“Yes,” says Clay.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, you are my distractant.”
“Good,” says Zoey. “But we have a problem.”
Clay takes Zoey’s hand in his. “And what’s that?”
“Your pants are lighting up.”
Clay looks down and sees a rectangle of light on his right thigh. “Hold on.” He reaches into his pocket and removes his phone. “It’s Braedon,” he says. Clay answers the call. “Hey, bud. What’s up?”
Braedon’s crying. “I found…” He takes a few uneven breaths then tries again. “I found…”
“Slow down, Brae. Take your time. What happened?” Clay feels Zoey squeeze his hand. He returns the squeeze and gives her a concerned look.
Braedon’s breathing steadies. “I found my mom.”
CHAPTER 35
Clay switches the phone from one ear to the other. “What do you mean, Brae?”
“I felt bad that everyone’s out looking for Teddy,” says Braedon through the phone’s small speaker. “Everyone except for me. So I thought maybe I could help if I did a reverse-image search for Teddy on my computer. I thought maybe he somehow got his picture posted online since he disappeared. But I didn’t find any pictures of Teddy other than some Instagram posts. And then I remembered I have that picture of my mom…”
It hits Clay that Braedon refers to his mother asmy mom. NotMom. He’s never met her. Never spoken to her or written her. Never addressed her in any way. She is a mythical creature to Braedon likemy fairy godmotherormy guardian angel. Clay shuts his eyes and rubs his forehead. He knows where this is going. He feels another squeeze from Zoey.
“Dad… Dad…”
“Yeah, bud?”
He’s crying again. “She has another family in England. The kids are younger than me. And she has a husband. And they live in a fancy house and… and… She looks, in the pictures, she looks really happy. Like her life is perfect.”
Braedon cries hard for a solid minute and during that time, Zoey slides over to Clay and presses her shoulder into his.
“Can you come pick me up?” says Braedon. “Please? I want to come home.”
After Clay fills Zoey in on Braedon’s call, he kisses her good night inside the house with a tenderness that hopes for more. His heart has nothing to give her at this moment but he tries to make up for it with his eyes. The two of them will have to pick up where they left off on another day. Because Clay must go to Braedon. Now.
“Get out of here,” says Zoey with a smile on her lips and in her eyes. Both hands holding Clay’s. “I’m going to stay here and go through your stuff.”
Clay would laugh on any other night. But tonight he just pulls her into a hug and whispers, “When you get to the refrigerator, please throw out anything that smells funky.”
Seven minutes later, Clay pulls in front of Sue and Carol’s house and is surprised to see he’s not the only one. Judd’s car is in the driveway. Judd, who was going to spend the night at Mei’s up in Rochester. Sue waits for Clay just inside the screen door. As Clay starts up the walk, he says, “How is he?”
“Big night for the little man,” says Sue. “He’ll get through it. You did.”
Not the same situation, thinks Clay, but he understands what Sue’s saying. She pushes open the screen door and leads Clay into the living room where Braedon sits next to Judd on the couch. Mei sits in one of the wing-backed chairs, and Carol sits in the other. Clay takes a seat on the other side of Braedon, puts an arm around him, and pulls him tight.
“How you doing?” says Clay.
Braedon shrugs, and the tears reappear.
Clay lets him cry it out for a bit, then says, “I’m sorry, buddy. It sucks. And it’s brutal. And not fair. And very wrong of her. Not that she met someone else and had kids with them. That’s okay. Can’t blame her for that. But it’s wrong that she’s chosen to not be in your life, and I don’t blame you for feeling hurt. I would, too.”
Braedon nods through his tears.
“I told him,” says Judd, “that she’s only hurting herself. That she’s going to regret making the choice she did. And that frankly, she can go to hell.”
