The Christmas Deal

Logan called again, “Please come back.”

Connor sneered. “Afraid of what people will think? They should know the truth. You used my mom and now you’re using him too.” A fresh surge of rage seemed to erupt. “Go to hell!” He turned and slip-stepped across the ice, the wind having blown away the snow from some patches.

There was no dramatic craaaack! or warning sign. One second Connor was there and the next he disappeared into a pit of darkness with only a splash that echoed in the night.

Seth’s heart slammed against his ribs, and he sprinted onto the lake, shouts echoing in the distance, Logan’s fingers clutching at his sleeve. Seth lurched forward, shaking off Logan.

“Wait!” Logan shouted. “You’ll—”

The ice crumpled beneath him, plunging Seth into the icy depths. The cold punched the breath from his lungs, his limbs locking, muscles rigid. His brain shouted at him to kick and resurface, but his body wouldn’t—couldn’t—obey.

Lungs burning and body frozen, he sank.

Fingers tugged his hair upward, and he barely felt it. As he broke through the water, he sucked in a deep, desperate breath. Logan was on his belly hauling Seth out, saying something Seth couldn’t understand.

Then Logan was gone, and there were other people slithering across the ice on their stomachs, reaching for him and dragging him to safety.

But Connor! Seth tried to speak, but it was only a garbled grunt. From behind him, he heard a cry, weak and high-pitched, an animal sound that sent a shiver through his soul, his limbs jerking in spasm.

People were talking at him, tugging at him, wrapping a blanket around him. Seth’s lungs stuttered, and he screamed at his body to cooperate.

Finally, he was able to turn his head to look for Connor and Logan. They weren’t there.

Panic rocketed him to his feet. Had he been sitting on the ground? He stumbled back toward the lake, ignoring the voices around him and hands trying to stop him. Didn’t they understand? Logan and Connor were out there! Seth had to find them!

Someone grabbed his shoulders, right up in his face. Seth blinked at him, realizing it was Matt. Matt was saying something. Seth felt like he was trying to get a radio station but was a few degrees off, the words distant and staticky.

“Okay,” Matt said.

Seth put everything into focusing on Matt. “What?” he rasped.

“They’re okay. You’re all safe.” Still grasping Seth’s rigid shoulders, he looked behind him. “See?”

Blinking, Seth made out the cluster of people beyond, Logan and Connor at the center. Relief coursed through him, and he staggered, shivering violently now, his body finally responding to his commands. With Matt’s arm around his shoulders, he stumbled to them. A siren wailed distantly.

There were so many voices, but they were static again as Seth reached for Logan, slumping against him. There was only soaked cotton between them as Logan hugged Seth tightly, his arms trembling. Connor huddled against them, people wrapping blankets around him.

Then paramedics were there with bright lights and very loud questions, poking and prodding. Someone was saying they were lucky they were so close to the hotel and the town, and that they’d only been in the water a very short time.

“I want my mom.”

Connor’s words cut through the rest of the noise, so horribly plaintive that everyone seemed to stop short. Connor said it again, his anguished wail piercing Seth’s heart.

“I want my mom!”

Seth and Logan reached for him together, Connor thrashing for a few moments before collapsing against them, weeping with gasping sobs that seemed far too big for his skinny little body to contain without shattering completely.

Holding him safe between them, Seth and Logan clutched each other with frozen fingers as Connor cried for the mother he’d never have again.

Chapter Seventeen

“Well, that was quite a scene tonight.”

Sitting on the side of the hospital bed, Logan looked up to find Angela standing in the open gap in the curtain around his ER berth. Hands on hips, lips pressed tight, she shook her head gravely, fancy dangling earrings catching the washed-out fluorescent light.

Logan cringed. The last thing he wanted to do right now was act more. “Sorry,” he rasped, his throat still dry.

Her face softened, and she reached for his hand, giving it a kind squeeze. “Sugar, I’m messin’ with you. Thought I’d lighten the mood. There’s nothing to be sorry for. We’re all just relieved you, Seth, and Connor are okay.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks.” One of the worries that had been jabbing at him spilled out. “You’re not going to fire Seth?”

She scoffed. “What on earth gave you that idea? You think I have time to find another new director of systems training? Tomorrow’s December twenty-third, and I’m flying home when we get back to Albany. Besides, he’s the man for the job. No question about it.”

“Thank God,” Logan muttered, relief pouring through him. He’d still been shivering in his hospital sweatpants and sweatshirt, and now he relaxed a bit. He hadn’t fucked it up for Seth after all.