Bone Secrets 03 - Buried

her…waiting at the table. I was the only one to eat dinner. They sat there and watched me eat. It felt weird, but I knew my brother would be home soon. I figured the bus was just lost.” Jamie turned her face away, looking out her side window as her voice went quieter. “It was like they knew he wasn’t coming. Looking back, I swear they had no hope at all.”
    “And the day Chris returned?” Michael felt a brief rush of jealousy at the survivor and his family. It faded rapidly as Jamie turned her green gaze to him.
    “They didn’t believe it. It wasn’t until they actually saw him in the hospital that they let themselves believe. They’d lost all hope. Absolutely all hope. Those two years were so dark. I look at pictures from Christmas during those two years. I can see the despair in their eyes even as they smiled for the camera. My mother stayed in the hospital with Chris until he came home. She wouldn’t leave.”
    “Wasn’t he there for three months or so?”
    Jamie nodded. “It seemed like forever. He was in a coma for a few weeks. I think the doctors induced it to allow his brain injuries to heal. He had five surgeries on his face and more on his right leg. I kept waiting for everything to return to normal, but his medical issues dragged on and on. It never was the same around our house. I thought joy would return. Instead, I still heard my mother cry at night and watched my father’s liquor supply dwindle and refresh.
    “Christmas pictures from then on weren’t much different. My parents still had shadows in their eyes, and Chris would never look at the camera. The left side of his face was so bad, he always turned it away, hating his looks. My parents finally stopped taking pictures of him.” Jamie frowned. “That seems so wrong now. But it wasn’t because they were ashamed of him; it was what he wanted. He was so withdrawn. He acted like he didn’t want the world to know he existed. When reporters would come around every few years, he wouldn’t come out of his room for days. I think it was nearly a relief to my parents when he moved out.”
    “That’s horrible.”
    “I agree,” she nodded thoughtfully. “But the stress was hard on them. Of course, it was worse when he’d vanished, but living with the shell of the child who returned was difficult. Therapy went nowhere. He was only content being alone, working on his computer. It’s hard to be a parent when your child is untouchable. When you want to help but nothing works.”
    Silence filled the vehicle. Not an uncomfortable silence. A commonality. A connection. Michael reached over and squeezed her hand. Jamie glanced down at the gesture, a small smile curving her lips, and then she met his gaze.
    “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
    “Yes, I do. I hated your family for years. I hated your brother, I hated your parents, and I hated you for getting your brother back when I had nothing.”
    Jamie’s face blanched.
    “But I didn’t get it,” he added quickly. “I was a kid. It was my outlet. It was easy to hate faceless people. I just wanted my brother back. Still do. I think any shrink would say it was a pretty normal reaction.”
    Color slowly seeped back to her cheeks. “I understand. I probably would have been the same way.”
    He held tight to her hand and felt the pressure returned. Warmth spread through his chest, and she smiled. A real smile, not a fake I-don’t-believe-a-word-you’re-saying smile.
    “God, you are gorgeous,” he blurted.
    Her eyes crinkled in mirth, and she chuckled. His heart double-thumped. If he’d thought she was beautiful before…
    She pulled her hand from his and touched his cheek. “You’re not so bad yourself, Brody.” Her gaze moved from his eyes to his mouth, and the heat in his chest flared.
    “Christ.” He couldn’t breathe.
    She chuckled again and ran a finger across his upper lip. “Ready to go find that sheriff?”
    Michael blinked. He’d completely forgotten their purpose. How did women shift gears so fast? “Uh…sure.” He didn’t sound sure at all.
    Jamie unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door, swinging sleek legs out. Michael bit the inside of his cheek. She slammed her door and glanced at him through the open window. He hadn’t moved.
    “You coming?”
    He felt glued to his seat. And it wasn’t from the heat. Something about their conversation and the touch of her hand on his face had utterly undone him. His heart had moved