Page 5 of Ewan

“We’ll see,” she murmurs.

Before she has the chance to use her phone, I squeeze her arm again.

“Please, tell me.”

I need to know either way. If that man is an option, I need to be able to take a relaxed breath. If he is not, I also need to stop holding my hopes high.

“We haven’t been in touch for some time. He’s family,” she says, ignoring my grip and swiping the screen with her finger.

“How old is he?”

“Nineteen.”

“Nineteen??”

She looks at me without a smile on her face.

“He’ll be perfect,” Colley says, and I shift my attention to the boy.

He seems more helpful than his mother.

“What makes you say that?”

His mother’s fingers freeze on her phone as she seemscurious to hear his answer as well.

“He’s a good guy.”

“How do you know if you haven’t been in touch with him for a while?” I ask, and the added pressure of my question makes him move his eyes to his mother as if asking for permission to speak.

“Tell her,” she says again, as intrigued as I am.

“I just know. I always liked Ezra.”

I move my focus to the mother.

“Is something wrong with Ezra?” I ask.

“No. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s just been a rebellious teen. They all are at some point,” she says, not flinching. “The only positive is that he lives not far from here.”

That sounds great, I say to myself in my mind. Why couldn’t we hire him in the first place?

The woman just said it.

They hadn’t kept in touch much.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this, but it’s an option, isn’t it?

Now, let’s see if he’s answering his phone.

Elisa calls someone else to get Ezra’s most current phone number before calling him.

My heart pitter-patters until someone answers the call at the other end of the phone line.

Without the slightest shift in her expression, Elisa moves a couple of steps away, seeking privacy before talking to the man in question.

I look at Kailey, who, like me, seems hopeful that things might work out in the end.

Colley touches my hand and gives me a reassuring nod.

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