Free Losing Patients (Animal Instincts Book 4) by Chloe Kendrick

to help her.”
    “What? How do you know that when I don’t know it. I live in Toledo, in the same town as her.”
    “Griff, sometimes distance can make you see things that you can’t see when you’re close up. That’s one good reason to move away.” His voice reminded me of when we were young, his encouragement to behave more maturely and thoughtfully. I had a momentary longing for those days, back before Susan disappeared.
    “Wow. I want to hear more about Mom and the sergeant. How do you know all this?”
    Ryan laughed. “Still the same old kid brother, eh? You still have to know the answers to everything. Mary and I have gotten Christmas cards signed by the both of them before. I think they messed up once or twice and sent us the wrong card by mistake. It’s not like she talks about it a lot, but when you get a card like that, you tend to figure things out fast.”
    I paused to think about this for a moment. I didn’t typically get cards from people, but then again I never sent any. I thought that cards, especially the flashy garish designs of Christmas were meant to get you noticed, which had been an anathema to me for so long. I wondered if I had sent cards, would I have received one of those mistakes as well over the years?
    “So when do you think they started dating?” I asked, wondering how long I’d missed this.
    “After Dad died, I think. Mary thinks that they hooked up before that, but I’m not sold on that. I mean, it was a pretty shitty life, but I can’t imagine Mom having an affair with anyone, you know? I don’t want to think about my parents like that.”
    I tried to get my mind around that fact, but I couldn’t. In my world, we’d had enough sorrow without adding infidelity to the mix. I wanted a few scraps of happiness.
    “Griff, you there?” Ryan asked finally.
    “Yeah, just trying to fit this into my mind. Wow. So what about the keys? What do you think?” My mind was now reeling from the ideas in my head. I’d nearly forgotten the original problem with this new information.
    “I don’t have an answer there. I’m going to tell you the truth though. Our family is a family with a lot of secrets. You’re going to have to dig through a number of them in order to find the truth. You need to ask yourself if that’s something you want to do or if you’d be satisfied with just knowing that there was more to the disappearance than you’ll ever know.” Ryan’s voice sounded tired. I could understand why he’d left now. Rather than stay and look for those answers, he’d been content to let the questions go. He’d moved far enough away that he wouldn’t need to question what had happened.
    “Yeah, I knew that. Now I have one more to add to the list, right?”
    “That’s a small one compared to some of the things I think happened, but yeah. So when are you going to come out to Denver?” he asked, changing the subject probably hoping that I wouldn’t notice. His question almost fell into the small talk category, since I’d never flown anywhere in my life.
    I thought about it for a second. “Soon, I mean, if you don’t mind. I’d like to see you.”
    Ryan didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and I wondered if I’d broken past our boundaries into an area where he was not comfortable. Would I be a reminder of what he’d left behind? I wasn’t sure. “Yeah,” he said finally, “we’d both like that a lot. I think you would too.”
    “Great. I’m seeing someone. I think you’d like her,” I added feeling almost cocky with the relationship talk.
    “That’s great. You’re a catch. Women should be lining up to get you. I’m really glad to hear it.”
    I doubted his sincerity, but it was nice to hear the words. “Hey, I have to go. The women in line are getting crazy, and I have to do something with them.”
    Ryan laughed. “Yeah. Hey, in all seriousness, if you decide to look for the answers and you find them, check with me to see if I want to know the answers