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“And I’m really proud of you.”
“You said that already.”
I put the car in drive and pulled away from the school. I watched in the rearview mirror as Rex rolled down the window and shouted to two kids around his age.
“Bye, Grace. Bye, Bobby J,” he called.
Rex waved and his two classmates waved back. He adjusted his pin and settled back against the seat. I smiled, but gripped the wheel tightly, a surge of determination flooding through me. My son was figuring out a way to be himselfandmaking friends. He was finding the balance between being especially smart and genuinely likable. This was why my son needed me in his life.
“Mom, can Bobby J. and Grace come over some time?” he asked.
“Sure, honey. We’ll talk about it when we get home.”
This was why I wasn’t going to back down to Desmond. Desmond could give Rex private schools, fancy food, and summer camps for the smartest of the smart kids.
But I could give him a childhood.
Nineteen
Carter
A week later, Kieran was finally back from seeing his mystery girl and came over to watch the game and have a few beers.
“Where does she live, anyway?” I wondered.
“Connecticut,” he answered. “New Haven.”
“What’s she do?”
“Uh… she’s still in school.”
I narrowed my eyes. There was something Kieran wasn’t telling me.
“What’s she study…”
CRASH.
“What the fuck was that?” Kieran asked, leaping to his feet.
“I don’t know. But it sounded like it was coming from inside Zoe’s place.”
Images of someone breaking into their condo and hurting Zoe and Rex raced through my mind. I rushed out the door. Kieran followed me, grabbing the baseball bat I kept in the coat closet.
I found the front door to Zoe’s condo unlocked and I didn’t bother ringing the bell before barging in.
CRASH.
“That came from the kitchen,” Kieran stated.
We ran into the kitchen and, thankfully, instead of finding Zoe held up at gunpoint by some home invader, she was standing in front of her kitchen cabinets with her hair tied back in a kerchief, holding a sledgehammer.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow. “What areyoudoing?”
“We heard a noise.”
“So you just… came on in?”
