Damon by Vanessa Hawkes Read Free Book Online Page A

unpretentiously relaxed, and the way he crossed his ankles and then tapped out a calming rhythm with his boots. I’d never really noticed the little things about people before.
    He had a thousand little things to notice.
    “They’re standing in front of a church or a school or something.” He turned and read off the back of the picture. “In Knoxville. 1959. I wasn’t born yet. Was I?” He looked up at the sky and shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. That was my father.” He growled low. “If only I could remember.”
    He was off in his own world, so I slid off the table. Being so near him made me want to curl up in a bed with him and sleep for a day or two. I walked down to the creek and dipped my hand in the cold water.
    In a minute, Damon walked down to join me, still studying the old picture. I checked my watch and saw that I had fifteen minutes left. I could be back at the store in two minutes, if I took the back roads, and didn’t get stuck behind any old people or tractors.
    “Let’s go to Knoxville and find this place,” he said.
    I stood up, interested in the idea. I hadn’t been to Knoxville in at least ten years. “When?”
    He lowered the picture and blinked at me. “Right now.”
    “Right now? I can’t. I have work. And my mother.”
    “We’ll take her with us. You can make up a story at work.”
    “No, I can’t do that. Chester’s busy with the taxes right now. They need me.”
    “They don’t need you,” he told me, with such impersonal audacity I was stunned. “They’ve got six people working there today, not counting you. We need to deal with this situation. It’s serious.”
    “What situation?”
    “When was your last vacation?” he asked.
    I had to take a moment to think about it. I’d never really considered vacations. “I’ve never asked for one because I have to deal with Mama so much. Whenever I need to, they let me leave.”
    “Then we’ll go right after you get off. I’ll get your mom ready.”
    “No, I have to work tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”
    “We’re open till noon.”
    He stared at me for what seemed like a very long time, and I was afraid I’d upset him, and made him think I didn’t want to spend time with him. But I had to hold my ground. I had responsibilities. I couldn’t drop everything just because he didn’t have a job, or was bored.
    Finally, he relaxed and stroked my hair. “Then, we’ll go at noon tomorrow.”
    But now I was mad. He claimed to know, to understand what life was like with a sick mother, yet he had no respect for all I had to deal with. I couldn’t go running off like a normal person. I’d not been so mad since yesterday, when I’d learned this psycho had been in my panty drawer.
    “I have to get back to work,” I told him, and strode away, only to realize we were in his car. So I had to wait for him to catch up.
    When we were in the car, I picked up the picture sitting between us. “I need to borrow this.”
    He threw me a wary frown. “What for?”
    “I want to ask Chester why he said he didn’t know your grandfather when he’s in this picture with him. I want to know what my grandmother was up to.”
    Damon held out his hand. “That’s not a good idea.”
    “Why not?” I stubbornly held on to the picture.
    “Don’t mention this to him. He doesn’t know who I am yet.”
    “He knows. The sheriff told him all about you. Unless you lied.”
    Damon took a deep breath through his nose and looked away as he let out the breath. “Okay, I did lie,” he confessed. “My grandfather’s name wasn’t really Tom Porter.”
    “What was his real name?”
    “His name was Elliot Jennings. People here hated him, so I made up a different name.”
    “Oh.” That was okay, sort of. Gangsters didn’t have more enemies than a mean ol’ bastard in a small town. People had a way of holding grudges for generations.
    Damon looked at me and smiled lazily. “Just tell them you have to take your mom to a doctor out