Sleeping Alone Read Online Free Page B

parking lot.
    “Home.”
    “What the hell’s it doing there?”
    “It was easier to look for you on foot.”
    “Look for me?” Eddie sounded puzzled. “Why were you looking for me? I wasn’t lost.”
    “You took off in your pajamas at four in the morning, Pop. What was I supposed to think?”
    “A man’s got the right to go wherever the hell he wants whenever he wants.”
    “Not in your pajamas,” John said, trying to hang on to what remained of his self-control. “Next time you feel like going out, try getting dressed first.”
    Eddie made a gesture of disgust, then stalked off ahead of John. What’s wrong, Pop? What the hell’s got you so bent out of shape? Eddie’s temper was erratic, his judgment dubious at best. The strong father figure of John’s youth was being replaced by an increasingly frail old man, and it was all happening faster than it should.
    Eddie kept up a brisk pace as they walked to the diner. John could have caught up with him in a few strides, but he hung back, letting his father lead the way. He wasn’t much in the mood for conversation and he doubted if Eddie was either. He’d seen the look of fear in his father’s eyes. Eddie suspected something was wrong, same as John, but both Gallagher men were pros when it came to avoiding the truth.
    His old man had claimed a counter seat by the time John caught up with him. He refused to make eye contact with his son. The Gallagher men also knew how to hold a grudge.
    Dee peeked out from the kitchen. Her long dark red hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was already beginning to droop. She didn’t look old enough to be the mother of a seventeen-year-old boy. “You guys are early today. The grill’s not even hot yet.”
    “You got coffee?” John asked as he sat down two stools away from his father.
    “We’ve always got coffee,” Dee said, looking from John to Eddie. Her eyes lingered on the pajamas. “Everything okay?”
    Eddie cocked a thumb in John’s direction. “He’s a horse’s ass.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know.” She disappeared into the kitchen to get their coffee.
    “Now that,” said Eddie, “is what we used to call a good woman.” He sounded like his old opinionated self.
    “You won’t get an argument from me.”
    “Your damn stupid brother should’ve married her when he had the chance.”
    “No argument about that either.” Except for the fact that Eddie was sitting there in his pajamas, it was your regular morning at the Starlight. The tight ball of tension inside his gut began to unravel. Maybe Dr. Benino was right, and this was all just some weird sleepwalking thing his father was going through. Scary as that might be, it wasn’t half as scary as some of the alternatives John had been dwelling on lately.
    “You ever think about maybe giving her a call?”
    John shot his father a look. “Dee’s a friend. You don’t date friends.”
    “ You don’t date at all.”
    “Don’t go there, Pop. It’s none of your business.”
    “You can’t mourn Libby and the kids forever, Johnny. Sooner or later you’ve got to get on with your life.”
    Wrong again, Pop. He could mourn forever. Libby and his sons had been everything to him, the reason he got up in the morning, the reason he had set out each day, looking to conquer the world. People said men didn’t give a damn about family, that you could plug in a new wife and kid where the old wife and kid had been, and the bastards wouldn’t know the difference, but they were wrong. Three years had passed, and the ache inside his heart was as strong as ever. He hoped it never left him, because that ache was all he had left of his family.
    * * *
    Alexandra pulled into the diner’s parking lot at 6:33 a.m. Except for a blue Chevy parked around back, there wasn’t another car in sight. She angled to a stop in front of a line of newspaper vending machines and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t too late. The “Help Wanted” sign was still in the