Page 62 of The Ex Next Door
“Yes, yes. We are going to find him. I know. But I’m scared.”
“No wonder.”
“Did I tell you he used to hide when he was little and mad at me? But, of course, I could always find him. He’d be pouting in his closet because I wouldn’t let him have a fourth cookie. And when I found him, he always looked so surprised. Like, ‘How did you find me in the closet? I was hiding so good.’” She chuckled at the memory, but tears came out instead.
Finally, they arrived, despite the annoying traffic that had slowed them down. Amy almost didn’t wait for the truck to stop before she was flying out the door.
Declan caught up to her. “Where should we start?”
Amy saw Naomi running toward the entrance by the wrought iron gate.
“Mommy! I’m scared.” She ran into Amy’s arms and held tight to her waist.
Shannon came up behind Naomi. “I’m Shannon. Don’t you think we should call the police?”
“Give me a few minutes to find him. If I can’t find him in ten minutes,I’mcalling the police,” Amy said. “I don’t care what Rob says.”
“Now that you’re here, I’m going to go find Rob and help him look.”
“You go this way, I’ll head the other direction,” Declan shouted and took off at a run, calling David’s name.
Amy grabbed Naomi’s hand and they started walking. “Let’s try the train structures first.”
“Why is David scaring me like this?” Naomi wanted to know.
“Honey, he must be really mad about something. Remember how he used to hide when he was mad?”
“I don’t know what I did to make him mad!”
“Nothing. I bet he’s mad at your father.” She paused every few seconds to call out David’s name.
They went winding through the park, checking inside the play structures, calling out his name. Only a few minutes into this routine, Amy heard the most wonderful sound on earth.
“Mom? You came.”
It was him.David.Her beautiful, beautiful boy. He stood in the fading last rays of sunlight, one hand still holding his baseball glove.
It was Naomi who ran first and threw her arms around him. Though they’d always been the same size, in the past year David had begun the long stretch of growth that would eventually take him into manhood. He stood about two inches taller than her now, and as Naomi clutched him, he lowered his head to her shoulder and patted her back with his free hand.
Naomi pulled back to frame his face. “I was looking for you.”
Then all three of them were hugging, Amy coming to her knees to hold her babies tight. Yes, thank you, God, they were all together. No one hurt or injured or lost. She couldbreathe again. It wasn’t time for anger and harsh words and Amy just didn’t have it in her anyway.
But this needed to be addressed.
“David, you really scared your sister. You scared me, too.”
“I’m sorry.” He looked chastised, lowering his gaze, then turning it on Amy. “How did you know?”
“Naomi called me on your dad’s phone.”
David frowned. “Hedidn’t call you?”
An utterly sinking sensation hit Amy. Had David actually orchestrated this to bring her and Rob together somehow? Did he think maybe working together to find their son would bring about a reconciliation? He hadn’t done anything like this before, but then again he also hadn’t seen his father with another woman until today.
It occurred to Amy that she should let someone know they’d found David, so she texted Declan. He’d let everyone else know where to meet.
She took both Naomi’s and David’s hands and together they walked to a bench and sat. “What’s wrong, honey? Why are you so mad?”
