Seven Times They Chose Him. The Last Time, They Lost Me novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Lane

The caseworker had her way, and Dylan was allowed to visit on Sunday afternoons.

My father drove him over and parked at the end of the drive with the engine running.

Waffle was in the back seat, and the minute the door opened she came out in one gold streak and went through Aunt Dot's garden.

"She isn't supposed to be here," Dylan said. "I brought her anyway."

"I can see that," Aunt Dot said. "Is she going to eat a woodblock?"

"She's trained."

"She has eaten a sketchbook."

Dylan looked at me, and I almost laughed, and then I remembered I was angry.

We walked out behind the barn with the dog between us.

I hadn't known I was still angry until we were alone.

"You knew," I said.

"Knew what?"

"For fourteen months. You knew you were fine, and you sat there at every dinner, and you let them put me on a stage and call me a hero."

Dylan stopped walking.

"I was nine," he said. "I didn't know how to say it."

"You were ten when you asked Dad if I could come on the trip, and you stopped asking when he said no."

"That's not fair."

"You let them keep me home."

"You let them keep you home!" He was shouting now, and his voice cracked. "You said okay! You always say okay! You stood in the driveway and said have fun, and I stood in the car and wanted you to scream."

I opened my mouth.

I closed it.

"You never told me it hurt," Dylan said. "Not once. If you'd just yelled, one time, maybe I would have had something to hold on to."

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