CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“MOMMY!” EVAN’S CRIES filled the room later that morning.
Jeff set down the mystery novel he’d been trying to use as a distraction from the concern for Evan and heartache over Tara that had been running through his mind on an endless loop. He reached for the boy’s hand. “Evan. Shhh. It’s okay. You’re awake now. You’re safe.”
His son quieted, his breath slowingby degrees as he opened his eyes and pinned Jeff with a direct stare. “Daddy?”
“I’m right here.”
Evan’s face turned red and his eyebrows dropped, but he shook off the tears, blinking rapidly a few times before nodding. He sucked in a couple of breaths and then released the air slowly. “I’m not going to cry anymore.”
“All right,” Jeff said carefully. “If you want. But it’s okay if you do.”
“You don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“All the time?” Evan wriggled and sat up with Jeff’s help, wincing when his shoulder moved, but not crying out.
Jeff chuckled. “No, not all the time. Just when I’m very sad, or sometimes when I’m really happy. I’ve done it several times this weekend.”
“Why?”
He smiled at his son.His son. Who was blessedly alive and talking to him. “Because I was happy I foundyou. And because I was sad when I found out you’d been hurt.”Because I thought you might die.
“You cried because of me?” Evan looked at him with a mix of wonder and disbelief.
“I did. Because I love you.”
“Oh.” He seemed to think about it for a minute, stroking his fingers over the soft fur of the stuffed puppy. “I love you too, Daddy. I’m glad you found me.”
Jeff’s chest swelled. Grinning,feeling truly free and light for the first time in months, he kissed Evan on the forehead. Had anyone ever loved a child this much? “Me too, Ev.”
No way was his son over his trauma already, but maybe he was starting to trust that Jeff cared as much as he said he did.
“When can we go home?” Evan asked.
“The doctor said maybe tomorrow.”
“Will we go to your house?”
“I think so. Would youlike that?” Jeff still had some decisions to make, but he didn’t need to make them today. “It’ll beourhouse.”
His son squeezed Pickles the dog and nodded vigorously. “Can we get a puppy?”
Jeff laughed. It was going to be hard to say no to this kid. “If you can learn to stop talking with food in your mouth, I’ll think about it.”
Evan’s eyes lit with excitement, and he pressed his fingersto his lips as if that could help him remember. “What’s the name of the lady who gave me the socks? The one you worked with.” Evan said, abruptly switching gears. “I forgot.”
Jeff took a deep breath. “Tara Fujimoto.” Just saying her name tugged at his soul.
“Foo-jee-moh-toh,” the boy said with exaggerated care, and then giggled. “Foo-jee-moh-toh. I like it.”
I likeher. Far too much.
“Is she coming here?” he asked, unknowingly twisting the knife in Jeff’s heart.
“I don’t know. She lives in Virginia and we live in Colorado.”
