A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,20

to bother you with this. If I wasn’t at such loose ends, maybe I’d be able to figure out something else. But it’s all I can do to hold myself together and be there for your grandmother.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s okay.” But it meant she’d have to call her father, have to remind him of his duty to his first family, and she wasn’t convinced that would go well. “I’ll Venmo it to you.”

“You’re a lifesaver.”

Although Connie had sounded relieved when they hung up, Emery was more worried than ever—about her mother, about her grandmother, about her future job opportunities. Christmas was a terrible time to look for work. Even if she could face doing it, she didn’t think it would be wise to set herself up for failure.

But things couldn’t continue like this.

It wasn’t until several minutes later that it occurred to Emery that her mother hadn’t even asked how she was doing.

She had to be almost as humiliated as Emery was. She could no longer brag about her daughter, who was on TV. She probably had extended family and friends who were watching that video, too. Not talking about it was her way of not acknowledging it, of shelving it completely.

With a sigh, Emery dragged herself out of bed. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but maybe Dallas would be home. Maybe he’d make her breakfast again. It felt surreal that she’d been reduced to relying on people who were barely more than acquaintances.

But she was infinitely grateful they cared enough to help.

* * *

The assembly ended at lunchtime, but the boys were so excited about the climbing wall, and having someone there who could show them how to scale it, they weren’t in any hurry to go to the cafeteria.

“You’d better get something to eat,” Dallas warned the last of the stragglers. “You’ll spend the afternoon hungry if you don’t.”

“Can’t we stay here and climb?” one boy asked. “Please?” Thick red hair, which stood up in back, and a face full of freckles made him look as young and untainted by the world as a boy his age should be. But the scars on his arms told a different story. Most of the students who came to New Horizons had difficult backgrounds, which was why Dallas didn’t ask what’d happened to this one. His own arms had scars that looked so similar he was fairly certain he could guess what’d happened to this poor kid.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Ms. Turner rented the equipment for the entire day. If you’ll go to lunch and to the rest of your classes, you can come back after school’s out. I’ll be here until four-thirty.”

“Cool!” the boy cried, and his friends made similar exclamations as they hurried out of the gymnasium.

“Let’s walk over and have some lunch ourselves,” Gavin said.

Dallas turned. He’d seen Aiyana and Eli go with the boys to the cafeteria and hadn’t realized his other brother was still around. “Sounds good to me.”

While Eli helped Aiyana administrate, Gavin handled much of the grounds and maintenance. What his mother had created was thriving, and Dallas was once again grateful to her—grateful to know that she was still providing a safe and stable place for lost boys, like the kind of boy he’d been, to finish growing up.

Briefly, he considered coming home to work. There was certainly a need he could fill here—and he wanted to do it.

He just didn’t know if he could take the daily reminder of his own childhood. He’d been running from the past for so long, he wasn’t sure he could ever stop.

6

Dallas wasn’t home. Emery had checked the main floor and called downstairs a few times to say good morning—all with no response. It soon became obvious she was alone in the house.

With a sigh, she sat at the kitchen table and reread the message she’d received from Ethan. I miss you. He’d sent just those three words, but she nearly went ballistic every time she saw them. How did he expect her to respond? He acted as though he hadn’t destroyed her career, her life.

Maybe he didn’t care.

Her jaw tightened and her fingers itched to type a vicious retaliation. She’d never in her life been so incredibly angry. But she had to tamp down that anger and think. Only then might she improve the situation.

He’d opened communication between them. Maybe his arrogance would work in her favor and cause him to miss the trap she was