Page 138 of The Locker Room
morning. She"d spent the night in her guest bedroom in Xander"s wing,
and was wearing some old jeans and a Kings" jersey she kept there. She
had sort of a trendy/cool apartment in downtown Sac, Xander knew, but
birthday celebrations and family dinners, they"d all seemed to gravitate
toward the big house in Folsom. Partly because it was big, and partly
because Lucia could cook, and partly because Jed and Andi loved to
walk the running path when they thought no one noticed they"d slipped
away.
Right up until the night before, Xander had thought that it was
mostly because Chris was there. He hadn"t realized that he"d fit into the
equation there too.
“That"s because he left his heart here,” Andi said bleakly, and
Xander made a sound then and decided he needed to have his ibuprofen
and his Pepto and his run. The dogs were restless—they needed a run.
The family was downstairs, enjoying the pancakes Lucia had
cooked without a word because Chris had told her that strawberry
pancakes were Xander"s favorite. Xander had never told him that they
were his favorite because Andi had made them for him his first night
living in the Edwards"s little house.
“Xander, don"t go,” Andi said, slanting eyes at him but using the
same tone of voice she"d used to use when she was making Chris finish
his homework before going out to shoot the ball. She"d never had to use
that voice with Xander. (Xander had gone to live with them on the
understanding that keeping his grades up had been a priority. He"d never
done anything to jeopardize getting to live at Chris"s house.)
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“I"m going for a run,” he said, his mouth dry, because it might have
been the first lie he"d ever told her, and telling himself that he was
twenty-eight years old did him no goddamned good at all.
“You don"t need a run. You have conditioning later. Your knees
