Walk (Gentry Boys) Read Free Page B

the spool of time and restore Erin to the world she belonged in.  The universe doesn’t offer such deals though.  It just looks on with cold indifference at the mess me make for ourselves. 
    Once we were on the road and out from the specter of Emblem the mood lightened.  I found myself looking out the window with a child’s wonder at the things I would never have noticed if they hadn’t been kept from me all this time. 
    Here, an errant pocket of wildflowers growing beside the road.  There, a gas station crowded with people going about their mundane routines.  It was all ordinary.  It was all beautiful. 
    Deck yawned a few times and Chase teased him about being a tired old timer. 
    “I’m not fucking old,” Deck growled, glaring at our cousin in the rearview mirror. “I was trying to give Jen a break so I took the whole night shift with Isabella.  You try being all sunny and cheerful after endless hours of pacing up and down the hallway with a colicky infant clutched to your chest.” 
    “Been there, done that,” Chase scoffed.  “Derek didn’t sleep more than two hours at a time his whole first year and Kellan’s only peaceful place on earth was located on my right shoulder.  So yeah, I know everything about bottles of pumped breast milk, sleepless nights and the ever-present stain of spit up on every shirt I own.”
    Deck snorted.  “You want a trophy, Chase?”
    “If you’ve got one lying around, sure.” 
    Deck produced a quarter and tossed it to the backseat.  “There.  You’ll get another one after the new baby gets here.” 
    I swiveled around to look at Chase.  “You’re having another kid?”
    He beamed.  “Yeah, Steph’s almost five months along.  Due in January.”
    “That’s great, man,” I said and meant it. 
    I knew from the way he talked about his family that Chase was utterly devoted to his wife and sons.  He was also a high school teacher who felt passionately about going the extra mile for his students. 
    Deck had managed to pull some strings so that I didn’t have to live in a halfway house like most newly released inmates.  There was a room waiting for me at an apartment belonging to one of Chase’s former students, along with a temporary job.  I’d be setting up rented chairs and tables for parties around the Phoenix area. Although I couldn’t be sure, I could guess that not all convicts were so lucky. 
    Deck finally stopped when we were in Queen Creek, far outside the limits of Emblem.  He pulled into the parking lot beside a modest diner that advertised ‘Best Chili Fries in the Valley’. 
    While the guys found a table I visited the men’s room to change into some of the clothes Creed’s wife had sent.  Someone must have been able to give her a good idea about sizes because the jeans and black polo shirt fit perfectly.  When I passed the mirror I was a little startled to find the guy staring back was not wearing a prison-issued jumpsuit.  A small thing, just one of the many changes I would get need to get used to. 
    I rejoined my cousins and ordered a hamburger from a tired waitress in a turquoise uniform.  Chase and Deck bantered back and forth as I looked around and noticed them, all of them. 
    People.  People just going about an unremarkable day.  A family with three kids chowing down on their meals and laughing.  A pair of elderly men with coffee cups and a deck of cards.  A young woman sitting alone, staring wistfully out the window. 
    She got my attention.  To most men she probably wasn’t beautiful, more petite and cute than flat out sexy.  However, I hadn’t seen too many good-looking women over the past four years so this one was definitely worth looking at.  She balled up her napkin with a sigh and then stared at an untouched slice of chocolate cake sitting on the opposite side of the table.  She frowned.  Maybe she’d been waiting on someone who never showed.  Maybe she was just getting off work.  Her crisp