Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)(47)

Twenty minutes later, she stepped back. “Better?”

“Much. Thanks.” He reached for his shirt and shrugged it on. “Want to get lunch?”

“Sure. What do you have in the refrigerator?”

He had no idea. She was forever putting stuff in there, then later, throwing it out if he didn’t eat it. As he watched, she crossed the hardwood floor and opened the refrigerator.

“There’s plenty. We’ll have a bit of everything. How does that sound?”

“Good.”

He rotated his arm, testing his shoulder. The ache had faded to a manageable level. When he went back to the office, he would spend some time in the steam room and be practically like new.

At her instruction, he collected plates and bowls, along with forks, knives and napkins. She heated containers in the microwave, then put food on the table.

There was an eclectic collection of leftover Chinese and Italian, a salad from a bag and couple of microwaveable burritos. He grabbed a diet cola for her and a bottle of water for himself, then joined her at the table.

“Quite the feast,” he said as he sat across from her.

She grinned. “I really wanted to add Cheetos, but that seemed too much.”

“There’s always room for Cheetos.”

“There is.”

She took a serving spoonful of spicy cashew chicken and passed him the carton.

“I’m worried about Percy,” she said as she licked her fingers.

Jack found himself more interested in what she was doing with her mouth than anything she might say. A dangerous state of affairs, he reminded himself, and forced his attention back to the topic at hand.

“Why?”

She took a small serving of lasagna. “We were talking about him going to college. He doesn’t know anyone who’s done that. I think he’s nervous about having too many choices. For some people, dreaming can be dangerous.”

A problem Jack understood. Lucas hadn’t allowed himself to dream. He’d been careful to think in terms of days, not months or years. Later, when he’d had his heart transplant, the future had been his. There had been so much he’d wanted to see and do. The whole family had started to believe in possibilities. Only they’d been wrong about them.

“First Percy has to get his GED,” Jack said, knowing he wasn’t going to mention his brother.

“That’s what he said.”

“Once he has that, the next step will be more logical. We’ll start small. Community college.”

“He’s going to need a job. A real one. Not just extra work at Score,” she said. “Something where he feels really useful.”

“You don’t think he feels useful at Score? Taryn’s a tough taskmaster.”

“She is, but Percy knows he’s only there because of you.”

Jack took a bite of the burrito and chewed. Who knew that jalapeño-flavored beans went well with marinara sauce?

“He’s not there because of me,” he said when he’d swallowed. “You’re the one who found him. I don’t get any of the credit.”

“He’s living with you. You’re the one he looks up to.”

Jack shrugged. “Like I said, he’ll figure it out. One step at a time.”

She bit her lower lip. “I hope you’re right.”

“When am I wrong?”

The worry didn’t leave her eyes. “What if the whole nurture-nature thing is right? What if Percy can’t escape his environment?”

“He’s young enough to learn a new way of doing things. He’s a good kid. He wants more than he has. He was smart enough and determined enough to get to Fool’s Gold. He knew it would be a better place for him. And thanks to you, it is. Now have a little faith.”

Jack reached for his water and took a swallow.

“You’ll talk to him about safe sex?” she asked.

He started to choke.

Larissa waited until he could breathe again. “I need you to say yes.”

“I’m not talking about the birds and bees with Percy.”

“I’m sure he knows where babies come from. He needs to practice safe sex. Having a child now would make things really hard on him. He needs a chance to fulfill his potential.”

And things had been going so well for at least the past—Jack checked his watch—fifteen minutes.

“I don’t get an entire day after Wendy leaves before you drop this particular bomb on me?”

She didn’t smile. If anything, her mouth turned down. “Jack, I’m serious. What if he got a girl pregnant?”

At least one of them would be getting some, he thought grimly. But that wasn’t her point. Larissa’s concern had a whole lot more to do with her past than with Percy. Not that she would admit it.

He stared into her blue eyes and saw the weariness of carrying around unreasonable guilt for years. It didn’t matter that her mother getting pregnant twenty-nine years ago wasn’t her fault. It didn’t matter that her father had wanted to do the right thing and that two people who never should have gotten married had. It wasn’t her responsibility that they’d been desperately unhappy until they’d finally divorced.

Larissa was the oldest child. She considered herself the reason her parents had been forced into an unhappy marriage. The fact that they were now happily married to other people didn’t make her feel better at all.