Dawn Patrol

79

“I'm sorry,” Petra says a moment after the door slams.

“Not your fault,” Boone says.

“I'll talk to her if you'd like,” Petra says. “Explain the misunderstanding.”

Boone shakes his head. “It's been over with us for a long time. Maybe it's good this happened.”

“Clean break sort of thing.”

“Yeah.”

Petra feels bad, but not as bad as she thinks she should. A door has been opened, and she wonders if she should step through it. Not immediately- that would be inappropriate and tawdry, to say the least. But the door is open, and she has this feeling it will stay open for a while.

But she does take a small, tentative step forward. “Is Sunny the mother?”

“What?”

“Rain's mother?”

The door slams shut.

“Try to get a little sleep,” Boone says. “In the morning, you can go out and get Tammy some decent clothes. We'll take her to court; she can testify and we'll be done with this shit.”

He pulls a chair up near the door, his back to her, and sits with the. 38 on his lap.