Chapter 17

God. He should have been here for the kids earlier. He closed his eyes as a memory hit him. He must have been four or five, and Mom was yelling at him for picking up a needle and playing with it.

“No, Justin, no! That’s for Mommy’s medicine!”

He should have been here for the kids.

Justin opened his eyes to find Del watching him. He fussed over Scarlett as an excuse to look away. He wasn’t entirely sure why Del was here. “Neighborly” didn’t stretch far in Enterprise, at least with the O’Dwyers, and not without reason. A bitter, angry part of him wanted to demand to know why Del was here, why he gave a damn, but his eyes were kind and the lasagna smelled good, and the kids were so fucking sick of sandwiches for dinner. They hadn’t had a proper home cooked meal since Justin had arrived back on their doorstep, and probably not for a long while before that too. When Mom was good she was great, but when she was using again…well, here they all were, right?