“Oh, holy sh—shoot.” I was so relieved, I pressed a hand to my chest to keep my heart from bursting out of my rib cage. Istopped two steps away and scooted the dog out of the way so I could touch the boy’s knee, just to reassure myself he was really there. “Aiden! Dude, are you okay? Everyone is looking for you.”
“I’m okay,” he whispered. He tilted his head up so I could see his face in the spotlight, and I saw that his eyes were big and frightened. “Am I in trouble?”
“No,” I said immediately. “No way. Everyone is gonna be soglad, buddy. But where did you go? You didn’t come home after school, and your Uncle Drew freaked?—”
“My mom was there,” he whispered, wide-eyed like he still couldn’t believe it. “I haven’t seen her in months and months—only because she lived far away for her job and couldn’t come back to see me. But when I was about to get on the bus, her car was parked right there in front of the school, and she got out and hugged me. She wanted to hang out with me, Gage. Just like she said on the phone.”
“On the phone?” I knew Aiden didn’t have a phone… but I was pretty sure Sunday Orchard had a landline.
He squirmed a bit in discomfort. “Yeah? She, um… she called me one time when I was home sick. And then, um… she maybe told me which days to pretend I was sick so I could be home to talk to her,” he finished in a whisper.
“Ah.” That explained his constant stomachaches.
I tried not to look as angry as I felt and to remember that Webb’s ex-wife had a story in all this, too, but encouraging a kid to lie to their parent…Ugh.
“What happened today?” I prompted. “After she showed up.”
“Well.” Aiden’s words tumbled over themselves in his excitement. “Mr. Williams was worried and said we should call Dad, but Ms. Oliver said it was fine. So we left! And my mom let me ride up front in her car without a booster because she said I was plenty tall enough, and we went for pizza, and she said I was so much smarter and more grown-up than I’d been last time shesaw me, and she let me order a sundae that wasn’t on the kids’ menu and drink as many sodas as I want. She told me about her new house, too! It has a big giant pool and a room that can bemyroom, and I can decorate it however I want, and I told her about my science fair project you’re helping me with, and she said she was so proud, and…” He took a deep breath and seemed to run out of steam all at once. “I didn’t call Dad. I didn’t know how without making her mad.”
I closed my eyes and grimaced. Yeah, I was definitely not feeling positive thoughts for Aiden’s mother.
“When she dropped me off, Mom said Dad was gonna be upset at me for not coming home because he’s jealous of Mom and doesn’t love her anymore and because he’s an unreasonable… um.” He winced. “Bad word. So I came up here because I was thinking maybe I could live with you and Uncle Knox until he calms down.” Aiden hesitated. “Dad yelled at me the other morning, remember? I didn’t like it.”
I shook my head wordlessly. I was completely unqualified to give Aiden any answers, and I didn’t envy Webbanyof the shit he was about to have to deal with. “I think the only thing you have to worry about is your dad squeezing you so tight your head pops off.” I ruffled his hair and held out a hand. “Come see.”
Three hours later,I finally padded down the farmhouse stairs and through the darkened living room to the kitchen.
Aiden had begged me to stay with him until he fell asleep—which was adorable but kind of odd, since at least five of his relatives, including Webb, were keeping watch in the kitchen, and I would have imagined he’d have picked one of them.
Webb had made it clear he hadn’t been angry at Aiden at all. What hehadbeen was devastated, and guilty, and so furious at his ex-wife and everyone at the elementary school who hadn’t stopped Aiden from going with Amanda—though, from what I understood, this was technically allowed under their custody agreement so long as Amanda gave “proper notice” to Webb, which she had not—that Jack had taken Webb’s phone away to stop him from yelling anymore.
“She didn’t notify me,” I’d heard him whisper to Jack, sounding tormented. “The school didn’t notify me. And Aiden didn’t have a phone. Am I supposed to put a GPS tracker on my kid now? What if she just forgets him someplace?”
By the time I’d glanced up from the fantasy book about warrior mages I’d been reading aloud—one of my favorites from when I was a kid—and saw that Aiden was asleep, the farmhouse had fallen silent, and it seemed like everyone was in bed.
But when I got to the kitchen, I found Webb sitting in the same spot where he’d sat earlier with his head in his hand, looking like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Webb?” I said softly.
“Huh?” His head jerked up in alarm. “Does Aiden need me?”
“No, not right now. He’s out cold.”
“Oh.” He settled back down.
“Where’s Knox?”
“I don’t know. He took off about the time Aiden was conning you into eating sundaes with him, and I called him after you went up to read Aiden his story, but he hasn’t answered.” He chuckled softly. “I wanna say I don’t have the brain space to worry about him right now, but that would be a lie. Not that anyone will let me help them, anyway.”
I shifted uncomfortably. I almost wanted to apologize for being the person Aiden had wanted to put him to bed. “Can I get you anything before I go? A snack or tea or…?”
“Absolutely not. You’ve done enough for this family today, Gage,” Webb said, his voice friendly but kind of empty, like the night had hollowed him out. He sat up straighter. “Being an emotional support human for a bunch of Sundays was not what I had in mind when I offered you this job. Not what you had in mind when you took it either, I bet.”
“This is a great job,” I said firmly. “With an amazing family that’s been nothing but welcoming and wonderful. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
I was a little bit startled to realize this was absolutely true. No matter what happened with Knox, I was glad I was there.
“Plus,” I added slyly, “I’m getting a really generous salary, don’t forget.”
