As he crossed the dry, yellowed lawn he noticed that the sky was dark, thick with swollen-bellied clouds that blocked the sun. He made his way to the truck just as the first fat raindrops began to fall. Inside the cab it was hot, breathless. He opened the windows, shoved the rig into reverse and squinted as rivulets of rain slithered through the film of dust that covered his windshield. He wouldn’t think of Katie right now but sooner or later, he’d have to deal with her.

* * *

“I don’t believe you.” Josh, half lying on the rumpled sheets of his bed, stared at his mother with wide-eyed disgust.

Katie cringed. “It’s true. Why would I lie?”

“But you did. You lied.”

“And now I’m telling you the truth,” she said, dying a little inside. “Dave Sorenson is . . . your father.” She sat on the edge of the bed and opened the yearbook from her days in high school. “I’d always thought there would be more time. That when you were older ... Oh, Josh, I made a horrible mistake.” Her voice was thick, her throat nearly closed. “Your dad and I . . .” How could she explain a short-term love affair to a boy who wasn’t yet eleven? “We were just kids and he moved away. By the time I knew I was pregnant with you, he was already gone and, I think, dating some other girl in his new town.” She pointed to Dave’s senior-class picture. He looked so young, so boyish, and yet he’d been her first love. “I’m sure he would have loved you a lot, but he never knew about you.”

“Because you lied.”

“Yes.” She bit her lip and fought the urge to break down and sob like a baby. “Yes.”

“You should have told me.”

She felt as if she’d been stabbed through the heart. Of course she should have. “I know.”

He swallowed hard and folded his arms over his chest. Thrusting out his chin, he demanded, “Are you gonna send me to him or is he comin’ here, or what?”

“No,” she said, summoning every bit of courage she could muster. “He can’t. Not anymore. He died ... a few months ago, I guess ... and I didn’t know it. He was in the military. There was a helicopter accident while they were on maneuvers and . . . and he didn’t survive.”

Josh gasped and his face, tanned from the summer sun, turned a sickly chalky shade. Tears filled his eyes.

“I don’t believe you,” he said again.

“It’s true.”

“How do you know?”