War at Home: A Smokey Dalton Novel by Kris Nelscott Read Free Book Online

own money put away. The last few months have been lucrative.”
    He took in that information. He seemed to understand that I was serious. “What if you stayed east and I didn’t want to?”
    “We’d get you a bus ticket home,” I said.
    He continued spinning his glass between his large hands. “How long would I be gone?”
    “I don’t know that. Maybe a week. Maybe a month. Maybe all summer. Finding someone who doesn’t want to be found is nearly impossible, particularly if they’re smart.”
    My breath caught as I said that last. It almost felt like a confession.
    Malcolm didn’t notice. “Daniel’s smart.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “What if you don’t find him by the end of summer and you want to come back?”
    “Then I’ll tell Grace I did all I could.”
    “You taking Elijah , too?”
    “No,” I said. “Grace needs her other son to stay home.”
    “He’s not going to like it that I’m going and he’s staying.”
    “He’s too young.”
    “Jimmy’s too young,” Malcolm said.
    “Jimmy stays with me.”
    Malcolm tilted his head slightly as he looked at me. “Someday you gonna tell me where all this comes from?”
    “What?”
    “Your — I don’t know — protectiveness, I guess. Most folks would just go on doing what they’re doing, you know? You don’t. You’re always surprising me.”
    I smiled. “Sometimes I surprise me , too.”
    Malcolm picked up his tea glass and drained it. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “The Grimshaws aren’t going to like it either.”
    “That you come with me?”
    “That you’re even going. They worry about you. And Jimmy. Jimmy a lot. They say he needs stability.”
    “What do you say?”
    Malcolm got out of his chair and took the glass to the sink. He stood with his back to me. “I’d trade stability for another summer with my mom any day.”
    His voice was quiet as he said that. But I knew what he meant. I spent the last half of my childhood thinking the same thing. My parents were lynched when I was ten, and I grew up with wonderful adoptive parents who never quite felt like my own. I would have traded anything to get my own parents back, even for an afternoon.
    “You want to come?” I asked.
    “Hell, yeah,” he said as he turned around. His eyes sparkled for the first time that day. “When do we leave?”
     

 
    SIX
     
    Given the chance, I would have left the next morning. But I had a few loose ends to tie up first.
    And I hadn’t even told Jimmy my plans. I did so at dinner that night. I didn’t mention that I was thinking of leaving Chicago permanently. I figured I could tell him that when — if — we found some place we liked better.
    “I dunno,” he said without meeting my gaze. “Me and Keith was planning on swimming this summer.”
    Keith was the Grimshaw boy closest to Jimmy’s age. They were best friends.
    “Swimming?” I asked.
    Jimmy nodded. “They got Jackson Park open. We thought maybe you or Franklin or Malcolm could take us there. Keith’s never been swimming in the lake.”
    “Never?” I asked.
    “His mom says it’s too cold.”
    Lake Michigan was cold, but that was precisely why most Chicagoans loved to swim in it during the city’s sweltering summers. If Althea didn’t want the children to swim in the lake, she probably had other reasons — pollution or dangers near the swimming area.
    “You’re going to swim all summer?” I asked.
    Jimmy nodded, his mouth full of m acaroni and c heese. When it got hot, I didn’t like to cook. When we’d gotten home, I’d boiled the noodles, fried some sausage, and had a meal on the table within fifteen minutes.
    “You can probably swim in the lake before we leave,” I said.
    He swallowed, chased the food with some milk, and started to wipe his milk mustache off with the back of his hand. Then he noticed how closely I was watching him. He picked up his napkin and dabbed at his lips, missing the mustache altogether.
    “Can’t