Page 11 of Stand

“Jake? Is Matt with you?”

Of course. He already knew something was up. His son hadn’t been on the bus.

“No.” Jake swallowed visibly. “I’m sorry, I asked him if he wanted to go, but she—”

“Jake,” Cat hissed, “tell him from the beginning.”

“Did his mom show up?” Tyler said at the same time.

“Yeah.” Jake sounded relieved and scared at the same time. “She said you’d said she could take them out for ice cream. She swore you said it was okay.”

“She does that.” Tyler’s voice was grim.

There was silence. Tyler’s mind must be scrambling to take in the information. How bad was this? Would the kids really be in danger from being with their mother? In Sam’s experience, mothers were the reliable ones. It was fathers you had to watch out for.

“What can we do?” Cat asked. “It’s Catriona, Ty. Jake’s aunt.”

“He has a lot of those, huh.” His tone was deadpan.

“Yeah, I’m here too,” Sam had to say. She didn’t want him to think she was eavesdropping on this.

“Hi, Sam,” Ty said.

“Hello.”

Cat gave her a sharp look, and Sam raised her eyebrows at her.What?

“Okay,” Ty said in a normal voice—as normal as Sam knew, anyway. “I think I know where they’ve gone. Did you say ‘they,’ Jake?”

“Uh-huh. She said they had to go quick to pick up Alyssa.”

“Shit.”

That one word carried years of pain in it.

What did Ty do when he was stressed? Was he pinching the bridge of his nose? Running his hand through that coarse blond hair? Scratching the stubble she’d noted on his cheeks this morning?

She was just wondering.

“Can we help?” she said, echoing Cat. “Do you need me to drive anywhere?”

“I… thank you. I have to call the…” He sounded more distracted now. “Thanks for telling me. I have to go. Jake,” he said, “if he calls you…”

“Sure, of course I’ll call you,” Jake said. He sounded scared.

Sam didn’t mean to, but the words burst out of her. “Where do you think she’s gone?”

“Florida,” he said and hung up.

The three of them stared at each other. “She’s not allowed to take them out of state,” Jake repeated.

“Do the airports know that?” Cat asked. “Or is she planning on driving them?”

“God. Poor kids.” Sam felt choked, panicky. For all that she didn’t want her own children, Sam couldn’t stand to see others in difficulties. Jake and Benji had been through the mill. She felt guilty every day for how long she’d let Thea struggle with single motherhood before she’d met Liam. But Samcouldn’tcome back here. She just couldn’t.

Jake and Benji’s dad had come back as well after years away and expected to walk back into their lives. All he’d done was disrupt everyone’s happiness and cause trouble. It sounded like Ty’s ex was doing the same thing.

“I’m going to take Cairo out,” she declared. She needed to move. “Cai, walk.”

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