at the same time gave him a sweet smile. Yep, he needed to wrestle these rioting feelings into submission. And quick.
He prayed, then asked the kids to gather up the leftover food and roasting sticks and take them all to the Krafts’ house. Lori supervised them. Cullen stood to the side and watched Zack and Jase pour buckets of water over the coals until the whole pit was a soggy mess. Jase gave Zack a light clap on the shoulder. “Okay, that looks good. Thanks. Would you mind putting the buckets on the Krafts’ back porch?”
“Sure.” Zack slung his guitar over his shoulder, stacked the buckets, and headed for the parsonage. Cullen started to follow.
“Cullen, hold up.”
The boy turned around. With the only light from a single streetlamp at the edge of the church’s parking lot and Cullen’s face shadowed by the brim of his ever-present cap, Jase couldn’t make out the boy’s features, but he surmised he was being given a scowl. “What?”
“Can we talk a minute?”
Cullen’s heels dragged, carving paths in the gravel as he scuffed near. “What about?”
They should’ve gone inside, where Jase could see the boy’s face. Then again, maybe it was better out here in the dark, where he wouldn’t know if Cullen was shooting belligerent glares. He placed his hand on Cullen’s shoulder, deliberately keeping a light grip. “Something I hope you’ll be honest with me about.”
Cullen’s muscles tensed. “What?”
“The afternoon I found you in my apartment.”
“I already told you, man, I didn’t break and enter. I just entered.”
Defensiveness colored the boy’s tone. Jase paused for a moment, gathering patience. “I know. But when you were in my apartment, before I got there, did you…take anything?”
Silence fell. A heavy silence, as black as the night. Cullen’s jaw twitched, and Jase waited for a denial. An angry outburst. Anything. But the youth kept his lips closed tight.
Jase sighed. “Listen, Cullen, I just need to know. I want you to be honest with me so I feel like I can trust you. I wanna be able to get along with you, but it’s hard to do when I’m not sure I believe you.”
Cullen knocked Jase’s hand aside. “Okay, yeah, so I took something. Sheesh, why’s it such a big deal? It’s not like you’ve got a girl living with you. You didn’t need it. And I thought my mom might like it.”
Jase’s pulse seemed to blast into overdrive, and his ears began to buzz. If he hadn’t known better, he’d say his mouth filled with cotton. He wasn’t sure he could talk, but he pushed the question past his dry throat. “What did you take?”
Jase
“A magazine.”
Jase drew back. He’d heard wrong. He didn’t subscribe to any magazines. Was Cullen making up another story? “A magazine? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. One of those sales magazines.”
“You mean a catalog?”
“Whatever. It had ladies’ clothes in it.”
Jase recalled finding a thin catalog from an online women’s retailer in his mailbox, but he’d thrown the thing in his recycling bin. Cullen had gone through his recycling?
“My mom doesn’t have time to go shopping in actual stores. She buys everything from the internet. I didn’t think you’d wear anything from it.” Cullen coughed a laugh. “Would you?”
Jase held back a sharp retort. If Cullen had dug through a recycling bin, he might’ve rummaged through other containers. Including Jase’s whatnot box. “You’re sure you didn’t take anything else?”
“Like what?”
“Like a piece of jewelry?”
“Jewelry? There wasn’t nothin’ like that around. Just mail.” He jammed his hands into his hoodie pocket and dropped his head back, face aimed at the sky. “So maybe I should’ve left your mail alone. But, sheesh, most of it was addressed to Occupant. Not like I stole your Social Security check or something.”
The crunch of shoes on gravel intruded from behind Jase. He glanced back. Lori stopped several feet away, her puzzled expression touched by the streetlamp’s glow.
She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. “Cullen, Zack asked me to let you know he’s ready to leave.”
Cullen took a sideways step. “He’s giving me a ride home. My mom’s working second shift at the gas station in Derby.”
Jase nodded at the boy. “All right. You better go.”
Cullen turned.
“And, Cullen?”
Cullen didn’t face Jase, but he stood still.
“Thanks for being honest with me.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Cullen took off at a trot. He passed Lori and returned her soft “Bye” before he hopped into Zack’s car. As Zack drove away, Lori ambled to Jase.
“Everything okay?”
Jase considered Lori’s question. So many things weren’t okay.