Page 50 of Chasing the Horizon

“You aren’t alone in this,” Esme promised him, hugging him once more.

But Victor and Esme had to get home, too. They weren’t living alone any longer.

They had someone who relied on them for everything.

Chapter Twenty

January 2025

Five Months Before the Accident

It was the second week of the new year, and Victor was in his office with Kade, talking about what Kade got for Christmas. To his surprise, Kade was more than eager to discuss the intricacies of his Lego sets, a video game he was playing obsessively, and a book he was reading—something with dragons in it that wouldn’t have interested Victor at all, save for the fact that Kade was so fascinated in the story and explained it well.

It was remarkable. Kade wanted to bring Victor into his world.

“Does your uncle Jack ever play the game with you?” Victor asked a little while later, wanting to get a better portrait of the relationship between Jack and Kade.

Kade shrugged and looked at the ground. “He thinks it’s a waste of time.”

“And what do you think of that?”

“I think he’s too old to understand,” Kade said.

Victor laughed. “Do you think I’m too old to understand?”

“You’re not as old as Uncle Jack.”

Victor guessed he was maybe four or five years younger than Jack, if that. But he appreciated that the kid was beginning to trust him and open up to him.

He also hated that he still thought of the boy—sometimes—as a version of Joel. But it was something he couldn’t fight. It came upon him like the weather.

It was late, nearing the end of their session, when Jack called to say he was held up with something. “I’m sorry, Vic,” he said over the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Victor waved his hand, strangely glad to have a bit more time with Kade. “We’ll go grab something to eat and wait for you there. I’ll text you where we end up.”

“Fantastic,” Jack said. “I owe you one.”

It was a clear day of about forty degrees. Victor and Kade walked from his office down the road to a Mexican restaurant, where they ordered Dr Peppers and quesadillas and ate their way through a whole bowl of tortilla chips with salsa. They talked about easy things, like what Kade liked most about sailing and which languages he liked to speak most.

“I really like reading Greek, but I can’t speak it very well,” Kade said. “But we spent a lot of time in the Greek islands. My dad taught me how to ride a motorbike, but he made me promise not to tell my mom I learned.”

Victor laughed. “What was it like?”

“You’ve never ridden one?”

“No.”

Kade looked shocked. “It’s like, so fun. You can go really fast, and you feel like you’re flying. My dad told me not to go too fast because sometimes people get into accidents. Especiallytourists.” Kade took another chip. “But my dad told me we were never tourists wherever we went. We were citizens of the world.”

“What a great way to think of it,” Victor said.

He wondered if it was getting easier for Kade to think of and talk about his parents. It was obviously still painful for him; it would be painful forever. But it was a good sign that he could readily turn to his memories and see them for what they were.

How often had Victor really talked about Joel in the past few decades?

Was Kade able to heal far more than Victor simply because he was opening his heart and his mind up to accepting his parents had died?

And is he only able to do it because I’m helping him?Victor wondered.

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