Page 69 of Back in the Saddle

But in the end, if there was anyone Jeff would reach out to when he was in the wind, it’d be Joshua and Katelyn.

We trooped up to their cookie cutter, tile-roofed, xeriscaped, two-story house in Litchfield Park, and I rang the doorbell.

It took a while (the college games were on), but Joshua answered.

Instead of his face splitting into a grin, his usual response to seeing me, it curved into a cagey smile, something that told me Jeff was in contact with him.

But he didn’t want me to know.

“Hey, Jess! Wow! What a surprise!” He faked happiness.

“Hey, Joshua.” I turned and used my hand in a sweeping motion to the chicks, but I didn’t take my eyes off him. “Sorry to show without calling. These are my girls, Harlow, Luna and Raye. And we got some info about Jeff yesterday, so we’re out seeing if he’s checked in with anybody.”

“You got info from Jeff?” He faked not having his own info from Jeff.

“Yeah.”

“What’s that? Is he okay?” He faked not knowing Jeff was okay, or not, whatever the case might be.

I looked beyond him into his house. “Is Kat around?”

Katelyn would give me the skinny.

He didn’t move, which meant she wasn’t, and he told me why. “She’s at work.”

“Right, so, you haven’t heard from him?” I pushed.

He shook his head. “No. Not in a while. Still totally worried. Sucks you had to come all the way out here. You should have called.”

“Well, we were at David’s so…” I let that hang.

“Did you call David?” He was making a point.

“No. I just figured you’d all be in, you know, because of the football.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Watching U of A get their asses kicked.”

“Bummer,” I muttered.

“I’d ask you in, but…” It was his turn to let his words hang, probably because he had no excuse not to let us in, outside of us being totally rude and showing at his house unannounced, that was.

“Oh, we don’t want to bother you.” I could lie too. “I just…I have to ask. The thing I heard was that Jeff was something called a Street Warrior. Have you heard of that?”

His face paled (shit!), and he lied right back, “No. Never. What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know.”But you do! And you don’t like it!“I’m trying to find out. Because, you know, if Jeff isn’t taking his meds, he’s not really in any shape for much of anything. He needs seeing to.”

Joshua caught himself stretching his neck to release tension before he suggested, “Maybe, I don’t know, he got back on his meds or something.”

That meant Jeff was back on his meds.

I couldn’t deny that was a massive relief. Especially if Katelyn oversaw that situation.

Even so.

“Joshua, I really need to know where my brother is.”

“Jess, I really would tell you if I knew where he was,” Joshua replied.

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