I arrived back at Emery’s place right as Gale was stepping out of the house. Her eyes were watery, but she held her emotions back.
It wasn’t often that something got to her, so whatever had been said between her and the boy had to have made an impact.
“Hello, young man,” she greeted, reopening the door for me since my arms were full of bags.
“Hello, Gale.” She followed me into the house.
“He’s taking a shower.” She must have seen me looking around the living room. She waited for me to set the bags down before starting to help put things away. “That boy shouldn’t be left alone like he is.”
Glad I wasn’t the only one that thought so.
“Not like I can do much about that.”
Gale simply hummed. A moment later, she stood in front of me. She was certainly a little old lady. One with a heart of gold but one heck of a punch when needed. “Can you track down his parents? Anyone, for that matter?”
It had been a few years since I’d had to track someone down, and it wasn’t something I was proud to do anymore. That was a part of my old life. Before things changed.
“If he wants me to.”
“You have nine weeks. Find them.” With that, she turned on her heel and left the house. I stood there, watching her back in a daze.
Shaking my head, I decided I’d see what I could find. There were no promises. I wasn’t the one to make those.
Instead, I finished putting things away, leaving one bag out for Emery. I took my time, hoping he’d finish his shower before I left. Something in me wanted to see him, to make sure he was okay. Well, as okay as he possibly could be.
Wasting some time, I even wrote my phone number down and stuck it to the fridge with a magnet.
When I was just about to call it quits, Emery padded towards the kitchen. His eyes, red rimmed, widened in surprise when he saw me.
“Hey.” I swallowed, feeling out of sorts. Why he made me feel this way stirred my gut with things I didn’t want to admit. “I put the groceries away.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets so I didn’t pull him into a hug.
He nodded, wrapping his arms around his stomach.
“I put my number on the fridge. In case you need anything.”
“Kay.”
“Oh. Got you something.” I pushed the bag on the counter closer to the edge. I figured he wouldn’t accept it if I handed it to him. “Don’t forget to eat lunch.”
Another nod.
“All right. Well…” I stuttered. “I’m going to get out of your hair, then.”
He didn’t say anything, but he did move back a few steps as I passed. As I glanced at him one last time, he looked as though he were about to collapse. I knew there was nothing I could do, and it bothered me.
Back at my own house, I sat down at my desk.
Pushing Emery from my mind, I looked over the file again for the tenth time in three days. At least I was finally getting the pieces put together. Having things in order certainly helped.
I made a note that my client needed to hire a secretary who knew how to keep things up to date and organized. Because after this, I was never going to look over these numbers again.
I was getting too damn old for this.
Emery
Ihad no clue what to think. Why had a stranger bought me something I hadn’t known I wanted? Why did he go out of his way? What did he want in return?
No one ever did anything nice without wantingsomethingfrom me.
