Page 42 of Running Scared
“Reg?”
Reg huffed out a little breath.“Unless I back a car over your footunintentionally,then I never have to be sorry.And if it’s intentional, you probably deserved it.”
Anthony’s response was cut off by a yawn, and Reg turned back toward the front.“Just as well,” he grumbled.“I’d get carsick if I had to spend too much time turned around like that.”
Bailey grunted.They were still in the city, and traffic sort of crawled along at forty miles an hour in what seemed to be an urban knot of overpasses and entrances.
“Does it get any faster than this?”he asked.
“Once it opens up around Burbank,” Reg promised.“And then you need to put your foot on it and just accelerate steadily because you’ll be making a steep climb into the mountains.It’s really twisty up there.There’s a reason it’s called the Grapevine.”
“Oh!”Bailey cheered up.“I’ve heard of the Grapevine.Never driven it, but nice!”
Reg grunted.“If you’re this excited about the Grapevine, you should take the next exit and go back the way we came.Disneyland is back there, you know.”
Bailey let out a dry chuckle.“I’ve never been.Is it everything they say?”
“Yes,” Reg said, with no apology in his voice whatsoever.“My parents pretty much mortgaged their retirement to take us.It really is the happiest place on earth.”
From the back seat, Bailey heard Anthony say, “I’ll take you someday.”
Reg didn’t answer him, and Bailey risked a quick glance to see his cheeks had heated.
“So,” he asked, voice quiet, “tell me about Dean.”
Reg gave a quick glance over his shoulder, and then practically broke his neck whipping around to face front.
“What about him?”he squeaked.
“What’s he like as a brother?”
Reg let out a sigh.“Protective,” he said after a moment.“He was always smarter than we were, stronger than we were, and he always knew the bad stuff we didn’t.He made it his job to protect everybody from the bad stuff.My folks were always bringing people into the house, letting them sleep in the basement if they were having trouble with their parents, that sort of thing.Dean would walk into their room armed with statistics on domestic disputes, and Dad would say, ‘And that, son, is why you are not expected to answer the door should anybody’s parent come knocking.’And Dean would be left sputtering that he wastryingto protect the family while Mom escorted him back to bed and said that the family welcomed anybody under the roof who needed sanctuary.And on the one hand, I think it was funny, and it was great to see him taken down a peg or two, because healways—and I meanalways—knew what was best, and that was fucking irritating.”
“But on the other hand?”Bailey asked, feeling for Dean.He could see this so clearly.Dean’s pragmatism in the face of what was, apparently, his family’s absolute generosity.Dean must have beensovery baffled to see his logic twisted back on itself.
“On the other hand,” Reg said softly, “I think he must have been so lonely.He understood, knew, rememberedso much,and the simple stuff that the rest of us got in our bones eluded him.He and Val used to getso madat each other, but I remember once somebody was giving Dean a hard time—he was in high school at eleven, you know?—and Val literally left junior college to drive to high school and help Prock and Sal stuff kids in lockers.Howdareanybody hurt his little brother.And Dean… he was so tough, but they got home, and he started to sob, and then he started toyell,because dammit, just once couldn’thebe the one who took care of himself?And Val was hurt at first, and then he squared his jaw—just like Dad—and said, ‘Stanford Dean Royal, you willalwaysbe my baby brother, and I willalwaysstand up for you.Get over it.You may be this family’s biggest pain in the ass, but you are also our pride and joy, and we won’t letanythinghappen to you.’”
Bailey’s heart ached suddenly, because he could see that happening, the two of them so stubborn, so proud, and so wanting to take care of everybody else in the family.
“What happened then?”he asked.
“Hugging and crying,” Reg said, a little bit of kind laughter in his voice.“Dean and Val could piss each other off so bad, but it always ended up in hugging and crying.It’s why we bugged Val when we knew Dean was seeing somebody.We figured he’d know.”
This was a surprise.
“Did he?”Bailey asked.
“Oh yeah,” Reg said.“But Val’s as good as Dean at ducking family texts.We didn’t hear from him for three days, and then it was to come get you.”
Bailey laughed outright then.“So you all knew about me—but not the particulars.”
“Yeah.”He could feel Reg’s regard.“Did you know about us?”
“Not until yesterday morning,” Bailey said with half a laugh.“Because I almost broke up with him, because I thought he was withholding information.”
“Was he?”Reg sounded riveted.
“Nope.Turned out I only had to ask.”
