“Sammie’s been rebellious lately,” he said. “He thinks that Morgan babies him too much, that he’s the man of the family and that she should listen to him more. He’s completely wrong. She’s a great mom. But he’s a kid pushing his boundaries.”
Morgan listened, so thankful that Cal was there, sharing the burden of parenthood with her, even for the moment. She was giddy with relief. And sick with worry, too. Sammie might think he was a man but the little boy was only ten years old and had taken himself on a bus to God knew where. Had he been there all night long?
Had he arrived safely? Had he been left alone once he got there?
Or had he met with ill fate on the other end of his journey?
There were so many creeps out there, sickos who did horrible things to young boys. And Sammie was small for his age… .
* * *
AN HOUR LATER Morgan was climbing the walls and Cal was pretty much scaling them right beside her. Even having only seen pictures of Sammie Lowen, after months of hearing about the boy, going to bat for him regarding a male point of view, Cal felt like he knew the boy. He certainly cared what happened to him.
“It’s not good, is it?” Morgan asked from her perch on the front step. “The fact that we haven’t heard anything yet?”
“You can second-guess this all day long,” Cal said, fatigue slowing his mental processes, but not his desire to be there for her. To find a way to make things turn out right this time. “Try to envision Sammie safe. And coming home to you.”
Like it was that easy. Just picture it and it will be.
Not.
Or Claire Sanderson and Cal Whittier would have grown up as brother and sister.
“He’s really a good kid,” Morgan said now. “I know it sounds like I’m always talking about him fighting me, but Sammie isn’t a troublemaker. He isn’t belligerent. He’s always in the kitchen when I’m making dinner, helping out. He stays around for cleanup, too, unless he has homework to do. He puts his clothes in the hamper and makes his bed. He gets good grades. He’s the type of kid who befriends a boy with Down syndrome the other kids were making fun of. He’s just not real fond of his mother watching out for him.”
“Morgan, it’s okay. I know what a good kid he is. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you talk far more about the good times than you do about the struggles.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. It’s gotten to the point where I look forward to Mondays because I’m going to hear about what you and Sammie did over the weekend. You’re a great mother—you don’t just take care of your son, you share your life with him.”
“I love having Sammie in my life.”
“What about his dad?” He hadn’t ever asked. And while it had been obvious that the boy’s father wasn’t around, Morgan had never talked about the guy.
Strange that in the past twenty-four hours no one had even mentioned the guy’s existence.
“Todd Williams was the worst case of bad judgment I ever had,” Morgan said now, staring out at the street.
“Your worst case?” An odd turn of phrase from a woman who was so levelheaded and insightful.
“According to my father, I’m good at misjudging people,” she said. “I take people at face value. I give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“All good qualities. We should all be more like that.”
She shook her head. “My father thinks I don’t discern well. My choice of husband didn’t help my case any.”
She’d been married to Sammie’s father.
A strange feeling swamped him for a second. Only briefly. An unfamiliar and most unpleasant sensation. It took Cal another moment to realize he was jealous of the unknown Todd, which was absolutely ludicrous. Must be the lack of sleep.
“What happened?” he asked, telling himself that he was just helping her pass the time
while they waited for Sammie to be found.
“I met him in high school. Was certain that he was the love of my life. Looking back I see that he was just the opposite of my father. He relied on me. He let me call the shots. He listened to me. The complete antithesis of the life I had at home. The life that was driving me crazy. By the time I met Todd my father and I couldn’t be in the same room for five minutes without having horrible fights.”
“Todd treated you like the smart and savvy woman that you are.”