strange look came across her face, a very un-Kate-like expression of pure tenderness.
As Dylan gained his feet, his hood fell away from his face. For the first time, Darius got a chance to really scrutinize him. His resemblance to Gillian really was striking. Even his eyes were the same summer blue.
Kate looked back and forth between the two of them. “You know, I thought Dylan looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He looks just like you.”
Darius shook his head. “He looks like his mother. Spitting image. Same coloring, same features.”
“Maybe so, but he also looks like you.” She gestured at Dylan’s chin. “It’s all in the chin. The stubbornness. His smile is like yours too. I’ve only seen it once, but it did ring a little bell.”
Looking fed up with their inspection, Dylan pulled his hood back up. “Are you guys done arguing?”
“She’s arguing,” Darius corrected him. “I don’t argue.”
“Of course you do.” Kate shook her head at him. “You just don’t like to call it that because I usually win the arguments.”
“Oh, is that how you see it? Interesting.”
“Are you guys arguing about arguing now?” Dylan asked.
They both looked at him, and burst out laughing. “Busted,” Kate said cheerfully. “Let’s get going. We can argue on the way home.”
Home. The word suddenly felt so much more complicated. Home already had an upstairs landlady who rocked his world. Now it was getting a strange kid who’d just blown up that world.
The whole situation would have been so much more awkward without Kate around. After they said goodbye to S.G., the three of them drove home in Darius’ truck. Kate peppered Dylan with questions about Texas and what music he liked, what he did for fun, what he liked in school. Basic stuff. It gave Darius a chance to know more about him, without the burden of figuring out what to ask.
When they got back to Fairview Court, he panicked. It was almost six in the morning and they all needed some sleep—but Kate had her own bed to retreat to. That meant he’d be all alone with his brand-new son.
Kate gave them both a sleepy smile and a wave goodbye as she headed for the outdoor stairway.
He longed to kiss her goodnight. Or good morning, actually. Or maybe give her a “thank you for everything” kiss. Or an “I want to throw you down on a bed next chance I get” kiss.
But Dylan’s presence made him think twice about any kind of kiss. Was it appropriate? Would it upset the boy? Fuck, this was confusing.
He skipped the kiss and beckoned Dylan toward the downstairs entry. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Kate.”
That sounded more formal than he’d planned. She paused on the staircase and gave him a curious look over her shoulder. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Either of you.”
She hurried the rest of the way up the stairs. Darius had the strangest feeling that she was receding out of his reach, like a wave on the shore.
But why? The fires had been solved. There was no need for her to leave anymore.
He shook it off and ushered Dylan into the apartment. “The couch is there.” He pointed toward the very obvious couch in the middle of the living room. “Bathroom’s back there. I’ll get you a sleeping bag. We can pick your things up from Denaina’s tomorrow. Do you have much stuff?”
“Backpack. Sleeping bag. Not much.”
Darius nodded and went into his bedroom closet to search for a sleeping bag. His heart was hammering and he felt almost feverish. He had a son. A nearly grown son. What were you supposed to do with a son that was almost grown up already?
“When’s your birthday?” he asked as he came out with a North Face bag and one of his spare pillows. “I figure you’re about fifteen, yeah?”
“I’ll be sixteen on August third.”
“August.” He didn’t want to do the math, but he couldn’t help it. If he’d been born in August, Gillian had been three months pregnant when she’d left him.
But what was the point in rehashing the past? Gillian was gone. Dylan was here now. That was what mattered.
He tossed the pillow to the boy. “You should get some sleep. I have to be at the station by nine. Do you know how to make yourself breakfast?”
Dylan caught it against his chest and smiled. And suddenly, Darius saw exactly what Kate had been talking about. That smile was like looking in a mirror. Or maybe a time machine,