Page 49 of Running Scared
With a harumph, Bailey strode directly to the pool, let himself in through the chain link gate, stripped to his cargo shorts, kicked off his boots, and dove in.
The water was surprisingly cool, and he surfaced, trying not to sputter, before setting off on a blistering freestyle, hampered by the baggy shorts and soggy underwear.He ignored that and continued for a good five laps, until the bright sunshine, the coolness of the water, the thrill of physical activity—all of it—settled into his muscles and he relaxed enough to start having fun.When he finally pulled to a halt, out of breath but a little less pissed off, he found Reg squatting at the end of the pool, waiting patiently for him to be done.
“Hello,” he said brightly.He liked the quietest Royal.In the past three days he’d met them all but Sal, who lived several hours away.Prock and his wife and children had been a delight, and Laure and her two teenaged boys had been a wisecracking family in the best of ways.Reg had, in his understated way, floated among them all, holding the baby for Prock, lending a phone charger to Russell, Laure’s oldest, fixing Prock’s wife’s phone in a matter of moments.Whereas Chance was bright and shining, distracting everybody’s attention with a smile or a joke—or often a very naïve statement thatseemedlike it was too innocent to be true but that Bailey was starting to suspect Chance really was—Reg was the family angel, quietly helpful in all ways, embarrassed by any notice whatsoever.
“Hi,” Reg said, pushing his glasses up his nose.“I, uh, are you done with your laps?”
Bailey thought uncomfortably of his sodden cargo shorts.“Yeah.I should get out and start to drip dry, at least, before it gets so hot my skin starts to peel off my shoulders.”
Reg nodded.“Come on, let’s sit under the umbrella.I got lemonade and big plastic cups withice.”
Bailey grinned at him.“Your mom sure does know how to do summer right.”
The Royal family wasn’t fancy.The soda was bargain brand, and the lemonade was the kind from frozen concentrate.There were no fluted glasses or expensive tumblers—Julie had alluded to their “fine gas-station china” on the first day, but a giant plastic cup full of ice was still pretty blissful in the middle of Bakersfield in July.
“There’s also curried chicken salad,” Reg said, looking quite pleased.“It’s my favorite.”
Bailey had an idea that Julie had done that on purpose.Anthony had gone back home the day before—apparently he lived about forty-five minutes away, and he and his father owned and operated a shooting range, both of them giving lessons along with a recently hired manager.Reg and Anthony weren’t an item—yet—but Bailey could see by the way Reg’s shoulders drooped that he missed Anthony, even for the work week when he went to keep up his livelihood.
“Why don’t you go with Anthony and work from his house?”Bailey asked, sitting on the patio chair in a plop of clammy cloth.
Reg scowled at him.“That’s forty-five minutes away,” he said.“Most of my siblings are here.”
Bailey raised his eyebrows.“You’d still see them,” he said tentatively.
Reg shrugged.“Anthony’s busy.He doesn’t need me hanging on his coattails.”
Privately Bailey thought Anthony wouldloveto come home and have Reg in his house, finishing up the IT work he did through telecommuting.But Anthony had pretty much told Bailey he was biding his time until Reg felt like he was important enough to be somebody’s number one priority.
Bailey wished them both luck.
“So what’s doing today?”Bailey asked, picking one of the curried-chicken-on-wheat sandwiches and taking a happy bite.Simple, yes, but still superlative.
“Well, I finished my commission this morning,” Reg said, matter-of-factly.“And I thought we could address what’s making you so edgy.”
Bailey almost choked on his sandwich.“I beg your pardon?”
Reg took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his thumbs.“Was it a secret?”he asked.“I mean, you’ve been super polite to Mom and Dad, but so’s everybody.But you spent two hours last nightpacingaround the property.I know what a walk looks like, and I know when somebody’s stress walking, and that was definitely pacing.And you just managed to piss off your dad, and he’s got ‘laconic cowboy’ in his DNA.”
Bailey grunted.“I was justtryingto help,” he muttered.
“You were justtryingto get out of your own way and into somebody else’s,” Reg said dryly, and Bailey wondered if the rest of the family had caught on to that dry sense of humor.
“Well, that too,” Bailey admitted.
“You’re worried,” Reg said bluntly, and hearing the words from someone in Dean’s family—when he’d been trying so hardnotto be worried in front of them—was enough to make Bailey’s shoulders sag in relief.
“Oh my God, am I,” he admitted, feeling pitiful.“I amsoworried.It’s dumb—I know it’s dumb—because Dean has left me a dozen times since we got together, and I never knew what he was doing or how dangerous it was, but this time….”He rubbed his stomach, and Reg made a mirror gesture with an expression that was pure sympathy.
“Me too,” he said softly.“Want to do something about it?”
Bailey cocked his head, surprised.“Like what?”
“Well, for starters we could figure out what he’s doing.And, well, for finishers, I might be able to track his location.”
Bailey gaped at him.“You canwhat?”
“Shh!”Reg flailed and glanced around.“Donotlet this get out, okay?I just… well, I worry.I mean, I worry abouteverybody, so I’ve pretty much done this foreverybody, but I worry most for Dean because he’s… he’s not reallyconsciousof risk to himself, you know what I mean?”
