Page 10 of Stand

“Does it matter?” Sam asked. Cat shrugged. If she planned on answering, it was stopped by Jake’s face as he walked into the room.

“Aunt Cat,” he said, in that tone that immediately made Cat say, “God. What? What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” he said, but he looked extra morose, even for a teen who had just suffered through another day of school. “But I don’t think Matt is.”

“What happened?” Sam said. “Cairo, leave him alone.” Her dog was sniffing Jake all over, and Jake didn’t even put out a hand to pet him. “Here.” She snapped her fingers and Cairo came to her side.

“Matt’s mom came and picked him up,” Jake said.

“Is that bad?” Sam asked.

“He didn’t want to go with her.” Jake mashed his hands under his armpits, making him look hunched over and old. “She said his dad had said they could go out for ice cream. And… I dunno. Maybe he did. But I texted Matt from the bus, and he hasn’t texted back. And he told me about—”

Cat nodded. Sam folded her arms. “What’s going on? Why is it bad for his mom to take him out for ice cream?” She’d enjoyed her vision of Tyler Cavanaugh in a steady marriage with two good-looking kids.

“Matt’s mom left them,” Jake said. “His dad got full custody ’cause she flaked out, but now she’s back and she wants them back.”

“Lord.” Her pleasant vision collapsed. “You say ‘wants them back’ like that’s a bad thing.”

“Yeah, but she’s been kinda… off,” Jake said. “Like, took them to the movies and then left them halfway through because she was bored, and then forgot to come back and get them. And she talks about taking them out of state, and they don’t want to go, but she keeps talking about it.”

“How long has she been back?” Sam asked.

“A couple months.”

Cat looked at the towel in her hands. Her voice was uncharacteristically subdued when she said, “I understand why she doesn’t want to stay in town. The rumor mill around here is fierce.”

You don’t have to tell me.

“If she wants to be back in their lives,” Cat went on, “thatisa good thing. I mean, she didn’t give up.”

“Shedidgive them up, Aunt Cat,” Jake said. “Two years ago, remember? She has to get their dad’s approval if she wants to take them anywhere now.”

“Well, then,” Cat said. “I hope you’re being a good friend to Matt, because this is real hard on him.” Cat looked around at her house. Sam knew she was thinking about the stability it represented. “Count yourself lucky, Jacob.”

He rolled his eyes but mumbled, “I do,” and Sam believed him. His mom had fought for a long time to bring that kind of steadiness to her boys’ lives, and her new husband had added to it. Sam, on the other hand, had run fast and far away from any kind of responsibility she wasn’t paid to deal with.

“We have to call his dad,” Cat said.

“I know,” Jake said. “But I don’t know his number.”

“The parent directory app will have it,” Cat said. “Unless he’s unlisted.”

“There’s always Google,” Sam added as Cat opened her phone.

“Or we could call the school,” Jake suggested. “But they’ve all gone home.”

“I got it!” Cat thrust her phone into Jake’s hands.

Jake just as quickly thrust it back. “Can you call him?” he begged.

“Jake, you’re the one who saw what happened.” Cat turned into Stern Auntie. “You need to do it.”

Jake sighed, and Sam tried not to let her lips twitch. Teenagers gonna teenage. He took the phone, dialed the number, and put it on speaker.

“Tyler Cavanaugh,” the voice said. Sam didnotblush. She didnot.

“Mr. C, it’s Jake Field—McConnell. Fielding.”

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