Breakdown Read Online Free PDF Page B

Christmas?” Jon said. “You’d invited me, do you remember? I’ve always wondered what would have happened. Maybe Kevin would have come out to take care of Mum.”
    Chris balled up the T-shirt in his hands. “‘What if...?’” he whispered. “That’s a phrase I’ve beaten myself up with the past six years, Jon. What if I hadn’t tried to come here after Christmas, hadn’t ever gone to the airport? What if I hadn’t let Sophie go to the airport to see me off? Maybe she wouldn’t have caught it. What if they hadn’t canceled my flight, and I made it here? Would I have spent the past six years trying to get back there, going the opposite direction?” He sighed, shook his head again. “It’s a bottomless black pit, that phrase, those two little words. And what if I’d got here and found out you were all dead?”
    Jon’s stomach felt hollow. “Is that what kept you away? Since London?”
    Chris did not look back at Jon, but he nodded. “I was afraid I wouldn’t find anyone. I didn’t know if I could stand that.” He sat down hard on the bed, reached into his duffel to pull out a plastic bottle a quarter full of water, and drank it down.
    “What made you come, finally?”
    “I decided that I could stand it. I had to know.”
    “Well, you’re home now, finally,” Jon said. Chris’s head jerked up at him. Jon could hear him pull in his breath and saw a flash of uncertainty in Chris’s expression. Then Chris stood up as if to cover it, tossed the bottle onto the bed.
    “I’d better have that shower,” he said, and reached for the clothes Jon was holding.
    Jon got him a towel from the cupboard in the hall, showed him the soap and shampoo, how to work the shower to get the optimum temperature, and then left him to it. He went into the empty room next to his, the room that was supposed to have been Colin and Emily’s room. Over the years it had been used for storage. A few boxes were piled on the bed and stacked on the floor, but it was a good-sized room, bigger than his own, and even after Jon had pushed all the boxes against one wall, there was plenty of space. He found bedding in the closet and set about making the place comfortable for Chris.
    Brian stuck his head in the door. “Do you need anything? Fiona wanted me to ask.”
    “No, thanks. It’s okay, isn’t it, to put him in here?”
    “Of course,” Brian said. “I can clear out those boxes, if you’d like.”
    “No, don’t worry about it,” Jon said. “They’re not in the way.”
    “Right, then,” Brian nodded, and glanced toward the loo. “Supper soon, Fiona says.”
    “We’ll be down as soon as he’s ready,” Jon said, and Brian went back downstairs.
    The bathroom door opened soon after. A shave and clean clothes made a world of difference in Chris’s appearance. Jon wondered why he wore his hair so long; he never had before, always kept it short and neat, but he didn’t say anything about it. Jon was back in his own room, gathering up Chris’s dirty clothes into a laundry basket. He held it out and Chris dumped the stuff he’d been wearing into it.
    “I’ve got you set up in the next room,” Jon said. He picked up the blanket roll and motioned for Chris to follow.
    “This is nice, thanks,” Chris said, coming in carrying his duffel, coat, and shoes. “The whole place is nice,” he went on. “How long has he had it?”
    “He bought it about a year before the crash,” Jon said. “Took most of the year to get it ready, too. It was rather a wreck, I hear. Needed lots of remodeling and upgrades.”
    Chris shook his head ruefully and tossed his stuff onto the bed. “Brian’s private little kingdom,” he said softly.
    “What?” Jon said, taken aback. “It’s not like that at all. Brian hadn’t much to do with it. It was all Simon’s idea. He used up all his own money first, then convinced Brian to give him more. He saw it coming long before the rest of us. If it weren’t for Simon, we wouldn’t be