Page 138 of The Locker Room

morning. She"d spent the night in her guest bedroom in Xander"s wing,

and was wearing some old jeans and a Kings" jersey she kept there. She

had sort of a trendy/cool apartment in downtown Sac, Xander knew, but

birthday celebrations and family dinners, they"d all seemed to gravitate

toward the big house in Folsom. Partly because it was big, and partly

because Lucia could cook, and partly because Jed and Andi loved to

walk the running path when they thought no one noticed they"d slipped

away.

Right up until the night before, Xander had thought that it was

mostly because Chris was there. He hadn"t realized that he"d fit into the

equation there too.

“That"s because he left his heart here,” Andi said bleakly, and

Xander made a sound then and decided he needed to have his ibuprofen

and his Pepto and his run. The dogs were restless—they needed a run.

The family was downstairs, enjoying the pancakes Lucia had

cooked without a word because Chris had told her that strawberry

pancakes were Xander"s favorite. Xander had never told him that they

were his favorite because Andi had made them for him his first night

living in the Edwards"s little house.

“Xander, don"t go,” Andi said, slanting eyes at him but using the

same tone of voice she"d used to use when she was making Chris finish

his homework before going out to shoot the ball. She"d never had to use

that voice with Xander. (Xander had gone to live with them on the

understanding that keeping his grades up had been a priority. He"d never

done anything to jeopardize getting to live at Chris"s house.)

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“I"m going for a run,” he said, his mouth dry, because it might have

been the first lie he"d ever told her, and telling himself that he was

twenty-eight years old did him no goddamned good at all.

“You don"t need a run. You have conditioning later. Your knees