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“Oh, man. What did you do?”
She sniffed through a sad laugh. “Mostly cry since yesterday, to be honest. I’ve tried texting him, but there is no answer.”
I felt helpless, but it was probably nothing compared to how Rebecca was feeling.
I whispered gently, “What do the boys know?”
She shook her head. “Not much. I haven’t figured out how to tell them. They’ve seen me crying though, and I know it has them a bit freaked out.”
“Who else knows?”
“I don’t know. Whoever Nathan told, I guess. My mom. She’s in Chicago though and can’t get away until next week.”
“We need to tell the rest of the ladies at church. You shouldn’t be alone,” I said firmly. “We need reinforcements. Prayer and meals and someone to watch the kids while you get groceries, okay?”
She nodded reluctantly.
I started flipping through the contacts on my phone, adding numbers to a group text.
“What am I going to do, Monica?” Rebecca’s voice was strangely devoid of emotion.
I didn’t know how to respond.
“I built my whole life around him. Stayed home and never went to college because we had our babies and he had the fire station. I thought… I thought we were happy. I just don’t know why he would do this. Is there someone else? Does he not care about the boys?”
“Oh, honey. We don’t know anything yet. We’ll pray and we’ll walk through this, okay? No matter what, God’s got you. Nathan might not be here, but you’re not alone.”
She nodded and sniffed again. I typed out a call for help and for anyone who could to come to Rebecca’s for a prayer session.
By the end of the afternoon, I was exhausted again—emotionally this time. I was really struggling with how Nathan could have walked away from those sweet boys and Rebecca. She seemed completely unwilling to give up on their relationship.
I stopped by the station on my walk home, hoping Nathan wasn’t there. If I thought it would help, I would have had Bryce and Jake knock some sense into him.
I tapped on the red front door and let myself in, feeling a little like I was intruding, though I knew the building was open to the public during the daytime hours.
“Monica, hey!” Jake quickly rose from the sofa and met me near the door. His huge smile was a ray of much-needed sunshine. Things were pretty gloomy at Rebecca’s house. She’d even had the curtains shut, now that I thought about it.
“Hey to you too.” I tipped my head up for a kiss, then snuggled in for a long hug, loving the way his arms tightened around me.
“What am I, chopped liver?” I opened my eyes to see Bryce’s grinning face a few steps away.
“Yes, now leave us alone,” came Jake’s sarcastic reply, but he didn’t let go. It made me laugh. I was content to stay nestled in Jake’s arms while they bantered.
“I see how it is. Using me for my sister this whole time,” Bryce joked.
Jake grunted his agreement. “It was a long play, but it finally paid off. I can finally stop pretending I like you.”
Bryce must not have been worried about that after their more than fifteen years of friendship, because he doubled over with laughter.
“You guys are ridiculous.” I would never understand why boys showed affection through insults.
Finally, I felt like the droopy sad pieces of myself that had sagged from an afternoon of caring for Rebecca in crisis had been fixed back together enough to let go of Jake and step out of his embrace.
“What brings you by? You haven’t come to the station in ages. Since…” Bryce’s voice trailed off, then his eyes widened. “You stopped coming to visit when you and Jake started dating, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I can’t remember,” I offered innocently.
Bryce narrowed his eyes. “Oh, that’s convenient. Isn’t that convenient, Matteo?”
