“Huh.” She took the bracelets and added them to her purse. “The other one has sentimental value. You promise you’ll send it to us?”
“If I find it.”
She turned and headed off into her room.
Would’ve been nice if the main suite had a key, but the door only locked from the inside. There probably wasn’t anything much of value to steal. Josiah had his parents’ wedding rings, and the rest hadn’t impressed me. But the thought of Heidi poking around and sniffing at everything made me irritable.
I was back down in the study, digging in the desk, making notes of all the bills and subscriptions and charities Dad and Krystal paid, when yelling started up again overhead.
Ah, fuck.I left the study and had only just turned for the stairs when Josiah blasted past me at a run and banged out the front door.
“Hey!” I called after him. “Where are you going?” When I reached the front porch, he had the door to the garage open and was dragging out his bike. “Josiah! Helmet! And I asked you a question. Do you have your phone? Do you want a jacket?” He’d at least ditched the too-small sweats and was dressed in jeans and a hoodie, a bit skimpy for the weather.
“I’m going to Brayden’s house!” He yanked his helmet down on his head and straddled the bike.
I fought an impulse to yell at him, demand he get his fuckin’ ass back in the house.That’s not who I am. That’s theundercover bullshit I’m leaving behind.I dug deep for what Zeke Evans should say. Patience. Reason.
“Brayden will be in school,” I pointed out. “It’s Monday.” We’d kept Josiah home since Krystal died, and I’d planned to see if he was ready to go back Wednesday, after all the Thompsons were gone. Back when I thought his mother’s relatives might be a comfort.
“Then I’ll bike around till he gets home.” Josiah stood on his pedals and powered off. His back tire looked a bit soft to me, and I hoped he wouldn’t run into problems, but hopefully he knew I’d come help if he called me. Assuming he had his phone?—
“You let him just run off like that?” Heidi demanded from behind me. “After talking back to me?”
Her nasty attitude made it easier for me to be cool and calm.I’m not like her.“Why would I stop him?”
“He’s not dressed for the weather. He’s a child and he needs to listen to his elders.”
The first part of that was true, but natural consequences, right? If he got cold, he’d stop for a jacket next time. The temperature was over freezing so he wouldn’t get frostbite. As for the second. “He’s twelve.” I had to keep reminding myself of that too, especially because Josiah was small for his age, but I didn’t let Heidi see my concern. “One of my school friends started babysitting when she was twelve. If she could be responsible for little kids, Josiah can bike around the neighbourhood on his own.”
“Hah! Well, don’t come running to us when raising a child gets to be too much for you and he ends up in trouble.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
Heidi whirled on her heel and stomped back inside, slamming the front door with me on the porch.
“Wow,” a low voice said. “Who’s the witch?”
I turned and spotted Callum squatting by his father’s rock bed, pulling weeds. A pile of last year’s dry remnants and new green shoots filled a bucket at his side.
Since I didn’t put it past Heidi to listen at the door, I jogged down the steps and over to Callum, dodging the bushes between our properties. “My aunt-in-law. Krystal’s sister.”
“Seems like a lovely person.”
His dry tone made me laugh, which felt like a gift. “Yeah. All of the Thompsons are like that. I’m so glad Krystal didn’t change the part of the will that named me Josiah’s guardian. They’d suck the joy right out of him.”
“Whatever joy he has…” Callum gazed down the road where Josiah had disappeared, his eyes unfocused.
“Yeah. Tough time for him.”
He pulled his attention back to me. “He’s lucky to have you. One good person on your side makes a difference.” He paused. “Tough for him? Not both of you?”
I tilted my hand back and forth. “Krystal and I didn’t really get along.” I wasn’t sure why I was telling him this, except I’d spent a week where everyone around me was on Krystal’s side, and I wanted to get it out. “She had zero use for me once Dad died.”
“But she left Josiah to your care?”
“Yeah. Maybe she had zero use for her Ontario relatives, too. Or maybe because that’s what Dad wanted and she always followed his lead. One thing I will say for Krystal, she loved Dad. Almost obsessively. I think half her beef with me was that I took his time and attention away from her.” At Callum’s flinch, I realized I was drastically oversharing. “Sorry. Not your problem.”
“Or yours, anymore,” he pointed out.
