All Night Long

She was driving too fast for me to bail out of the car, so I did the only thing I could do; I tightened my seat belt and prayed that she would tire o he game and turn around.”
    “Is that what happened?”
    “No. When we reached Kirbyville she had to slow down. I told her that I was going to get out and cal y folks to come get me. But she started to cry and then she apologized and told me that she woul ake me home. I was furious because she had ruined everything. By the time we got back to Dunsle e weren’t even speaking to each other. She knew as well as I did that I would never be able to spend time with her again.”
    “Because you were going to tell your folks what had happened and they would ground you?”
    She smiled sadly. “There was no point trying to lie to either of my parents. Pamela knew that as wel s I did. In any event, she took me home and dropped me off in the front yard without saying another word. She left before I even got my key out of my pocket. I never saw her again.”
    She stopped talking because she had gone very cold, the way she always did when she talked about that night. If she kept going she would start to shake.
    Luke turned onto the road that led to the lodge.
    “No offense,” he said after a while, “but it just doesn’t seem likely that Pamela would have waited this long to contact you if she knew something important about what happened that evening.”
    “Maybe she only recently learned some details or some facts that she hadn’t known before.”
    “You’re reaching here, admit it.” He broke off jaw hardening. “What the hell?”
    She realized that he was looking at a car parked in front of the lobby. A good-looking man in his early twenties leaned casually against one of the stone pillars of the entranceway.
    “You’ve really got a problem with paying customers, don’t you?” she said.
    “He isn’t a paying customer.” Luke brought the SUV to a halt beside the other car and shut down the engine. “His name is Jason Danner. He’s my youngest brother.”
    For some reason it came as unexpected news to learn that Luke had a family. Why had she assumed otherwise? Of course he had relatives, she thought. Most people had lots of them. She was the exception to the rule, because after her great-aunt had died a few years ago she had no one left. But that was no reason to assume that everyone else she met was in the same situation.
    Still, there was something about Luke that had made her think he was also alone, a sense of distance, perhaps, as if he, too, looked out at the world from another dimension, just as she had learned to do.
    She examined Jason through the SUV window, aware of an inexplicable sense of curiosity. There certainly wasn’t a great deal of family resemblance, she thought. The two men were very different physically. Jason was not only younger, he was taller and, a picky purist might say, better-looking. Not sexier, though, Irene thought, just handsomer. Big difference.
    It occurred to her that, given the obvious age difference between the two and the fact that Luke had said he’d lost his mother when he was six, Jason had to be the offspring of a second marriage. He and Luke were half brothers.
    Luke was already out of the SUV . There was a forbidding cast to his face. He was not particularly pleased to see his brother.
    “What are you doing here, Jase?” he asked. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
    Jason spread his hands. “Take it easy, Big Brother. Just thought I’d come see how you’re doing in the motel business.”
    He was smiling but it did little to diminish the tension in the air between the two men.

    Luke opened Irene’s door. “Jason, meet Irene Stenson. She’s a guest here at the lodge.”
    “Hello, Jason.” She smiled and got down from the high seat.
    Jason nodded, interest flickering in his gaze as he gave her a swift head-to-toe once-over. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Stenson.”
    The look he was giving her wasn’t personal, she thought, more a combination of curiosity and assessment. He was wondering what her relationship was to Luke.
    “It’s complicated,” she said dryly.
    Jason blinked, startled. Then he grinned. “It usually is when it involves Luke.”
    “What are you two talking about?” Luke growled.
    “Nothing important,” Irene said quickly. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you two to discuss whatever it is you have to discuss.”
    She gave both men a bright little smile and walked away