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“Is he okay?” Ray sat down in the chair facing his son and placed his right hand on Austin’s shoulder.
Austin nodded even though he wasn’t entirely sure himself that Matty was okay. It didn’t appear that the deputy from Eden was here to take Matty way from him—not that Austin would’ve let him—but there were still so many unanswered questions. What was the state of Matty’s mother? Would he want to go back to Texas now that his father was likely to face a long prison sentence? Would he want to go back for good? The idea of Matty leaving Grant’s Harbor and the life they’d built together made Austin sick to his stomach. It made him want to take Matty right now and run away with him.
It was Will who ended up breaking the sickening silence in the small kitchen.
“So, Officer. Why are you here? You could’ve just alerted the local law enforcement. No need to drive all the way from West Texas to Maine.” Austin hadn’t seen Will’s face so serious since the entire crew of theMathildahad perished at sea during the January storm in 2018. With a deep frown lining his forehead, his piercing eyes didn’t leave the deputy for one second.
“I thought that maybe it’d be better for Matty if it was a friendly face from back home delivering the news.” Wilson shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable at the heavy hostility in the air.
Matty winced, probably at the wordhome,and Austin automatically gathered him even tighter in his arms.Eden wasn’t Matty’s home. It had been a fucking hellhole from what Matty had told him. It had been a place of abuse and demeaning behavior. Sure, it was also the place where Ethan lived and even though Matty hadn’t seen Ethan in more than three years, Austin knew that Matty missed his best friend more than anything. That he still held on to the hope that one day Ethan would come find him in Maine. But aside from that, there was nothing left for Matty in Eden except for a shitload of bad memories and fading scars.
“I thought maybe I’d killed him.” Matty’s voice sounded frail as it was absorbed by the soft cushion of Austin’s chest. Slowly he sat up, repeating the words. “I thought I’d killed him.”
Austin took in his boyfriend, confusion coursing through him. However, Wilson seemed to know exactly what Matty was referring to.
“Nah, he left the hospital two days later. Didn’t say a word about what’d happened… Just told me to stop looking for ya…” Wilson scratched at the back of his neck, the stiff collar of his uniform neatly buttoned. His brown hair was graying at the temples, skin around his equally brown eyes crinkled from decades under the unforgiving Texas sun. He sat there glancing at the floor, his Stetson clasped between his rough fingers, looking full of regret. Sorry, almost.
“How did you find me, Wilson? I mean, I don’t go by the name Craig here…”Craig. Not Carter. It was the first time that Austin heard the name Craig and his stomach clenched briefly at all the things he still didn’t know about Matty. Things he might never know.
Clearing his throat, Wilson looked at Matty, shrugging his shoulders.
“It wasn’t that hard. I’m a policeman, you know?”
Matty frowned, his face one huge question mark. Austin had a feeling that the deputy was holding something back. He couldn’t have found Matty that quickly no matter how good of a cop he was. It just wasn’t possible unless you were in an episode ofCSI.
“Then how come my father didn’t find me back then?”
“Because he wasn’t looking…” Wilson mumbled, his eyes avoiding Matty’s gaze.
“What do you mean?” Matty whispered, his voice suspicious.
“We’d started running an APB while your father was in the hospital but as soon as he was discharged, he called the whole thing off.”
“He called the search off? Why?” Matty looked like he also thought that there was more to the story.
Wilson brushed at his forehead, looking around the small kitchen at the group of strangers staring back at him.
“He… He said that there was no reason to go look for ya.”
“Okay… But… I was only fifteen back then…”
“Yeah… Look, son, I don’t know why he called it off. He never said so. He never spoke one word of it again. Acted as if it’d never happened.”
“Yeah. You mean he never spoke of me again, right?” Matty shrank in Austin’s lap, his voice frail. Hurt.
“Matty…”
“LikeInever happened?”
“I’m sorry, kid.” Wilson looked uncomfortable, shifting in his seat, spinning his Stetson relentlessly in his hands.
Matty shrugged, a solitary tear trailing down his left cheek.
“It doesn’t matter. So, how did you find me now?” he continued.
The deputy sighed deeply, his broad chest stretching the rough material of his shirt to the maximum.
“The postcard. Mrs. Bishop told me about it.”
