Page 103 of Jack

“What did he mean by that?” Jack said as they walked out, got into Harper’s car.Sheesh,he was a jerk for stealing it. He’d have to go home, trade it out for the Geo.

“I think he means exactly that—you were raised to be the kind of person people can count on.”

Jack looked at Stein. “Right. Hardly.” He pulled out.

“Are you kidding me? Until you walked out of our lives after Sabrina’s death, I thought you might be up there with . . . I don’t know. A superhero?”

He gave a laugh.

Stein didn’t. “Dude. You were my big brother. You were larger than life. Even before you saved that Cubby. I mean—you found Boo. That sort of cemented it for me. You were?—”

“I lost Boo. You know the truth.”

Stein frowned.

Jack glanced at him. “I was the reason Boo went missing. Because I was angry that I was assigned to babysit her. And I was carrying a canoe, so, hello, I might have been in pain and impatient. I told her to go ahead without me. Just in case you have any lingering ideas of me and my awesomeness.”

A beat. Then, “But you fixed it.”

He glanced at Stein.

“And you learned from it.” Stein sat with his hands in his lap.

“Oh, please, now you’re going to do some SEAL speak, like fall seven times, get up eight.”

“I think that’s some Japanese proverb or something, but yes, I’ve heard it. Here’s the one you should hear—God has a plan for your life, and even you can’t screw it up.”

Oh.

“I don’t know, Stein. Feels like I’ve been living in the alternate plan, the one I did screw up.”

“The one where you don’t become a lawyer?”

Jack shrugged.

“What if thatisthe plan? What if you’re really good at this gig, and this is what you’re supposed to do. What if thisisn’tthe mistake?”

They’d left the county roads, back on the highway toward Duck Lake.

“I hate you all.”

No, he couldn’t live with that.

He handed Stein his phone. “Speed dial number one.”

Steinbeck pressed it, and then put the phone on speaker.

“Please tell me you’re at a wedding and not tracking down a missing person.” Nat, and in the background, crying lifted.

“Sorry to bother you.”

“No problem. West! Come and get your child!”

Muffles, and then Nat came back on the line. “’Sup?”

“I need an address for an Elton Bridges and a Job Ramsey.”

“Who are they?”

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