As soon as they were out of earshot, Van said, “If I don’t miss my guess, Daw, the kid’s got a thing for you.”
Daw rolled his eyes. “I’m old enough to be his father. Well, experience-wise anyway.”
“Seven years isn’t that much older,” Jon said. “Brody’s six years older than me. Okay, if he’d lived he’d be fourteen years older, but who’s counting.”
“You, obviously,” Brody replied, hugging him.
“Whatever. I think Van’s right, Daw.”
“Yeah, well…Damn it, he better not have. I don’t need a puppy trailing me around.”
Gene chuckled. “First he’s a kid, now he’s a puppy?”
“You know what I mean. I’m a loner. Have been since forever, it seems. Yeah, I made a couple of friends. Russ was one of them because he needed protection until he got the hang of things. That was it. I haven’t even seen him
