Her question sent a wave of gratitude through him. That she would even offer meant more to him than he could describe right now. But accepting her offer meant having to tell her about Silas, and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay on my own,” Jamar answered. “I may even be back tonight. According to my friend’s granddaughter, he’ll be out of the hospital soon. I just want to be there, to make sure he’s okay. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

“Okay,” she said. “Are you driving?”

“Yeah. I can usually make it home in two and a half hours, even less than that if I push the speed limit.”

“How about you not do that,” she said in a warning tone. “Be safe on the road. I hope everything is okay with your friend.”

“Thanks, Taylor.”

For a minute, he thought about reversing course and accepting her offer to join him. But that would create an entirely different set of questions he wasn’t up for fielding right now.

His mom had asked about Taylor the last time she called, after several of her coworkers and friends sent her links to the online chatter that had popped up over the past couple of weeks. He’d avoided the third degree by suggesting that his and Taylor’s relationship wasn’t as serious as the Internet was making it out to be. If he showed up in Katy with Taylor in tow, Jamar would have some serious explaining to do.

He climbed into the Range Rover, then spent the drive in silent prayer that Big Silas was okay.

A sad smile pulled at the corner of Jamar’s mouth. Big Silas had been like a surrogate grandfather to him. He’d treated Jamar no differently than he treated his own grandson, who he’d raised along with Silas’s sister after their mother was sent to prison for life for killing their father.

Silas was the stereotype the media loved to perpetuate.

He and his sister had spent their early years with heroin junkies for parents, who would leave their two young kids for days at a time. Once he was granted custody, Big Silas had scraped together whatever he could find to take care of his grandchildren. It hadn’t been easy for a disabled vet with emphysema and little income coming in from side jobs, but he’d made it work. It had taken Jamar far too long to realize just what his mom was doing when she sent Silas home with so many leftovers on the frequent nights when he would join them for dinner.