Page 103 of Pieces of Me

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

She smiles. Again, fake. “I was just surprised. That’s all.”

Benny plays the top of my head like drums. “Uncle Holden! They’re in my room! Come on!”

I roll my eyes and push forward, planting a kiss on Jamie’s forehead. “Will you be okay for a couple of minutes?”

“She’ll be fine,” Mia says, holding the door open for us.

“I’ll be fine,” Jamie echoes, pushing me forward. “Go ahead.”

Benny’s bedroom is Mia’s old one, upstairs in the attic—a place I spent many, many days. It’s nothing at all like it was back then, though. They painted his room blue, while Mia’s was white, and she had girly furniture while Benny’s is all boy. The only thing the same is the pictures on the wall. They’re not the exact same photos, but they’re similar in that many have me in them: me and him or me and his mom.

I lower him onto the floor, and he rushes toward the bed, barely visible by all the boxes of puzzles he’s just been gifted. “They’re 3D ones!” he exclaims, holding up one of the Eiffel Tower.

“That’s gnarly, dude. We’re going to have to spend some time on those.”

Benny nods, big brown eyes on mine. “Can I stay with you and Jamie tonight and start one?”

“We’ll have to talk to your parents,” I reply, making room on the bed to sit down. “Don’t you want to hang with Papa and Tammy?”

He shrugs. “You and Jamie are more fun!”

A knock on the door has us both looking toward it just as it pushes open. “Hey,” Mia says, and I can tell by her eyes alone that something’s wrong.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Benny, can you go down and help Papa with dinner?”

Benny groans, placing the puzzle back on the bed. “I guess,” he says, moping away.

I wait until he’s out of the room to ask, “What’s going on?”

“Jamie’s gone,” Mia whispers.

“What?” I stand quickly, tapping my pockets for my keys, but they’re not there. I never take them out of the car when I’m home or here because I never need to.

Mia shakes her head, hands up defensively. “Don’t panic,” she assures. “She said she left her phone at home and needed—”

I push past her, saying, “She had her phone in the car, Mia!”

She follows after me. “Don’t yell at me. I’m just—”

“I know,” I rush out. “I’m sorry.”

We race out of the house together, and Mia—she must know what I’m thinking because she’s already unlocking her car before I even get to it. I turn just in time to catch the keys she throws toward me. I’ve barely sat behind the wheel before she’s blocking the door. “Holden...” she whispers, her chest deflating with her heavy exhale.

Fear clogs my airways. “What?”

Mia’s almost in tears.Jesus Christ.“I don’t know what happened. She said nothing while she was here, but I’ve seen that look before. I feel like I’ve been where she was, and I can’t...”

“I have to go,” I mumble.

“Okay,” Mia nods, stepping back. “Just... please be gentle with her, Holden.”

I don’t take a breath until I pull into my driveway and see the RV still parked where it always is. I rush into the house and open the door, and it’s... it’s every single nightmare I’ve ever had rolled into one.

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