A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,86
turn this opportunity away. If he didn’t perform as well as his competitors, he could lose his sponsor. Then where would he be?
“I’m getting damn close,” Brian said. “Will you be able to make the commitment?”
“You have to know now? It’s not only my mother’s wedding, it’s nearly Christmas.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
Nothing, really. Dallas was just trying to buy some time. “Can’t we talk about this when I return?” Even if he decided to train in Europe, he planned to go to Vegas first and spend a week or two with Brain.
“Will you return? That’s the thing. I thought you were coming back in November.”
“Some things came up this year.”
“An unusually warm fall that allowed you to keep climbing? That’s the only thing that came up—until your mother’s wedding.”
It was much more than that, but Dallas didn’t correct him. He was still holding out for a better time to talk to Brian. “I’ll be back in January.”
“Is that a promise? I don’t want to waste my time waiting for you if you’re not going to come through. Maybe I should be looking at other options. You’re not the only climber in the world, Dallas.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“But you are one of the best,” he relented. “And you’re one hell of a coach. I like having you involved. But, damn, you don’t make it easy.”
“We’ll talk about it in January.”
“Why put it off? I’d like to go into the holidays with something concrete to tell Janet.”
Dallas liked Brian’s wife. And the request was a fair one, but... “I can’t focus on such a big decision right now,” he said. “My father was just released from prison.”
Brian was one of the few people he’d told about his background, probably because Brian had had an abusive father, too, and they went out for a beer so often when Dallas was in town that it would’ve been harder not to tell him.
Still, Dallas hadn’t intended to mention the latest; it’d just come out.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he said.
“No.”
“When? How?”
“I have no idea. I just found out myself.” Before he left Silver Springs, he’d searched for the article Cain had referenced, hoping to glean more information, but it didn’t give an exact date. It’d merely indicated that Robert’s parole had been granted and he would, indeed, be released.
“So where is he?”
“That’s anyone’s guess. I can’t imagine he has the money to travel very far from San Quentin. Even if he worked the whole time he was incarcerated, what do they pay? Twenty cents an hour?”
“That could add up to a small amount of seed money, given enough time. How far is Silver Springs from San Quentin?”
“About a seven-hour drive. He could take a bus, I guess. But I can’t imagine why he would.”
“To see you, of course. Who else has he got? Does he know Aiyana?”
“Not personally, but he must’ve learned about her. He sent her a letter. Sent one to me, too, but it was delivered to my PO Box in Vegas.”
“He might try to find you.”
“He’d better not.”
“What’d he say in the letter?”
“Nothing, really. Just some bullshit to make him look less like the psychopath he must be.”
“Did you ever think you’d hear from him?”
“Not after so long.”
“How will he get by and make a living?” Brian asked. “Does he have any family who will take care of him?”
“None. He had a younger brother, but he and both parents are dead.” Since Robert had purchased the gun shortly after his parents were run off the road by a sleepy semi driver, Dallas had always believed their deaths might’ve contributed in some way—if only because they wouldn’t be around to help him pay back the money he’d stolen. He was used to his parents being around to give him anything he wanted.
“No cousin? No uncle? That sort of thing?”
“No one in our extended family would be happy to see him. They have their own lives, their own problems.” None of them had stepped up to take Dallas twenty-three years ago. No one had even stayed in touch with him. Why would they help Robert, especially after so long?
“Okay, well, I guess I can let this other issue go another month.”
Dallas felt the tension inside him uncoil ever so slightly. “That would be great. I’m sorry to leave you hanging, but if you could just give me a few more weeks, I’ll have an answer for you.”
He sighed audibly. “You got it. For the record, you’d be crazy not to do