After he’d finished crying, Rosalie told Dallas to wash his face and go exercise in the garage.

“You always feel better after you do,” she reminded him.

Dallas felt too empty for exercise, but he didn’t want to mope around the kitchen so he changed his clothes and went to the garage. He usually left the garage door open for ventilation and ignored the passing traffic or dog-walkers as he did his reps. But today he was in the middle of a set of bicep curls when a familiar voice said, “Dallas?”

Dallas’ head shot up. Nate was standing at the entrance of the garage. His pants were dirty and torn at one knee, his shirt was crinkled, but worst of all a red bruise was blossoming over his left eye. Dallas dropped his weight and sprinted out to embrace his friend. Nate clung tightly to Dallas in return. 

They stood in the garage door for a minute like that while Dallas tried to get his heart to stop pounding; eventually Nate asked in a quiet voice, “Can we go inside?”

Dallas let go of him and looked over Nate’s battered face.

“Did the Reverend do that to you?” he said.

Nate gingerly touched the bruise and grinned.

“Yeah,” he said ruefully. “It was a bit of a surprise. The Reverend usually never touches my face because it’s too obvious, but I said ‘fuck’ to him. He didn’t like THAT.”

Nate’s words sank under Dallas’ skin and he grit his teeth.

“Do your parents know you’re here?” he asked.

“Nope,” Nate shook his head, then winced. “Father and Mother locked me in my room and went off to their church committees. They have to keep up appearances, you know? I made trouble for them today and now they have to smother all those rumors. Once they were gone, I broke the lock on my window and push out the screen. I climbed down the drain along the side of the house, but I lost my grip near the end and fell the last couple of feet. I think I might’ve hurt my ankle too.”

Dallas noticed that despite his easy tone of voice, Nate was trembling. He put a hand gently on the other boy’s shoulder.

“Let’s go inside,” he said. “Rosalie will know what to do.”

Dallas shut the garage and helped Nate up the porch; he was walking with a definite limp. The minute they were inside Rico peered over the stair’s banister and let out a shriek of delight.

“Nate!” he cried as he pounded downstairs…although he stopped short when he saw Nate’s sorry state. “You’re hurt!”

“Nate?” Rosalie came out of the living room in a stampede of noise. She took one look at Nate’s face and seemed to grow five feet taller with determination.

“Rico,” she commanded, “go upstairs and do not come down until I tell you. Dallas, get the first aid kit and some clean clothes and bring them to the kitchen. I’m going to call Rob.”

Then she paused to place a comforting hand on Nate’s cheek.

“It’s going to be alright, sweetie,” she promised him. “You’ve been so strong, please hang on for just a little longer.”

Nate’s bottom lip trembled, but he didn’t cry. He nodded and allowed Rosalie to support him with her arm. Rico protested that he wanted to stay with Nate, but Dallas picked him up and carried him to the playroom.

“Please stay here, Rico,” Dallas begged him. “You can see Nate after we’ve helped him. Let mama and me take care of him.”

Rico’s eyes filled with frustrated tears, but he agreed to stay upstairs and Dallas kissed the top of his head. Then Dallas took a clean pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from his dresser, before digging around his parents’ bathroom until he found the first aid kit. He ran back down the stairs to the kitchen, where Nate sat at the table with a leg propped up on chair and a bag of frozen peas over his eye. Rosalie was talking on her phone as she sorted through the cabinet where they kept medicine.

“Yes, I can call her,” she was saying. “The number is in your office? Alright, I’ll do that – please just drive safe Rob.”

She hung up and glanced over at the teens.

“Your dad is on his way home,” she informed them. “He’s handled a case like this before, so he knows what to do. Nate, why don’t you change into those clothes and we’ll be able to take care of your knee. Dallas, help him over to the bathroom – I have to make a phone call from Rob’s office.”

She left Dallas to help Nate into the bathroom, although Nate said he was able to dress himself. When he came out again, he almost looked like an ordinary teenager in Dallas’ spare clothes – except Dallas could now see how thin Nate really was and that there were several more fading bruises on his left arm. Nate rubbed at his bare arms subconsciously.

“These are old,” he reassured Dallas, but that didn’t make him feel any better. Dallas tried to smile as he helped Nate back to the kitchen table and rolled up the loose sweatpant leg so that he could clean and bandage the scrape on his knee. Nate rested with the frozen peas on his face, looking almost peaceful despite everything.

“Do you want an aspirin?” Dallas asked once he was done with Nate’s knee.

Nate nodded gratefully. “Yes please.”

Dallas fetched him a pill and a glass of water, which Nate gulped down like a parched fish. Dallas refilled the glass and gave it back to Nate, who sipped more slowly but no less thankfully. Rosalie returned to the kitchen and rummaged around in the fridge.

“Have you eaten anything today?” she asked Nate.

He shook his head and Rosalie muttered in Spanish under her breath, before she poured him a glass of milk and gave him an apple.

“Eat that while I make you something,” she said. “I think we’re all having quesadillas for dinner tonight.”

Dallas sat down and held a bag of frozen corn against Nate’s ankle while the other boy ate the apple and drank the milk. Rosalie had determined that the ankle wasn’t broken, but it was probably sprained. Dallas was just beginning to calm down himself when the front door opened and they heard Rob call, “Rosalie? Nate?”

“In the kitchen!” Rosalie called back, and Rob came around the corner in a hurry. He took one look at Nate and grimaced.

“I’m so sorry, Nate,” he said regretfully.

Nate actually laughed. “Why are you sorry? You didn’t hit me!”

“No, but I suspected that someone was,” Rob replied. “I wanted to do something sooner, but I had no real evidence to act on and you understand that your family’s place in the community makes things…difficult.”

Nate nodded understandingly.

“I really don’t want to go back, sir,” he said quietly.

“And you won’t have to, if I have anything to do with it,” Rob said firmly. “Do you trust me to take care of everything?”

Nate nodded again.

“I do,” he said. “Please help me.”

Rob beamed with pride at Nate.

“I knew you were brave,” he said, and then he pulled out a chair so that he could sit next to Nate. 

Rob’s tone was official and business-like as he continued, “Here’s what’s going to happen next: Rosalie contacted someone I know in Child Protective Services and she’ll be coming over to take over your case. She’ll need to ask you some questions and then we’re going to ask a judge to issue an emergency guardianship for you. Is there anyone in your family that you’d trust to help you out?”

Nate thought about it.

“I think my grandma – my mother’s mother – figured out what was happening,” he said after a moment. “She doesn’t get to talk to me often since my mother doesn’t like keeping in touch with her, but the last time I saw my grandma she told me that I could call her if I ever needed anything. She lives up north, in Alberin County…it’s a three-hour drive to her house from here.”

Rob nodded. “Good. If you can give me her name, I’ll contact her right away.”

Nate told him his grandmother’s name and the town she lived in, and Rob wrote it down on a piece of scrap paper. Then Dallas’ father took a breath and said, “I also contacted someone I know in the sheriff’s department.”

Nate’s face paled, but Rob continued, “I’m sorry Nate, I had to. It’s official procedure and besides, we’ll need their help to do the necessary investigation. Deputy Nelson is going to have to ask you questions too.”

“But the sheriff goes to church!” Nate said, and the first signs of panic were starting to appear in his face. “He’s friends with my father – they golf together! He’ll send me back!”

“No, he won’t,” Rob said soothingly. “I’m confident that Deputy Nelson will be able to make enough of a case that you won’t get sent back to your parents. Besides, the sheriff knows his job would be on the line if there is any question that he acted in an underhanded or corrupt way – he’s an elected official, remember? He’s not going to make a hasty decision like that and especially not when he hears that I’m involved…a reputation like mine does have some benefits.”

At this, Dallas’ dad smiled like a feral animal and Nate’s breathing eased again.

“O…OK,” he said, and he squeezed Dallas’ hand. “But can Dallas be there when I answer their questions?”

Rob glanced at Dallas, who nodded vigorously. There was no way he’d let Nate go through this crisis alone!

“Yes, Dallas can be present if you want,” his dad agreed. “They’ll be here shortly, so take a few minutes to relax while I call your grandmother. Where’s Rico?”

“I’M UPSTAIRS!” wailed a small voice from the staircase. “JUST LIKE MAMA AND DALLAS SAID!”

“It sounds as though he’s using the loose interpretation of being upstairs,” Rob said, but Rosalie went out and fetched the boy into the kitchen.

“You’re going to help me make a quesadilla for Nate, OK?” she told Rico as she set him down beside the stove. Rico glanced over at Nate, who gave him a thumbs up, and the little boy nodded.

“I’ll cook you the best one!” he promised.

Rob left the room to make some phone calls and Rosalie set Rico to work shredding cheese. Nate and Dallas sat in silence; Nate hadn’t let go of Dallas’ hand and Dallas was doing his best not to be happy. He knew what was happening was horrible – it was the thing he’d feared would happen – but in that moment being able to touch Nate was all that he could’ve asked for. Nate had his eyes closed and seemed to be relaxed. Dallas realized this was the most relaxed he’d ever seen his friend – all of Nate’s body seemed loose and at ease, and Dallas wondered at how he could’ve lived with his fear for so long.

“Nate IS really brave,” he thought with his awe and pride. “He’s the bravest, most wonderful person I know!”

But just as Dallas began to fall in love with Nate all over again, the doorbell rang and the tentative peace of the kitchen shattered. Everyone listened as Rob came out of his office and opened the door. There were murmured voices that disappeared down the hall, then Rob came into the kitchen and gestured to Nate.

“Come on boys,” he said. “It’s time.”

Nate looked apprehensively at Dallas, who did his best to summon all his courage into a smile. He stood up and offered his arm to Nate, who took it, and together they hobbled down the hall to Rob’s office.

* * * * * *