But he wasn’t alone.
The door to the room opened.
A woman followed him. She closed the door softly behind her.
Jasper still had his coat on. He hadn’t been sitting with our son. He had been… somewhere else.
Howard stirred. “Dad?”
Jasper pulled the chair close to the bed. “Hey, buddy. You doing okay?”
The woman stayed near the wall, her arms folded. She was watching them both.
“We need to make sure we’re telling the story about what happened the right way,” Jasper said.
He had been… somewhere else.
My stomach dropped.
Howard frowned. “I told everyone I fell.”
“Right.” Jasper nodded quickly. “You were riding your scooter. I was outside. You lost your balance. Freak accident. That’s what we tell Mom.”
“But Dad, I don’t want to lie to Mom.”
My heart broke right then and there.
“I told everyone I fell.”
“We have to, okay?” Jasper’s voice took on a sharp, impatient edge. “Your mom can’t know I wasn’t there. She’ll flip out, and you know how she gets.”
I felt a surge of rage. Jasper wasn’t there? Then where was he?
“But why?” Howard asked. “You just went to the store, and Kelly was there…”
The woman, Kelly, shifted uncomfortably. “Your mom isn’t supposed to know about me yet, remember? We talked about this, Howard.”
