Page 53 of 40 and (So Over) Fixing It
He kept calling, paused every few minutes to listen for Thad’s response. About twenty minutes in, he and Erin took a short water break. “What if he doesn’t answer?” he asked Erin.
“Then like Lily said, we get the professionals in here.” She cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb over his short, thick beard. “Believe we’ll find him first.”
And he tried to. The longer they called, the more he worried. The half hour mark came, and though Erin urged him to return, he stubbornly refused. They could go back faster when they weren’t looking for Thad; another fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt.
Erin was arguing with him at the fifty-minute mark when he swore he heard a sound that wasn’t her voice. He lifted a hand. “What was that?”
Erin went silent.
Nothing.
“Thad! Thad, answer me!”
He held his breath, waiting, and then, faintly, he heard a sound. It echoed in the air.
Shit. “Which way?” he asked Erin.
“Keep moving forward.” She dug her knife into the nearest tree. “And keep calling.”
Carter did. A minute passed, feeling like an hour, and then he caught sight of movement up ahead.
Small arms waving in the air. Navy-blue covered arms.
“Thad!” He ran then. Thad’s head jerked up at his call, and then he was running too, straight for Carter. They met halfway, Carter scooping Thad into his arms and heaving with tears as he held his son close.
“God, buddy, I was so worried.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Dad!” Thad was crying too.
Carter cuddled the small body to his chest, rubbing his arms up and down Thad’s trembling back. Hushing the shaky apologies. The story tumbled from Thad’s lips—how he’d seen the deer, how he’d followed. How he hadn’t even realized he’d gone into the woods until the deer spooked and bounded off, leaving Thad alone and scared. He’d been so scared he’d run blindly, no idea where he was going, until he’d had to stop to rest and Henry’s words about being lost in the woods had returned to him.Hug a tree,the man had said. So Thad did. He hugged a tree, waited, and believed his dad would come.
And Carter had come.
When they both began to calm down, he realized Erin hadn’t just been standing by. Her phone was in her hands—she was texting. Telling everyone they’d found Thad. Now they only had to make their way back to the mansion and this little misadventure would all be over.
Thank God.
A fifty-minute walk holding a ten-year-old wasn’t easy, but Carter refused to put Thad down. And Thad refused to let go. Only, the closer they got to the edge of the woods, the worse Carter began to feel. His shaking had subsided as they searched for Thad, but now it came back quickly. His head began to pound. Nausea rose in his throat. He stumbled, thinking he should really let Thad walk, but his fingers refused to release him. And then he saw the edge of the woods and the tree that sat next to the patio.
They were back.
The three of them broke through the trees. Before his vision blurred out completely, Carter saw the others rushing toward them, and then he was on his hands and knees. “Thad!”
Erin must have turned back to them because he sensed her there, picking Thad off the ground, the urgent tone of her voice trying desperately to break through the fog that had taken him over. He barely heard her over the dry heaves that shuddered through him. The shaking he couldn’t seem to stop. He wanted it to stop, needed it to stop, but he couldn’t seem to get his body to cooperate.
Next thing he knew, he was on his back, staring up at the clear blue sky. Erin’s face hovered over him, Thad’s next to her. They were calling his name—he could see their lips moving, though the sound didn’t register. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and he tried to tell him, but the dark rushed in, stealing his ability to move.
And then there was nothing.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Erin heard a distinct thud behind her, mingling with Thad’s alarmed cry. When she spun around, she saw Carter on his hands and knees, one palm pressing against his chest, head down. Thad lay on the ground beside him.
Everything inside her froze. It was like time reversed years in a single second, and all she could see was Stephen on his hands and knees, gasping out his final breaths on this earth.
“No!”
She was beside Thad, picking him up off the ground, with no idea how she’d gotten there. The sounds of Carter dry heaving and Thad crying filled her ears.
