Page 141 of Sterling Stone

I nod, not willing to argue with him. I don’t want to tell him he heard wrong. He heard what he heard. He might have misinterpreted what he heard or only heard half the conversation.

“I don’t think she meant it the way it might have sounded,” I state, knowing that Taxi’s already told me what happened. A misunderstanding. A fight that wasn’t for little ears. Especially for little ears that have an anxiety complex.

He’s in therapy for it. And maybe a little family therapy wouldn’t hurt.

I didn’t have the luxury as a kid. Couldn’t afford it for my siblings either. But we take therapy seriously now. There are so many benefits.

And I want Simon to have every benefit.

Simon doesn’t argue back with me. Instead, he pushes at his glasses like Judd sometimes does, imitating his role model. “I broke my glasses.”

I chuckle softly, squeezing gently at the back of his head. “We’ll get you some new ones.”

Simon nods. Might be Judd who does it. Might be Trudy. Might even be Taxi. But Simon has a number of people watching out for him.

“A lot of people love you, Simon.”

A tear leaks from one of his eyes.

“Ready to go home?”

He shrugs.

“We could hang out here a while longer if you want.” I don’t need to rush him. He’s safe and whole. A bit dirty and with broken glasses, but he looks relatively unscathed.

He tilts his head like he’s thinking about it. We could linger in the woods. Take a walk. But I imagine his legs are tired.

“How’d you get out here anyway?” I glance around us, emphasizing I’m not in a hurry.

“I walked.” So direct. So innocent.

“Yeah, but how did you get up here?”

“Judd brought me here once. Said he comes here to think sometimes.”

News to me, as Judd has a whole pond in his backyard and woods surrounding it. His house is relatively hidden in nature.

“He said coming here brings him closer to his mom.”

Fuck. My eyes prickle. Judd was exceptionally close to our mother and at the tender age of eight or ten or something like that when she passed away. No older than Simon is right now.

“Do you miss your mom?” I ask, before remembering that Simon doesn’t recollect her. “What about your dad?”

He shakes his head and I’m confused.

“Judd says Violet is always listening when he’s troubled. I thought maybe she’d listen to me, too.”

Violet. My mother. I pull Simon to me again, placing our foreheads together.

“Buddy, you ever want to talk to Violet, you don’t need to go into the woods to find her.”

Mama is always listening, watching over us, and taking on anyone else we bring into this family.

And I’d like Simon to be part of mine. He already is in some ways because of Judd.

Maybe he could be even closer because of Taxi.

“I got lost,” he admits, and I pull back, chuckling a little bit.