Page 2 of Finding You

Uprooting him now and moving him to a small town that massively lacked resources wasn’t the best idea as far as he knew.

“Have you talked to him about it?”

Bronx licked his lips, then shook his head. “No. But he’s been asking me to put him in a mainstream school for the last two years now. So maybe he won’t hate me for it. I just wish he’d communicate, but I’ve been getting some half-assed silent treatment since I refused to let him change his number.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

Bronx looked at him with big, desperate eyes. “Would you? Just…he’s not speaking to me much. I think he blames me, and it probably is my fault. I was never the man Jules wanted me to be. I’m not even really sad about it. I’m pissed he took off the way he did and how easy it was for him to abandon his son.”

Dallas felt that down to his very bones. Here he was, trying desperately to have as many moments as he could with his daughter, and Jules had the balls to leave his own child like he meant nothing. “I have friends, you know. Scary friends. They’ll happily track him down and kick his ass if you want,” Dallas offered.

Bronx’s smile was genuine. “Thanks, but I think the only thing I’ll need is help finding a place for me and Luke and a good spot in town to set up a new vet office. And maybe you can buy me a drink when this whole thing is over with.”

“I can do that.” Dallas squeezed his brother’s shoulder, then pushed to his feet. “Let me check in with the kid, and I’ll get him to go a little easier on you.”

Bronx snorted. “If you can get him to just talk to me, I’ll call it a win. But thanks. I think you showing up for him like this has helped.”

Dallas shook his head. “It’s the least I can do.” He hated that Jules was so shitty that Dallas’s bare minimum looked like he was some kind of hero. He headed back inside, making his way down the long, narrow hallway before coming to a stop in front of his nephew’s room. He lifted his fist, hesitated, then knocked softly. “Hey, kid? Can I come in?”

“Why? Are you leaving?” Lucas called.

“Not yet, but soon.”

There was a long pause. “Fine, come in.”

Dallas pushed his way inside and closed the door behind him. Lucas’s room was large and sparsely furnished. He had a large bed, a desk, a dresser, and a couple of shelves with Dungeons and Dragons figurines he’d painted over the years. They looked old and a little dusty, and Dallas wondered how many things his nephew had outgrown in the time Dallas hadn’t been around to see him.

He hated that.

He hated how isolated his marriage had made him. How much he’d missed.

“Where are you?” Dallas asked.

“Down here,” came a voice from a few feet away.

Walking to the foot of the bed, he peered around and saw a sort of nest built with a very large beanbag, several pillows, and two older-looking comforters. Lucas was lying flat on his back, his eyes closed, arms above his head.

“Do I have to get up?” Lucas asked.

Dallas chuckled. “No. Can I come down?”

“Go for it.”

He settled himself in the empty space beside his nephew, lying with him shoulder-to-shoulder. They were right under the AC vent, which he appreciated. “So…”

“Please don’t ask me how I am,” Lucas begged.

Dallas sighed. “I mean, that’s kind of my job as your favorite uncle.”

Lucas didn’t argue. He had other uncles. Jules came from a very large family, but they weren’t close, and as far as Dallas knew, his nephew had only met them a handful of times. They were always weird about him anyway. He was blind from birth, and even Jules had taken several years to relax about his son’s disability, and even then, he was always awkward whenever it was brought up.

God, he had been a crappy dad, and none of them had wanted to see it.

Running his hands along the divots in the wall, Lucas turned his face toward Dallas. “Well, I’m shitty. And I’m allowed to say shitty because my dad left me.”

Dallas winced. “I’m the cool uncle. You can swear all you want. And your dad…” He hesitated because it wasn’t a lie. Jules had left him. It just felt so cruel to say aloud.

“He’s a dick,” Lucas said quietly.

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