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PROLOGUE
“I’ll see you when I get home,” Lynn Perkins said.
“I’ve got to work,” Cal said.
At seventeen he had a part-time job stocking shelves at the grocery store. When he turned eighteen his father was going to get him a job at a liquor store doing the same. A buddy of his father’s owned the business and needed the help as he was getting up there in age.
“Then I’ll see you when you get home,” his mother said. “I’m going to try to finish my Christmas shopping, then we can decorate the house later.”
He snorted. His mother was always into the Christmas spirit. He went along with it because it made her happy, but he’d long since outgrown helping her decorate for the holiday.
“Sure,” he said. “We can do that.”
She smiled at him. One of those that told him she knew he was doing it for her. “You’re a good kid, Cal. I know you’d rather go out with your friends. What time do you get out of work?”
He looked at his watch. It was nine in the morning and he was leaving in ten minutes. “I’ll be out at three,” he said.
“I’ll make sure I’m home before that. We’ll decorate and I’ll have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner because it’s your favorite and then you can go do what you want the rest of the night.”
He grinned. “The whole night?”
“You have a curfew,” she reminded him.
He put his sneakers on and grabbed his name tag to pin to his shirt. “Not much longer,” he said.
“Just because you’ll be eighteen in a few months doesn’t mean you don’t get a curfew,” she said. “You live under this roof and you know your father and I give you freedom, but we still like to know when you’ll be home.”
His father was a detective with the Colonie Police Department. It’s not like he’d ever been able to get away with much in his life. Everyone around here knew him. Or if they didn’t, they knew Jack Perkins, and they asked if he was his father.
Cal wasn’t out causing trouble anyway and knew enough not to. He’d never want his parents to think poorly of him. He never wanted to be a disappointment as their only child when he’d heard more than once they’d wanted a big family but just didn’t get that wish.
“I know,” he said. “I’ve heard it all before.” He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Bye, Mom. Love you.”
“Love you too,” she said. He walked out the door knowing that his mother was most likely going to get him the new gaming system he wanted for Christmas.
It was the only thing he’d asked for and he knew it was expensive, but he never asked for much and they normally tried to get him what he wanted.
His friends had all been saying how hard it was to get the system, but his mother had a way of finding things or getting the deals.
If she wasn’t able to get it, he wouldn’t act disappointed. He’d be fine with it and wait until he could buy it himself when it was more readily available.
He was laid back enough for those things even when a lot of his friends weren’t.
He got to work and punched in, went to the back to find out what he had to do and got busy.
Two hours later, he was laughing with his coworkers while they were loading up the dolly to bring to the store and start stocking more things when he looked up and saw his father next to the store manager.
“Hey, Dad. What’s going on?”
“We need to leave,” his father said. “It’s your mother.”
“What happened to her?” he asked. He felt light headed and sucked in some air fast. His father didn’t get rattled often in life and he could see now that was the case. From the clenched fists to the pale complexion. He felt himself mirroring it.
“I’ll tell you on the way to the hospital,” his father said. “We need to leave now.”
“I punched you out,” the store manager said. “Go.”
The tone of voice from the store manager told him that everyone seemed to know what was going on but him.
