A Measure of Love Read Online Free Page B

an important space mission, but we need a spaceship. Lexie knows every planet by name and even some of the stars. Did you know that stars have names? She showed me through her telescope. So we’re building a spaceship behind her house in the woods. We’re not going too far, though, because her mom said we couldn’t, but her dad’s cut us some pieces of wood that we can use as long as he can help, even though he calls me ‘that boy’ instead of my name, so we were going to start it today.”
    His mother laughed again. “A spaceship for an important mission, huh?”
    “Yeah! Lex is the driver. I’m the co-pilot, but I’m still Han Solo.”
    “Well, why didn’t you say so? Spaceships are important business.”
    “I know!” Riley agreed, relieved that his mother understood his urgency.
    “Let’s go.”
    Riley wasn’t too embarrassed when their car pulled up at Lexie’s house, but he would have happily hid when his mother insisted on meeting Lexie’s mom, Christine, before she left. In the front yard, he stood, with Lexie at his side, while the two women murmured and chuckled about something they both seemed to find very funny, and looked at him and Lexie in ways that made him want to hide his face in his hands.
    “Maybe Riley can stay for dinner?” Lexie blurted, causing Riley’s head to almost topple off his neck in surprise. She glanced back at him quickly and shifted on her feet. “What?” she whispered. “Don’t you want to?”
    He did. He absolutely did. The only part of the inside of Lexie’s house he’d seen so far was the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. The thought of seeing more was kind of exciting. And spending more time with Lexie could only be a good thing.
    “I think that would be fine,” Christine agreed with a smile that Riley’s mom mirrored. “Okay, Riley?”
    “Yeah,” he answered quickly. He looked back at Lexie to see her grinning. “Yeah.”
    “Can we go now?” Lexie asked, all but jumping on the spot, grabbing Riley by his sleeve and pulling him away from their mothers. “We have a mission to complete!”
    “I’ll be here at seven to pick you up,” Riley’s mom called after him, but he didn’t reply. He simply waved at her over his shoulder as he ran toward the back of the house beside Lexie.
    ·   ·   ·
    The plane that Carter had organized for Riley and Tate was fancy as hell. Cream leather seats, of which there were twenty. Full bar, mahogany tables, flat-screen TV, and a cute flight attendant who flushed and giggled every time Riley asked for a drink. He would have been quite happy to kick back and enjoy the view of her in her uniform, but honestly, he was far too distracted.
    He sipped his bourbon from a crystal glass as he mused. It had been two years since he was last home. He knew he should have been back sooner, and he wished he weren’t such a coward, but, hell, them’s the breaks. The trickle of guilt that had appeared when his mother’s call came through surged now like a fighter jet. Riley rubbed a hand down his face and dropped his head back against his seat as the plane shook with turbulence.
    Tate glanced over. “Dad’s gonna be fine, Ri.” He sighed and rubbed his bad knee. “Don’t brood. It doesn’t suit you.”
    Through the window, the light at the end of the plane’s right wing continued to flash intermittently. “I’m not brooding,” Riley answered. “I’m worried.”
    “Me too, man. Me too.”
    Almost ninety minutes later, they hurried through the main doors of Munson Medical Center, where Tate threw some medical-sounding words and their father’s name at a nurse behind the welcome desk.
    “Your father’s still in surgery,” she told them eventually, nails clicking on the computer keyboard. “You can go up to the family room on the fourth floor. The doctor will find you.”
    It was there that they found their mother.
    Riley adored his mom. Was he a momma’s boy? Probably, but he couldn’t have given a flying