“No problem.”
Part of her had known everything would be OK, but Cal’s panic was contagious, and she couldn’t help feeling a bit of it. She ran to where she knew there was a giant sandpit at the center of the fairgrounds. And just like the stranger had told her, she found Owen playing among other children, digging holes in one spot and building mountains in another.
“Owen!” She ran to him before his head even turned her way. Her arms were around him before he probably knew what had happened. “We were so worried. Why did you walk away like that?”
Owen wriggled out of April’s arms and gave her a shrug. “I got bored.” Quickly, he pivoted to what he’d been building out of sand. “Look what I made!”
“That’s very nice,” she said. “But your dad’s going crazy looking for you.”
“Oh,” Owen said, “he’s always like that.” And he went back to building his mountain.
On cue, Cal’s voice came thundering from behind her. “Owen!”
April turned to see him barreling toward them. “He’s OK,” she assured him. “He got bored and came to play here.”
As soon as he reached them, Cal growled out the words, “We’re leaving. Right now.”
Owen whined, “But why?”
“I told you never to leave my side,” Cal said. “You did, and now you’re going to have consequences for that.”
Tears started to roll down Owen’s face, and April got the urge to mitigate. “I don’t think he meant anything by it, Cal.” Cal said nothing but took Owen by the hand and dragged him through the fairgrounds toward the entrance. April jogged after them, still trying to smooth everything over in the only way she could. “He just got excited and forgot, I’m sure. I mean, he doesn’t get to go to many of these things, right? He was probably just too overstimulated to think carefully about it.”
Cal stopped and whirled around. “So this is my fault?” he snapped.
“No!” April was stunned that he would even interpret her that way. “No, it wasn’t anyone’s?—”
“Because you were supposed to be watching him, too, weren’t you?”
“I was watching him,” she said, shocked that she would have to defend herself. “I only took my eyes off him for a second. Come on, Cal, this sort of thing happens to parents all the time. No harm was done.”
“This time,” he muttered. “But you’re not his parent, are you? You’re not his mother, no matter how much you try to act like you are. And this was probably a good sign that you never should be.”
Those words stopped April cold in her tracks. They hit hard, stabbed deep. She never would have expected such harsh words from Cal. No matter how much she’d pushed him in the past, he’d always been open-minded and understanding. He struck her as a patient, forgiving person who was willing to try new things and work toward bettering himself. April resonated with that. She also loved to try new things and strove to become a better person with every day that passed. But now Cal had made her feel like a terrible person, like the worst person.
Her eyes burned as she followed Cal and Owen slowly to the parking lot. She was on the verge of crying, but she didn’t want to do it in front of them. Cal was already helping Owen into the truck, and Owen was still sniffing and wailing, throwing a tantrum because he was being made to leave. He probably felt like he’d done something wrong. While April understood the concept of instilling important, self-preservation lessons in children, she usually disagreed that scaring them senseless was the right way to go about it. But then, what did she know? She wasn’t anyone’s mother. And it was looking like she truly never would be.
“Get in,” Cal said to her once Owen was buckled into place.
“I’ll…” April choked back her tears. “I’ll call a cab.”
He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’d like to stay a while longer.”
“Fine.” He shrugged, got into the driver’s seat, and started the engine.
April walked back into the festival feeling worse than she ever had. After a few minutes, she called her best friend, asking for a ride home.
“Yes!” Crystal said without hesitation. “Be there in a jiff.”
April felt bad putting her friend out, but then again, what were friends for? That’s what Crystal would say anyway. And the last thing April wanted to do was burst into tears in the back seat of a cab with only the driver to comfort her.
CHAPTER 19
CAL
Cal Nolen rarely lost his temper, but when he did, it always took him a while to find it again. In this case, it was days. One day was how long it took him to realize it was himself he was angry with, not April. It had been easy to lash out at the nearest warm body when he couldn’t tolerate the self-judgment his own subconscious was handing to him. Why had he yelled at her for his own mistake? Owen was his son, not hers. Of course, it was nice to have a second pair of eyes on the boy, but in the end, Owen was Cal’s responsibility. Blaming anyone else for his own failure was just a way to soothe his own shame.
