bringing him a peace offering and hopefully putting some things to rest once and for all had consumed her thoughts for longer than she wanted to admit.
She’d been skeptical Kyle would accept the offer Luke told her he’d made to the boy. Since when was Luke Saxon enough of an optimist to put a good chunk of cash on account at the diner should Kyle come in for a meal? But that was exactly what had happened last night. By the time Kyle left before closing, he’d gobbled down two burgers, an order of fries, a shake and an ice-cream sundae. Poor kid ate as if he hadn’t seen food in a month.
When she’d mentioned it to her father, Jake said something about paying it forward before he changed the subject.
Holly bit her lip. Should she leave the pie on the porch with a note? Yeah. She didn’t need to be here, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Luke—and what he’d told her about her father’s accident—for the past couple of days. Or the grief and regret she had seen on his face as he told his side of the story. Maybe he didn’t want to see her again and be reminded of what her questions had brought up. Yes. She was going to set the pie right here on this little wooden table next to the chair and...
“Holly?”
She yelped and swung around as Luke circled from the side of the house and stopped at the base of the stairs. “Jeez, what is it with you men? First Simon takes ten years off my life, now you steal another five.” Her laugh rang like nervous energy to her ears as she stepped off the porch and into the overgrown yard. “What have you been doing?”