Chapter 37

He slapped his thighs and stood. “I’ve learned a lot about keeping my eyes off the ground and my legs moving since I’ve been here. You’d be surprised the metaphors that a flight of forty-two stairs can get churning in your head. I’d like to think that lesson didn’t stop at the bottle and my love life, though. I want to believe that anything worth having is worth working at. That means family too.”

Owen was sure he wasn’t imagining the enigmatic tone in his mother’s voice when she turned her eyes towards the door and seemed to glare through it. “Those stairs damn near kill me.” “Yeah,” Owen chuckled. “Those first few trips up are nasty. You get used to it, though.”

His mother rose and tugged her clothing into place. “Let me guess? You just have to keep making the trip.”

“And look up,” Owen said brightly. “You’d be surprised the difference that looking up makes.”