Page 68 of Small-Town Secrets
I looked in the downstairs bathroom, the family room, and then the garage, growing increasingly frantic when my little troublemaker remained nowhere to be found.
I checked the backyard again, walking up to the gate where I'd found my phone. The gate was unlocked.
Had Tyler left through it?
But where would he have gone?
"He's not upstairs," Aaron told me, joining me in the yard and cementing my fears.
"I think he ran out," I said, still staring at the gate. "He's not even wearing a coat." Because he never put it on unless I reminded him three times. "What if it starts to snow again? Or rain?" It was a silly thing to worry about under the circumstances, but I worried all the same. The world seemed like a cruel place, suddenly, and my baby was all alone in it.
"Why would he run out?"
"Because the gate wasn't locked!" I lashed out at Aaron just because he was there and my frustration needed an outlet. "Why wasn't the gate locked?" I demanded. "We would have noticed if he'd tried to leave through the front door!"
"It's never locked." Aaron looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "This is Oceanport. No one tries to break into my yard."
"I don't care about people breaking into the yard!"
"Laurence, baby, please tell me what's going on."
I shoved my phone in Aaron's face. "Tyler called Howard and now he's gone."
Aaron's eyes widened in shock. "He talked to your ex?"
"Goddammit." I nearly threw the phone to the ground. "We should have told them."
"What do you think Howard said to him?"
"Nothing kind, that's for sure." I glared at my phone, but now wasn't the time to be mad at an inanimate object. That wasn't going to solve my problems. Instead, I tapped on my phone to call Howard's number again. I needed to know exactly what had transpired between him and my son.
"Come on." Aaron tugged on my sleeve while I was waiting for the call to connect. "Tyler doesn't have a bike, he can't have gotten far. We'll search the neighborhood."
"We're taking Chris," I responded, because I was not losing sight of another kid.
"Good idea. Go get him, I'll start the car."
I was about to turn and walk away when Aaron stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Laurence?”
“Yeah”?
He met my gaze with a level of determination to his that gave me pause. “Tyler will be okay,” he said. “We’ll make sure of that.”
I nodded, because I could see that he meant it, and because I wanted to believe him—and because it was good not to be alone in this.
Aaron returned my nod and let go of my arm. I entered the house to get Chris. Meanwhile, the call I was trying to make dropped because no one was responding.
Of fucking course not. Why would Howard help me now?
It didn't matter. I didn't need his input to find Tyler. I didn't need him for anything.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket as I told Chris to get some shoes onthis second. There must have been something in my tone because he put his Gameboy away and obliged without a fight, which was good, because I didn't have any patience for squabbling with him.
I needed to make sure Tyler was safe.
30
Aaron
