"Yes, That's me," Wyatt confirmed.
Now Riley's eyes went wide like he just couldn't believe it. "Uncle Wyatt, you're the boy in the puffy vest!" he exclaimed.
"A puffy vest?" Wyatt said, not sure what he meant.
"A puffy, red vest," Riley said.
"In the picture," DJ added as he figured out what his brother meant.
"Oh," Wyatt said remembering that he used to have a vest like that when he was a kid. There used to be a few pictures of him in it. "Where did you see it?"
"Over there," Riley pointed toward a cabinet drawer. He opened it and pulled out an old photo album. Lloyd had told him that their mother started it, but there were no pictures of her in it. Over the years, Lloyd added pictures to it. Even their father added a few.
Wyatt flipped through it and tried not to cry as he saw pictures of his father and brother. Finally he came across the picture of himself as a kid wearing that red, puffy vest. Riley pointed it out excitedly.
It was the three of them -- Wyatt, his father in the middle, then Lloyd. Their father had his arms around both of them and a big smile. Anyone would know that was a man who was proud of his boys. Wyatt's father wasn't a man who smiled often though, so this was a special picture and somehow Riley recognized that.
"Do you have a picture like that with your dad?" he asked Riley and DJ.
"With a red vest?" Riley said.
"No. With your dad and he has his arms around you guys and a big smile on his face," Wyatt explained.
"Yes!" DJ said. "And with ducks too. It's on the laptop."
Going over to the desk in a nook by the kitchen, Wyatt got the laptop that Lloyd and his wife had shared. DJ showed Wyatt a photo of Lloyd crouching with the boys on either side of him. They were on the riverside and some grayish ducklings were passing in front of them. Riley was very little in that picture, and from the look on his face now as he gazed at the photo, he didn't remember when it was taken.
"Should we print it up?" Wyatt asked.
The boys nodded then watched as the picture came out of the printer.
"We'll have to buy a frame for it." Wyatt was also thinking they might buy an album and fill it with pictures. "I have an idea. Every week we're going to print a different picture and put it in an album. What do you think?"
"Yes," Riley said right away while DJ only nodded. He was staring at the picture in his hand and blinking back tears. Wyatt put an arm around him and kissed the top of his head then he did the same to Riley so they would be even.
They went to sit back on the couch together and looked at more photos on Wyatt's iPad.
"You were the little brother then you got to be the big brother," Riley said as he saw little Wyatt next to Lloyd turn into a bigger version of himself standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother until he gained a few inches on him. He used to tease Lloyd about that. "Who's the big bro now?"
But in his heart Wyatt knew Lloyd would always be his big brother, the one he could lean on no matter what, the one who broke his heart when he couldn't accept him and proved him wrong.
"Lloyd was always the big brother. I just got a little bit taller," Wyatt told the boys, but DJ still looked at Riley like he suspected he might launch into a growth spurt any minute and overtake him.
Watching them, Wyatt hoped their relationship would always stay strong and loving, that they would never experience betrayal or loss.
That night Wyatt had too many things rolling through his head to get any sleep. He thought about his family, losing them and finding out he had two wonderful nephews. He thought about Sam and wondered what was going on with him.
Reaching across his empty bed, he imagined what it would be like to have Sam there, not for just one night, but always. Was that kind of thing his dream now? It must have been because he never dreamed of anyone else any more, and he couldn't stop wishing for Sam to be there with him, to hold him through a sleepless night.
Chapter 24
The day before, Wyatt had noticed that Sam seemed off. He was troubled and distant, and he wouldn't open up to Wyatt. That's why he wanted so badly for Sam to come over last night, but he refused.
Today they weren't on the schedule to volunteer, and Wyatt planned to spend the day working. But by lunchtime, he was obsessed with talking to Sam. He had tried texting him, but only got the briefest of replies back. Picking up his phone, Wyatt was thinking of calling him instead, but then he decided he wanted to talk to him face to face.
The kids were happy to have lunch in town, but they were a little disappointed that they couldn't talk Wyatt into taking the dogs along with them. The day was a little cloudy so they drove. That would save Wyatt some time since he needed to get back to work.
When they arrived at the café, all the tables were taken. That wasn't the only bad luck. Sam wasn't anywhere in sight. As soon as two spots at the counter opened up, Wyatt had the boys take them. Magda agreed to keep an eye on them, so Wyatt ordered their lunch and went in search of Sam.
