The Son He Never Knew. KRISTI GOLD

heavens. That thing is probably feral and hasn’t had any shots. I need—”

      “To leave him be,” Chase said as the kitten skittered away.

      She sent him a look of sheer surprise. “Are you crazy? He could’ve been scratched or bitten and ended up with rabies.”

      “But he wasn’t and he’s fine. Seems to me he just needs a little time to himself.”

      Jess silently admitted Chase was probably right, but her motherly instincts at times commandeered her common sense.

      “You know what else he needs, Jess?” Chase said.

      “A friend?”

      “A dog.”

      Another memory, sharp as shattered glass, dug into her mind. “Danny had a puppy once when he was five. A Golden Retriever named Birdie. She chewed up a pair of Dalton’s Italian loafers, so Dalton gave her away to some hunter two counties over. Then he told Danny that she’d run away because he wasn’t a good boy.”

      “That sorry son of a bitch,” Chase muttered, pure venom in his voice.

      Jess had called him that very thing in her mind, but she’d never said it to his face…until last night.

      Shoving aside the reminders, Jess planned to go to Danny just to make sure he’d been left unscathed, at least when it came to the cat. Yet when he took a stick and began drawing in the dirt, his mouth moving as if he were speaking to an imaginary friend, fascination kept her planted where she stood. At least that confirmed he could still talk, even if not to her. He could also still smile, she realized, when he grinned as he looked to his right to see the kitten had returned. A smile that always warmed her heart whenever his precious dimples came into view, the one on the left more prominent that the one on the right.

      Overcome with the need to distract Chase, she side-stepped him. “I’m going to bring Danny in before he ends up on the wrong side of the cat.”

      Chase checked his watch. “And I’m going to head out.”

      Jess realized that after he left, she had no means to communicate with the outside world. “I left my cell phone on the charger at the house.”

      “I’d give you mine but I need it for work. I’ll see if Sue can come up with a spare until we get yours in the morning.”

      If Sue didn’t come through, that meant she’d spend the day wondering if Dalton’s condition had deteriorated. “Thanks again. For everything.”

      “No sweat. That’s what friends are for.”

      At least he still considered her a friend, or he could be playing nice out of pity. Only time would tell.

      They walked side by side to the door and when they stepped onto the porch, Jess resisted the urge to throw her arms around him and ask him to stay a few more minutes. “Have an exciting day.”

      He barked out a cynical laugh. “Sure. About the only excitement I’ll see is if I have to break up a bar fight.”

      She shuddered at the thought of Chase throwing himself into the middle of danger, though that wasn’t unfamiliar territory. She’d had to live with that reality the whole time he’d been at war. “Tell Sue not to hurry on our account.”

      “Sue doesn’t have any other speed.”

      He sent her a smile, displaying his dimples to full advantage, touched the brim of his hat and said, “See you tomorrow, ma’am,” before climbing into the SUV and driving away.

      As Jess rounded the house to join Danny, a cool breeze blew across her face and brought with it a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the mild winter weather. She longed to be around Chase, yet she realized the possible peril in that. The more time he spent with her child, the greater the risk that he might begin to suspect what she’d suspected—and denied—for years.