When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

“Josh doesn’t want to know you, Gavin. I know that’s harsh but it’s true. Why would he want to know the man who gave him away without a backwards glance?”

“Damn it! I didn’t do that!”

“You can deny it all you want, but I have the paperwork to prove differently.”

“If you give me a chance, I’ll try and explain that, Luna. I swear to you.”

“You know when I look back on the past, all I see is the chances I gave you. I see the sacrifices I made so you could live your dreams. I loved you, and when it was clear you weren’t willing to stay here, to fight for us, I let you go. When I begged you to come back, all I got was silence. I’m tired of giving you chances, Gavin.”

“I’m telling you I didn’t know, Luna. I had no idea. I’m begging you to believe me.”

He looks so earnest standing there and there’s a big part of me that wants to believe him, but there’s a small voice in my head saying that if I do, it will only hurt more later on. Maybe I could deal with my own pain, but I don’t think I could deal with Joshua’s if Gavin somehow wins him over and then hurts him.

“I don’t want to argue about this right now, Gavin. Josh is upstairs and I don’t want him to hear us discuss this. He’s been hurt enough by you.”

“I didn’t know—”

“Whether you knew or not—and I still don’t know how that’s possible—the truth remains that Josh was hurt and he’s my first priority. You’re going to have to give me time to think about this. The ramifications are just too much for me to decide right here and now.”

“We have to talk about this. I need to make you understand—”

“Not right now, Gavin. Shouldn’t you be at the murder scene or something? Surely you’re not finished there this early.”

“I need to… Wait, what do you mean, murder scene?”

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“I thought that’s why you showed up at first. Elaine was murdered this morning.”

“Elaine?”

“The bartender you spent the night with, how is it possible you keep forgetting her name?”

“She was murdered?”

“Yeah, at the bar this morning. I thought Ben would have called you in by now.”

“He may have called Dern. I’m not exactly talking to him right now.”

“You’re not talking to Dern?”

“Long story. Let’s just say he was involved in keeping my son from me, and I just found out about it.”

A million questions spring to mind, and I want to ask every single one of them, but I don’t know where to start. Gavin is walking towards the front door and even though I wanted him to leave a minute ago, now I need him to explain what’s going on.

“Where are you going?”

“To see what happened to the bartender. I need to know if it’s the same guy.”

“Well if you’re going I am.”

“Then, let’s go.”

“I don’t want to leave Josh alone. Let me call Louise next door to come over. Ever since the other night, I don’t feel comfortable leaving him without an adult.”

“Okay,” Gavin nods, watching me closely.

“Okay,” I repeat. I pick up the phone and it just takes me a minute to ask and she’s agreed to come over. I send up a silent prayer thanking the Man upstairs for good neighbors.

“We’re good to go?” Gavin asks.

“I just need to go upstairs and tell Josh…”

“I heard.”

My head jerks up to see my son at the top of the stairs looking down at us. The look on his face is solemn, and I’m pretty sure he’s been listening to Gavin and I talk.

“Josh—”

“It’s fine, Mom. I’ll be fine. You don’t need to have Louise to come over.”

“I know I don’t, but until we find out who is out there…”

“Okay,” he says, turning around to go back in his room.

“Josh?”

“Yeah, Mom,” he says, stopping when I call after him.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.” He starts to turn away, but then stops and looks over at Gavin. “In case you were wondering, Mr. Lodge. I don’t want to know you. I haven’t needed you in my life, and I sure don’t need you now.” With that delivered he walks off, slamming the door to his room. I look over at Gavin and I could almost feel sorry for him.

We leave shortly after Louise gets there, taking Gavin’s rental. He doesn’t talk and after attempting to make conversation and only getting his silence, I give up too.

Instead, I look out the window wondering when life got so complicated…

Gavin

The parking lot to the bar is filled with squad cars, a large, black SUV with coroner written across the doors, and a few other unmarked vehicles. There’s also a van from the local television crew, that cops are thankfully keeping at a distance.