Page 38 of Keep

Then the door opened again and he was grinning. “Gotcha.” He beckoned with the hand that was still in a cast due to a fractured wrist sustained in the accident and his face still showed bruising. “Come in.”

There was no one else in sight. A baseball glove and bat probably belonging to Thomas had been flung in a corner. There was a plaque hanging on the wall that declared Chase Gentry had won Teacher of the Year.

“I hope it’s okay that I dropped by without calling,” I said.

“Sure it’s okay.” He looked at my hands. “Especially because you bought a cake.”

I glanced down at the chocolate cake I’d stopped to buy at a nearby grocery store. I held it out to Kellan. “I thought there might be a cover charge for entry.”

Kellan reached for the cake. “Not necessarily but I’ll take it.”

I sniffed the air. “Is something burning?”

“Oh shit,” he swore and continued to talk as he walked toward the kitchen. “You just missed my folks. Uncle Creed and Aunt Truly came by to cheer them up by dragging them out to karaoke. They didn’t want to go but Uncle Creed growled something about getting the hell out of the house and when Uncle Creed growls, people tend to move. I would have liked to go too but no one invited me so I’m stuck here with the boys. Do you want any macaroni and cheese?”

I followed him to the kitchen. “No thanks, I’m good.”

“Where’s Cassie?” he asked as he handled the boiling pot of pasta one handed before draining it into a colander.

“She’s got school tonight,” I said. “Wrapping up a summer session class. You must be getting ready to start pretty soon.”

“Yeah. Freshman orientation at ASU is in two weeks.”

“You planning to live at the dorms?”

Kellan squeezed a foil pouch and bright orange cheese dribbled out over the pasta.

“No,” he said and his face was serious all of a sudden. And sad. “I was going to live at an off campus apartment with Derek but he’s not going back and it’s too late to register for the dorms.” Kellan stirred the pasta and cheese mess he’d made. “I’ll commute for now and see if I can get into the dorms next semester.”

“How is he?” I asked. “How is Derek?”

“You’re free to ask him yourself,” said a deep voice.

I turned to find Derek Gentry standing in the kitchen doorway. He looked exhausted and unshaven. His clothes were wrinkled and the playful arrogance was gone from his attitude. In its place was a kind of world-weary misery that seemed to drain his youth.

“So how are you, Derek?” I asked him.

He swallowed and threw a pained glance at his brother’s bandaged hand.

“I’ve been better,” he said with quiet honesty. He tried to smile. “How are you guys? Is Cassie here too?”

“Nope. I’m afraid it’s just me.”

“But he brought cake,” Kellan said. “So we’ll forgive him.”

Derek nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked thinner than he had at the wedding.

Maybe Kellan had the same thought. “Hey D, why don’t you eat some macaroni and cheese?”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Is that what that is?”

Kellan stirred the pasta and frowned. “Yeah. Either I burned it or I missed a step.”

“I’m not hungry anyway.”

“But Mom made me promise I’d feed you.”

Derek snorted. “You the babysitter now?”

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