Chương 2
Then I answered.
“Where are you?”
His first words were irritated.
“Why are the Columbus police calling me?”
I said nothing.
“Rachel?”
“Where are you?”
“You know where I am.”
“Say it.”
There was music behind him and what sounded like children laughing somewhere farther away.
“San Diego.”
“With Lucas and Alyssa.”
“Yes.”
“And Liam?”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Silence.
I stood and walked away from the boarding area because suddenly I could not bear strangers hearing us.
“Where is Liam, Brandon?”
“He’s fine.”
I actually stopped walking.
“He’s fine?”
“I had arrangements.”
“What arrangements?”
“I handled it.”
“The police found him alone.”
“No, they didn’t.”
That answer was so immediate, so absurd, that for a second I thought I had misheard him.
“What did you just say?”
“He wasn’t supposed to be alone.”
“But he was.”
“I had somebody checking.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation became the first thing I trusted all night.
“Brandon, who?”
“Tyler.”
I knew Tyler vaguely.
He worked with Brandon at a regional equipment supplier and had been to our house twice for football games.
He was twenty-six, unmarried, and once forgot his own car keys in our bathroom.
“You left my child in Tyler’s care?”
“He was supposed to stop by.”
“Stop by?”
“You’re twisting this.”
“Six days, Brandon.”
His voice lowered.
“I knew this was exactly why I didn’t want to call you.”
I stared through the terminal windows at rain streaking across the glass.
“Why you didn’t want to call me?”
“You were dealing with your mother.”
“So you lied instead.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You told me Liam was with you.”
“I told you he was fine.”
“You sent me a picture of him eating pancakes.”
“That was before we left.”
I had not noticed.
The photo had arrived three days earlier, but Liam was wearing his red school sweatshirt.
School had been out for more than a week.
I had looked at the syrup on his chin and felt reassured because I wanted to feel reassured.
“What happened to his plane ticket?”
Another pause.
This one lasted longer.
“We changed plans.”
“We?”
“Rachel, I am standing outside a restaurant.”
“I don’t care where you’re standing.”
“The kids are inside.”
“Then maybe you should go stand somewhere they can’t hear you explain why their stepbrother was left alone.”
His breath sharpened.
“You’re making this sound malicious.”
“What should I make it sound like?”
“I thought Tyler was checking on him.”
“Why wasn’t Liam with you?”
“We’ll talk when I get home.”
“No.”
“Don’t do this right now.”
“No, you’re going to answer me.”
A boarding announcement swallowed whatever he said next.
I pressed a finger into my other ear.
“What?”
“I said he didn’t want to come.”
For a moment all I heard was the speaker overhead and the rain.
“Liam didn’t want to go to San Diego?”
“That’s what I said.”
“My son has been talking about that trip since March.”
“Well, kids change their minds.”
“Did he tell you he didn’t want to go?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The morning we left.”
I looked down at the screenshot with five airline tickets.
“Put him on the phone.”
“Who?”
“Lucas.”
“No.”
“Put Lucas on the phone.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not dragging the kids into an adult fight.”
The hypocrisy was so complete I nearly laughed.
Instead, I heard my own voice become quiet.
“You left one child alone in Ohio and took two children to California, but now you’re worried about involving children.”
He swore under his breath.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“You take the worst possible interpretation and build a whole case around it.”
“There is already a case.”
That stopped him.
I had not meant it as a threat.
It was simply true.
The police had given me an incident number.
Officer Keller had said a detective from the family violence unit might follow up because of Liam’s age and the length of time he had been unsupervised.
Brandon’s tone changed.
Not softer.
Careful.
“Did you tell them I abandoned him?”
“I told them what happened.”
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I know he was alone.”
“I told you Tyler was supposed to go by.”
“And I’m guessing Tyler didn’t.”
“I haven’t talked to him.”
“Interesting.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’ve had time to call me, but not the man you supposedly trusted with my son.”
He hung up.
I stood there holding the phone to my ear until a woman pulling a pink suitcase said, “Ma’am, are you in line?”
I stepped aside.
Ten minutes later, a text arrived from Brandon.
Do not accuse me of crimes in writing or to the kids.
I read it three times.
Then I took a screenshot.
I did not answer.
Our flight finally boarded at 12:41 a.m.
I got the last seat in the final row, beside the lavatory, between a college student asleep before takeoff and a man eating almonds one at a time from a plastic bag.
I could not sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined Liam hearing the refrigerator turn on in an empty house.
At 2:13 in the morning, somewhere above Indiana, Mrs. Patel sent me another message.
He asked if you are mad at him.
I pressed my forehead against the cold window.
Tell him no.
I typed another sentence, erased it, then wrote what mattered.
Tell him I am coming home.
The man with the almonds glanced over when I started crying again, then politely turned his whole body toward the aisle and pretended to study the emergency card.
When I landed in Columbus, Liam was awake.
Mrs. Patel had tried to get him to sleep in her guest room, but he had curled up on the living-room couch instead, still wearing the dinosaur shirt.
He ran to me before I had both feet inside the house.
I dropped my suitcase.
May you like
For several seconds he did not speak.
He just buried his face against my stomach and held on.
