Part 7
Eight hours to Arizona. JD and Buck had been sleeping the last hour and Chris was lost in his thoughts. It had been three months since he had last seen Vin. The teen had spent less time in juvenile detention, and Larabee hoped that he would find his son the way he had been before this whole mess had happened. Hell, Chris hoped he had changed as well.
He had told Ezra he had wanted status quo-that was how things got out of control. In his quest to have Vin back he hadn't been a parent.
After the smoking incident, Chris called Vin into his office. He asked the teen to sit. They were silent for awhile, but it grew to be uncomfortable, not the usual peacefulness that had been between them. Finally, Larabee broke he silence with the only words he could think of to say, "I love you Vin, and I loved you while you were in that place. I love you now even though you're acting like this. I'll love you tomorrow too."
The teen had shifted uncomfortably in the chair. "Is that it?"
"Yes," Chris replied, hoping his son would absorb what had been said and let it heal him.
The next day Vin made his announcement.
Sporadic postcards and emails plus a weekly phone call didn't give Chris any clear impression to what he'd find when he got to the reservation. He knew a close bond had formed between Kojay, Chanu and Vin. Did Vin want them instead of Chris? Was that the answer? If Vin wanted to stay then so be it. Chris understood he had broken that trust-with an empty promise that Vin would not go to jail. It was jail. Call it juvenile detention but it was an innocent kid locked up. Chris had sent him there because he couldn't keep one promise.
Unforgivable sin wasn't murder. He had told Sarah he would be back by Friday and then he had broken his word again. Josiah's God punished those that committed the unforgivable sin of breaking a promise by taking away the things that mattered most in the world.
"Are we there yet?" JD yawned as he stretched against the seatbelt.
"What?" Larabee was pulled from his reverie. "No, almost."
Buck stretched his large form, and took a sip of water. "Want me to take over?"
"No, I can handle it." And Chris hoped when the time came he could.