Free The Unwanted by Brett Battles Page A

Orlando remained. His only instructions were for Nate to keep his phone close, and answer if Quinn called. In this business, you had to be ready all the time.
Being with Orlando now, Quinn could feel the stress he'd been carrying drain away, if only for a night. The stress had been building since Singapore and Nate's accident, all due to guilt over what had happened to his apprentice. Guilt that he was having a hard time shedding. Guilt that, because of the amputation, Nate would never be whole. Quinn had put him in a position to be hurt, and had made the call to cut off the damaged part of his limb. He knew at the time it probably meant the end of Nate's career as a cleaner. And though he had kept Nate on, he couldn't help but feel like he was waiting for the moment he would have to let his apprentice go.
But he also couldn't hide the fact that Nate's situation wasn't the only thing that had added to his stress. It had been two weeks since he'd received the call from Liz, but he could still remember every word. It was the first time he had talked to his sister in nearly five years. She was younger than he was by eight years, so they had always traveled in different circles, and weren't close.
"First, everything is fine, okay?" she'd told him.
Instantly he was on alert. "What is it?"
"Dad went in for some tests."
"Tests? For what?"
He could hear her take a deep breath. "The doctor thought he might have had a small stroke."
"A stroke?"
"Take it easy, Jake. I said a small stroke." Jake. The nickname his father had given him. And like the name Jonathan Quinn, Jake had no relation to Quinn's real name. "Turns out it wasn't a stroke at all."
"What was it, then?"
"They're not sure. Maybe a virus. He's fine now. Well, his blood pressure is high, so he's taking some medication for that. But otherwise he's fine."
Quinn wasn't sure how to feel. His relationship with his father was an odd one. They had never been close, even when Quinn was a child. It wasn't from lack of trying on either of their parts. They just didn't have anything in common. Quinn knew the real answer why, but he never spoke it out loud. His dad was the only father he had ever known, but genetically they weren't related. So their core points of references for life were different, and neither could really understand the other. Still, he cared about his father, because he knew his father loved his mother deeply.
"How's Mom?"
His sister—technically his half-sister—sighed. "How do you think she is? She's glad he's better, but she's still concerned. She keeps checking on him to make sure he's all right."
"I was just asking, Liz."
There was silence for a moment. "She tells me you haven't visited them for a long time. You need to come out here."
At the time, he was just getting ready to leave for Ireland. "I can't come right now."
"Of course not."
"But I will come soon. In a few weeks."
"Whatever. Do what you need to do, Jake. I just thought you'd want to know."
Before he could say anything else, she'd hung up. He'd called his mother next, but she was evasive, doing her best, as always, not to burden Quinn with anything she felt he didn't need to worry about.
Now that the jobs in both Ireland and Boston were complete, he knew he had to go see his parents. They'd be in Minnesota now, summering in the home Quinn had grown up in. He'd stop by on the way back to L.A.
     
"What are you thinking about?" Orlando asked.
"Nothing," he said as they stepped out of Strega, an Italian restaurant in Boston's North End. He hadn't told her about the call from his sister.
There was a slight chill in the air. Quinn could feel Orlando shiver under his arm, so he pulled her small frame closer to help warm her up.
"Thanks," she said.
She tilted her head up, and he leaned down and kissed her.
"Well, I was thinking about something," he said as they walked down the street with no specific destination in mind.
"Thought so," she said, an eyebrow raised. "I assume it hurt. Maybe you should leave