Page 70 of Intangible
“That’s about the age I was when I phased the first time. It must have something to do with puberty. Completely freaked me out at the time. One second I’m sitting in my bedroom, the next I’m in front of this girl’s locker at school. I had swiped her scarf when she wasn’t paying attention and had it in my hand. Fortunately, it was at night, so the school was closed.”
“Oh, I just remembered something. I do have a picture of your father if you would like to see it. I had this little camera at the time I took everywhere. Another couple at the concert offered to take our picture with it. I didn’t even remember I had it until months later when I got the film developed,” she said. Memphis sat forward on the couch with a nod.
Standing, she flitted into the other room, returning with several scrapbooks.
Flipping through pages, she came to a grainy picture of her standing next to a tall man in what must have been Louisville. Memphis studied it, trying to see the similarities between them. Sunny was right, they did get their looks from their father. Pulling out his phone, he took a picture of it before looking at the page across from it.
“Is that Knox as a baby?” he asked, pointing out the naked baby that lay on his stomach on a fluffy rug to Thayer. “Oh, I have to have a copy of this.” She laughed as he took a picture of it too.
“This scrapbook might also interest you,” Sunny said quietly, handing him another one she had been holding.
Opening it, Memphis turned to the first page. He was shocked to find a school picture of himself. Looking up at her quickly in confusion, he flipped to the next page, finding a newspaper article about the first foster home he had lived in.
Slowly looking through the book, he found a copy of his graduation announcement from high school, pictures of him playing baseball at college, a copy of his discharge papers from the military and a snapshot of him receiving his vet degree.
“What is this?” he asked, looking through it again.
“It’s everything I took off the wall of Knox’s room when I moved. He kept everything he could find about you tacked up on a board. Even after he left home, he would bring stuff home with him to put up. I put it all in that scrapbook when I moved in here.”
“That’s crazy. If he knew this much about me, why didn’t he just tell me who he was?” Memphis looked over at her, but she only shrugged at him.
“He thought you were better off the way you were. You seemed to have finally made a good life for yourself. I guess he didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.”
“Well, that just makes him an asshole,” he exclaimed, slamming the book down on the table. “I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I guess I don’t understand.”
“Oh, don’t apologize to me. I had the same argument. It makes me happy that you finally know. I’m just waiting to see what you do with the information. Whether he’ll admit it or not, he’s waited a long time for you to become a part of his life. Do me just one favor, meet him at least halfway.”
They turned their conversation to other topics. Memphis needed a break from a past he was just now getting to know. It would take him time to figure out how to handle everything going forward. He could tell her one thing, though, he had no doubts that he would go as far as he had to for Knox. He wasn’t taking a chance on losing even one more family member from his life.
Memphis talked Sunny into joining them for dinner, then returning to her house where they visited until late that night. After promising to return again soon, they left her to return to the hotel.
Memphis lay awake long after Thayer had drifted off, looking at the picture of his father on his phone. He didn’t have to think about what it meant to have found out that he had a brother. Knox might be overbearing and seriously obnoxious, but he already loved having him around.
He was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened between them. He still didn’t have all of the answers about how their relationship would work. He just knew they could count on each other to have the other’s back. Just like brothers should.
Chapter 28
“Just how long were we gone?”Memphis asked in jest as they stood in front of his truck. It had been almost three months since they had fled this small farming community in Minnesota. There had been complications from an infection. Then the stitches had had to stay in longer than originally thought.
Jay had insisted they stay in Tennessee until he was positive the skin Curtis Floyd had flayed open on Memphis had completely healed. He still had twinges, but everything seemed to be holding together.
The detour to Kentucky had also added several days to their drive back. They had decided to return the next day to spend more time with Sunny. Memphis couldn’t really explain why he wanted to get to know her better.
Maybe it was the fact that she shared a small similarity of experience with his own mother. It also helped that Sunny was just a fun person to be around. He assumed all the fun had been used up on her, leaving none to infuse into Knox’s DNA.
The FBI had closed the case on Curtis Floyd, thanks to Dex’s help. Floyd had had a long history as a hired gun to the top bidder. His immediate boss, Brent Roberts, had stumbled upon Curtis when he tied up a problem for the man while on business in Los Angeles.
It still made Memphis shiver every time he thought about how close they had come to dying for nothing more than a paycheck. He knew it would take a long time to get over the need to look over his shoulder all the time to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.
Knox had flown home to Connecticut shortly after the fire had been ruled an accident where he began hunting for his next teaching job. Unfortunately, he had to resign from the job he’d held at Thayer’s old school because of all the time off while he was involved protecting her.
He brushed off her apologies to him, saying it wasn’t like she had asked to be kidnapped, then shot at, then kidnapped again. He had mentioned several times about moving closer to them anyway. Thayer had kept him informed on Memphis’ recovery with an update the big man insisted on at least twice a week.
Even Senator Kent had returned to business as usual, splitting his time between Washington, Connecticut, and the campaign trail. He had managed to avoid a large media circus, thanks in part to Randall Jackson’s quick thinking.
Thayer had told Memphis one night after talking to her father that he was being approached for a possible run at the White House during the next presidential election. She wasn’t sure he was interested, loving the job he had now, but he wasn’t ruling the possibility out.
“Are you sure this is the right place? We didn’t fall down a rabbit hole on the way?” Thayer asked as she stood next to him with the same confused expression on her face that he had.
