We all made our way out. Marissa went home to be with her husband and daughter. Cody was still carrying the picture of Nico when I buckled him into his car seat. It made me remember my own parents and the fact that they had not yet returned any of my numerous texts and phone calls. It brought home the reason Allie had named me Cody’s guardian. We could never rely on our parents. There was no way Cody would have been safe with them.
I looked at his sweet face in my rearview mirror and hoped with all my heart that I would be able to justify my sister’s faith in me.
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
MIGUEL
I had no idea there was so much to do when a person died. Granted, I was pretty young when my mother’s parents passed away. I vaguely remembered her being gone a lot. The list I was making for Zach was getting longer and longer as the day went on. I decided I needed more space than my phone could provide, so when we got back to our apartment, I got out my laptop and settled at the kitchen table. Opening a new spreadsheet, I started entering the to-do list.
Zach came in shortly afterward carrying Cody, who had fallen asleep. “I’m going to put him on our bed,” he said quietly. He came back a few minutes later and looked over my shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Making a spreadsheet of all the things you have to do in order of priority. I’ll send it to you when I’m done. You can let me know if something needs to be changed.”
He leaned in and kissed me. “You’re the best.”
The downstairs buzzer rang, and we both got up to help Marco and his crew bring Cody’s things into the apartment. They took Zach’s old bed out to the curb and set up Cody’s new room with his stuff from Allie’s apartment with military efficiency. They were all done by the time the beer and pizza arrived.
Zach was talking to Andrea and Dante when his phone rang. He looked over at me, a deep frown furrowing his brow. “It’s my mother.”
I looked at the time. It was after three in the afternoon. I knew Zach had reached out to his parents multiple times. How were they only getting back to him now? Since Cody was still asleep in our room, Zach went into Cody’s room. I followed him in because I had a feeling the conversation wasn’t going to go well.
I walked in after the conversation started.
Zach was pacing the floor, listening to his mother, who seemed to be complaining. He finally interrupted her. “Mom, stop for a second. Is Dad awake?”
I heard her from where I was standing. “Of course not. You know Saturday is our night out. Why are you trying to interrupt us having a good time?”
Oh shit.I saw the look of fury on Zach’s face and knew she was in for it. And frankly, I didn’t feel sorry for her. “Because your daughter is dead,” he snarled. “I thought maybe you’d like to know since you gave birth to her. But then again, I don’t know why I bothered. You didn’t care enough to make sure she was fed and clothed when she was a kid.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Then, she shouted, “You’re lying! That can’t be true!”
Zach squeezed his eyes shut. “Why would I lie about that, Mom?” he asked wearily.
I didn’t hear what she said next, but Zach replied, “Cody is with me. Allie made me his guardian.” His brows drew together sharply. “Why would she? No one could reach you last night because you and Dad were out drinking. Where would Cody have been if Allie had to rely on either of you?”
There was a longer pause, and then Zach said curtly, “I’m not discussing this. Cody is staying with me. I’ll let you know what the funeral arrangements are.” He ended the call and just stood there holding his phone in a tight grip. I eased myself under his arm. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “Why do my parents suck so badly?” he lamented.
“I wish I knew,” I murmured.
“Mommy!” Cody screamed from the other bedroom.
Zach and I both went running into the room. Cody was thrashing on the bed, calling out for his mother. My heart broke a little bit more for him. Zach scooped Cody up off the bed and cuddled him in his arms. “It’s okay, Cody. I’m here,” he crooned.
“No! I want Mommy! I want Mommy!”
Zach sat on the bed and rocked his nephew, doing his best to comfort the little boy. He looked up at me and said quietly, “Would you please find his Batman toy?”
“Sure,” I replied and hurried out of the room. I knew it wasn’t in Cody’s bedroom because he hadn’t been in there since we came back. I practically ran into the living room and asked frantically, “Have any of you seen Cody’s Batman?”
What proceeded was seven grown adults crawling around on the floor looking for a Batman action figure. Finally, Gabe called out triumphantly, “Found it!” He brought it over to me. “It was in one of the boxes of toys. Cody must have put it in there when we were at his mom’s place.”
“Thank you,” I said as I hurried back to the bedroom. Cody had settled somewhat and was cuddled in Zach’s lap with his thumb in his mouth. I knelt beside the bed. “Hey, Cody, look what I found.”
Cody took the toy from me and looked at it for a long time. “Batman’s mommy and daddy died.”
“Yes, they did.”
“And he was sad,” Cody said.
