Page 16 of Return By Fire

“Uncle Dean!” I’m greeted on the run quickly followed by a hug by my reason to be a better man—my nephew Kevin. The moment I helped Kara push his little body out more than a decade ago, I knew there would never be a love to match this.

So, I stopped looking.

What was the point of hanging out around bars or partying on my days off when the only thing I wanted was found in the eyes of this little person?

After I drop him to his feet I ruffle his sable hair, distinctly different from both his mother’s and mine. “I heard about the trip, buddy.”

Kevin’s face falls. “Yeah. Brooks is sick.”

“Are they planning on going another time?” The words pop out of my mouth before I catch Kara dragging her fingers across her throat.

Kevin whirls around and shoots his mother a filthy glare. “It’s the first week of swimming camp, which Mom says I can’t miss.”

“Of course you can’t,” I put in my two cents.

Kevin turns his mutinous face up to meet my eyes. “You’re just sayin’ that ’cause Mom is.”

I crouch down and grip his shoulders. “No, buddy. This is about respect and responsibility.”

He scuffs his foot back and forth across the cheap carpet that lines the floor of our three-bedroom apartment. Then he tries to wheedle, “It’s just a week.”

“You want to try out for captain of the junior team. Right?”

“Yes, sir,” he mumbles.

“Then do think your team should look up to you if you don’t show up like you promised?”

Kevin twists his head to look over at Kara whose expression has limitless patience. “No, sir.”

“Then what do you think you should do?”

“Call Brooks and tell him I can’t go.” I want to laugh at the downtrodden sound of Kevin’s voice.

Kara pipes up, “Be sure to tell him we’re going to drop by with some soup for his family.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbles.

I lean close. “Now, go hug your mom. She doesn’t like giving you sad news.”

He wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Thanks, Uncle Dean.”

I squeeze him tight. “Love you, Kev.”

“Love you too.” He dashes away from me and runs straight to Kara. She patiently listens to his eloquent explanation before accepting his apology. Back at the beginning, I never understood why she forced the issue of making Kevin explain what he did wrong. Now, as he’s grown from a boy into a young man, I get it.

She wants him to be different than his father, to accept responsibility for his mistakes.

My mind flashes to Jed Smith and the lunch the three of us shared. Despite the fact his face vacillated between being as handsome as a supermodel and a twisted as a demon depending on whether he was solemn or laughing, he was surprisingly good company. Insightful. God, was he funny. I cast a glance in my harried sister’s direction. I haven’t heard Kara laugh like that in well over a decade—not since she found out she was pregnant.

As we eat a light dinner of cold pasta salad, I ponder the twisted way the universe works even as I discuss swimming statistics with my nephew. Kara injects reminders to Kevin like “Improvement comes with consistent practice, Kevin.”

He groans at her peckish reminder that he was willing to give up a week of swim camp to go off with Brooks. I fork another bite and inform him, “Listen, I beat out a twenty-year-old punk...”

“Dean,” Kara snaps.

“Probie,” I modify my word selection smoothly. Kevin tries to hide his smile behind his hand, but I still get a good look at his partially crooked teeth. I make a mental note to remind Kara to look up her insurance plan to see if orthodontia work is covered. “Racing the tower today with a hose on my shoulder.”

Kara’s brows draw together. “Aren’t you getting too old for that?”

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