Page 67 of Sycamore Circle

“You wouldn’t have had to do anything. Just sit there with me while everyone went crazy. I could’ve made you popcorn.”

He almost started laughing but caught himself just in time. “Are you upset about Bo seeing your mom?”

“Hmm. Not really,” she said after a pause. “This Bo guy doesn’t seem slimy or anything. What do you think?”

“I only met him once, but Seth and him are really good friends. Seth made sure to tell me that if I ever need something or have an emergency then I should call either one of them. He said that even Bo would drop everything to help me out.”

“That’s kind of how he acted when he was at my house. Not like he would do anything for me, but that he would do anything for my mom.” She lowered her voice. “He acted like my mom is special. I kind of like that.”

“That’s good.”

“I’ve got to go. I’ll text you later, ’Kay?”

“Yeah. Bye.”

When he hung up, he hurriedly put it on mute and hid it again in between his mattress and box spring. Then, after brushing his hair and gathering his dirty clothes, he walked back downstairs.

Rachel and Lucy were eating turkey sandwiches and his mother was at the sink. “Here you are,” his mamm said. “I wondered when you were coming back down.”

“Sorry, I um, was dirtier than I thought.”

Rachel giggled. “I walked up to get you but your door was closed and locked.”

“It’s good it was locked, if you were just going to barge in without knocking.”

Rachel gave him a long look. In that instance he knew that she knew he’d been talking on the phone. After meeting her gaze, he said, “I’ll put my laundry in the shoot and then fix a sandwich. I’m starved.”

“I’ll make you one, Finn. You just go sit down. You have to go to work soon anyway, right?”

“Jah.”

His mother’s expression was warm and sweet when she placed a plate in front of him. On it was not one but two sandwiches, as well as a pile of macaroni salad. “Eat up, child,” she whispered.

He knew his mother thought that he never got to eat at the diner. He wasn’t going to tell her differently, since it would bring up a lot of other questions about her sister Mary.

Instead, he ate his food and watched as his sisters helped their mother with the dinner dishes, began preparations for supper, and then eventually left the kitchen to work on laundry.

Only when it was just him in the room did he dare relax enough to smile. Chloe seemed to really like him—maybe almost as much as he liked her. Plus, he now had a phone and could call and text her whenever he wanted. Things weren’t good but they were a whole lot better.

CHAPTER 23

Joy’s day turned out to be a little anticlimactic. Soon after Bo left her house, he’d called to say that the detective he’d told her about had reached out to him. The detective had told Bo that there would be no reason for Joy to go to the station before talking to him.

Bo gave Joy Detective Heilman’s phone number so she could coordinate with him directly. When she called, he told her he was tied up with a court appearance, but he could be available late that afternoon. He was going to come around to her house at five or six.

Joy had been disappointed but had understood the reason to wait. Bo had worked with this detective before and he assured Joy that Heilman would not only take her concerns seriously but would treat her with respect. Waiting until she could speak with the detective would also help her not to have to tell her story first to whatever officer was willing to help and then repeating it again to Detective Heilman when he was available.

So, with nothing to do but wait, she’d spent most of the day painting, thinking about Bo, and debating how much to tell Chloe about what was going on. Chloe wasn’t a little girl, but what was going on would probably scare her. Joy didn’t want to frighten her daughter, but she also didn’t want to keep so many secrets, knowing that it could be unsafe for Chloe as well.

In addition, she and Chloe had formed a really good bond in the four years since Tony’s departure. In a lot of ways, she and her daughter were a team. Joy knew she owed it to Chloe to be open and honest.

Besides, Bo was in the picture now. Chloe likely had a ton of questions about him.

Deciding that the house didn’t feel like the right place to have the discussion, she’d picked up some snacks, two bottles of water, and taken her to the park near their house. Chloe was comfortable there and the warm weather was ideal.

After parking, they carried the two sacks to one of the benches on the outskirts of the park.

“It’s been a long time since we had a picnic out here, huh?” she asked when they sat down.

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