It was a big deal. I could tell by the iron set of his jaw and the rigidity of his posture. To my brother, this was the biggest deal there was. And he was completely justified in feeling the way he did.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You wanted answers about your parents, and he had none to give you. That’s why you showed up here this weekend. You were ready to start looking for them and you wanted my help. But instead of my help, you got turned away again because another person showed up on my doorstep who needed me instead.”
Two in fact. First Gavin, now Millie. Both needed my attention and time when Flint had only wanted a small piece of it. A piece he’d assumed I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give him. But he’d been wrong. Like Laurence, I’d always have time for him. Always.
Flint’s jaw ticked with unspent shame and rage. “Don’t quit your day job, Ethan. You’re shit at being a therapist.”
While I didn’t disagree about being a shit therapist, I didn’t agree with why he’d said it. Because Flint, as was his way, was deflecting from the main issue: his feelings. Something he seemed to resent having altogether.
“I’m not quitting my job any time soon,” I promised him with a wry smile, “but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
A blanket of silence settled between us as we each searched the other’s blank expressions for answers.
“I can’t find them, Ethan,” Flint finally confessed, as his shoulders sank several inches at his sides. “I’ve been searching for nearly a year now, every day, and there’s no trace of them. It’s like they never even existed. Like I was just born into this world from ghosts.”
That admission pained my heart so deeply I damn near felt it in my bones. “Do you remember what they looked like?” I posed, trying to add something to this discussion, other than sympathy.
Flint shrugged. “Not much. I’m not even sure if what I do remember was real or imagined. I was only three when they abandoned me, and I can’t exactly trust the memory of a three-year-old.”
“Most three-year-olds, no,” I said. “But you? I’d take that information to the bank any day of the week.”
Flint cracked a brief smile. “She had dark hair. Down to her waist,” he reminisced then. “And the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. Pale as a blue-bird’s egg. My dad, he was tall. And big. That’s all I remember about the fucker. Him with his broad backturned to me as he walked away. Figures, right? Clearly that’s what the man did best. Walk away.”
My heart gave another painful twist before I reached out and placed a reassuring hand on my brother’s shoulder. “We’ll start there. With your mother. If you remember her eyes, someone else will, too. I know it.”
“I’ve used every resource I know, Ethan. Spent months combing through the towns surrounding Wompinoque. It’s a dead end,” Flint spoke defeatedly.
“Then we’ll find new sources. Look in other towns,” I reassured him, before I heard frantic shouting from upstairs.
Millie was desperately calling my name. The moment I heard her panicked cry I started running, and when I saw her terrified face, I demanded, “What’s wrong?”
Tossing me her phone, I caught it in midair. “Read it!” She demanded, so flustered she could barely get the words out.
My eyes darted over the last several messages. With each word I read, I became increasingly more enraged. As soon as I’d finished, I shoved the cell into Flint’s waiting hands and pulled Millie into the warm circle of my arms.
“He’s lying,” I soothed, as my gaze flicked up to meet Flint’s.
Handing me the phone after reading the disturbing thread, Flint said, “I agree, Millie. The creep is just trying to upset you. It’s nothing more than a bluff.”
Millie furiously shook her head. Her voice muffled by my chest when she said, “He’s not bluffing. I saw him.”
“What?” I drew her back so I could see her tear-stained face then. “What do you mean you saw him? Where?”
“In the woods,” she stammered. “He flicked a light on and off three times to let me know he was there.”
“He told you he was going to do that?” I said, quickly scanning the texts again to see what I’d missed.
“No,” she explained, nervously tucking her loose, dark hair behind her ear. “But I know it was him. He did it right after he told me he was there and I looked out the window. That can’t be a coincidence.”
I glanced at Flint then, looking for his input.
“Where in the woods?” My brother queried, all business now despite what we’d been talking about earlier.
Millie fairly exploded out of her skin. “You can’t go out there! That insane man could be waiting in ambush for you.”
Flint chuckled. “Babe, that’s adorable. But I’m not afraid of some loser diddling himself in the woods. I’ll be fine. However, I’m really liking this newfound concern you have for me. I think I might actually be growing on you.”
“Yeah, like a fungus,” Millie quipped back. “I just don’t want your death on my hands, is all.”
