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It was almost a little odd-looking but stunning at the same time when you thought about the history of this house and the others like it on the street.
He’d barely put it in park before I was climbing out onto the driveway and admiring the idealistic front yard. I took in the magnificent house and the rest of the street. It was like stepping back in time. These homes were preserved and maintained, making them look like they could be brand new.
“They’re all gorgeous.”
Reed followed my gaze before adding, “I think so. Come on, we’re going inside.”
Holding the railing, I made my way up the front steps behind him to the doorway. He turned the knob and stepped to the side, nodding for me to head in.
I didn’t wait another second, practically skipping over the threshold. “Is this place yours?”
“This one, no,” Reed answered as he closed the door behind me. “It’s actually my dad’s, though he doesn’t spend a lot of time here anymore. He spends more time at the townhouse he and Christine bought a few months ago.”
I nodded. “I know the one. We had a party there… my bachelorette, I guess you’d call it.” A photograph on the wall caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but be pulled toward the two smiling children. “Is this you and Gabe?” I admired the large image of Reed and Gabe standing in front of a pinball machine, the boys both looking like they’d just hit the jackpot on Christmas morning.
“Yeah, we spent a lot of time at the arcade a few blocks over when we were kids,” he explained, and even without looking back at him, I knew there was a smile on his face. He set his chin on top of my head as he looked over me at the picture. “Gabe was probably fifteen there,” he said, the both of us now examining the picture. “I would have been eleven or twelve.”
There was a good four years difference between them, but you’d never guess. Reed must have sprouted early because they were easily the same height and build, but I knew Gabe’s slim nature was more from what his body had been through as opposed to the build he could have had as a budding teenager.
I turned, looking up at the now-grown version of the photograph. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your smile that big.”
“Gabe was funny as hell,” Reed explained, his face brightening even more. “Hilarious, actually. It was like how some people cracked jokes when they were uncomfortable or awkward, but for Gabe, he cracked them when he was in pain. His way of trying to be tough, I guess. Then we’d both laugh, and he would hurt more because of the laughter, and the nurses would tell us off.”
I leaned back into the wall. Of all the conversations we’d had about Gabe, this was the first time I’d see Reed this happy—his blue eyes wide and sparkling. When we lose people, the pain can sometimes take over and numb everything else. It can be hard to remember the good things, the fun times, but obviously, there was something about this memory in particular that Reed felt a lot deeper than others.
“Sounds like the two of you together would have been quite the package.”
“Yeah, we had this running joke about how he got the humor, but thankfully, I got the good looks.”
A deep laugh from my left had my body jumping, and I turned to find Reed’s dad standing in the archway to the next room. “Gabe was intelligent too, so much so it was almost like a superpower. But he preferred to spend all his time with Reed using those smarts to run his cheeky mouth rather than actually doing any kind of school work.”
I couldn’t be sure if it was some kind of low jab or his attempt at a joke about the boys’ relationship, but Reed’s jovial mood was instantly sucked away, and the room began to feel extra freaking heavy. Almost as though someone had broken the dam of memories, and they were quickly flooding in around us.
But Reed was quick to shut it down and stem the flow. “Thanks for meeting us here,” he said, his tone flat—the expression on his face much the same.
His dad nodded and waved us through to the next room, which was just as stunning with its tall ceilings, architecture, and modern renovations.
“You have a lovely home, Mr. Lawson,” I praised.
He took a seat in a large armchair in the living room. “Thank you. Christine prefers to be in the city, but I occasionally manage to escape and come out here to enjoy the quiet.” He cleared his throat and reached for a cup of coffee on the small glass side table beside him. “I do have to head back to Boston, though. So what can I do for the both of you?”
I went to move forward and take a seat, but Reed hooked his finger through the belt loop of my jeans and tugged me back. “We won’t take up much of your time,” Reed said pointedly, letting me know there was no need for us to settle in. “We were hoping you might know where Jade is so Valen can speak with her.”
His face scrunched as he seemed to slip into thought for a moment. Jade had been living with them for at least a year now and, as far as I knew, had no intentions of leaving or going out on her own until she paid off her student loans.
Which I wouldn’t say would take long, given she had a really great job as a veterinary nurse.
He finally placed the coffee cup back on the table. “We really haven’t seen her since a week or more after the wedding. She came and got some of her things… said she was going to stay at a hotel.”
“She was by herself?”
He nodded. “She mentioned going to see Chad, but when we asked about him, she got very defensive and said she didn’t want to talk about it. But I don’t blame her really, after everything she’d been through.”
Another small jab, this time, the target being me.
I inhaled long and deep. “Did she say where she was going?”
“She didn’t.”
