Free All A Heart Needs B&N by Barbara Freethy Page B

often at night, and he'd never been scared. But he couldn't remember those times now. They were all behind a wall of flames and his last haunting images of Stacy.
    She'd laugh at him if she were here. She'd loved to tell ghost stories. One of their favorite activities was to set up a tent in her room and turn off all the lights? Stacey would hold up a flashlight and whisper a story that always started with the same words, It was a night just like this …
    He'd loved her stories and had helped her make up even creepier, bloodier tales. But none of those stories had been real. The lights had always come back on, and everything had been normal.
    "Sean?" Jessica called.
    Her voice penetrated through the fog in his brain. She was standing on the porch. She'd opened the front door and turned on the light in the entry. He could also see a light on upstairs now. Kyle had obviously gone up to his room.
    Well, if a six-year-old could do it…
    He got out of the van and walked up to the house. "Sorry, I was just checking my phone," he lied.
    "Everything looks fine. You can go home."
    Now that he'd made it to the steps, he wanted to go inside. "Actually, I'd like to see Stacy's photo album." He'd been thinking about that album ever since Jessica had mentioned it.
    She gave him a doubtful look but waved him inside. "It's still up in the attic. I'll get it for you. Let me just make sure Kyle is getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is a school day.
    He followed her up the stairs and into Kyle's room, which had once belonged to Stacy's brother, Blake. Jessica had turned her son's room into a kid's paradise. Bunk beds with bright red and orange-checkered comforters and matching fluffy pillows took up one corner of the room. On the opposite wall was a bookcase filled with books and games, a desk with crayons, paints and paper, and along the other wall was a toy chest overflowing with trucks, blocks, action figures and stuffed animals. Kyle knelt on the floor in the middle of the room, playing with a model airplane.
    Kyle looked up and gave Sean a happy smile. "Hi Uncle Sean. Look what Ryan gave me."
    "That's cool."
    "Ryan said he's going to teach me how to fly planes when I'm bigger."
    "That will be fun."
    "Kyle," Jessica interrupted. "You're supposed to be getting ready for bed."
    "Five more minutes," Kyle pleaded.
    "You had five minutes. Put the plane away and go brush your teeth."
    Kyle grumbled but got up and headed for the bathroom.
    "Sorry about the uncle part," Jessica said. "Nicole thought it would be easier to give Kyle the same relationship to everyone in your family as Brandon has."
    "Kyle can call me whatever he wants. I have no problem with uncle." He paused. "You did a great job on this room, Jess. It feels light and happy."
    She smiled with pleasure. "I hope so. I always wanted a room like this. Maybe not so much boy stuff, but I get to relive at least some of my childhood fantasies through Kyle." She cocked her head to one side, giving him a speculative look. "Being in this room doesn't bother you?"
    He shook his head. "I didn't spend much time in here. Stacy's room might be another story."
    "I haven't done anything with her room yet. Right now there are just boxes and extra furniture in there, most of which came out of the master bedroom. I keep the door closed so Kyle doesn't get into things. Do you want to see it?"
    "Not tonight." He wasn't quite ready to face that old memory. "I would like to see her photo album though."
    She nodded and they made their way into the attic. Jessica turned on the lone light, pulled a pink album out of a box and handed it to him.
    "Here you go," she said. "I'm going to get Kyle in his pajamas."
    After Jessica left, he opened the album. The first few pictures didn't mean that much to him. Stacy as a baby didn't resonate with him, but when he got to the photos of them together, his heart started to pound. Seeing her blue eyes stare back at him now made him realize that he hadn't actually looked at her