Page 3 of All It Takes

“It’s no problem,” I said even though it felt as if a meteor had landed in my life when I got her phone call yesterday.

Eight years ago, I had agreed to be a godparent to this little boy. Honestly, that commitment had slipped my mind. Even though I’d stayed in touch with my best friend from college, George, we’d both moved to different areas so our contact had been limited to our weekly online video game chats. He had been one of the closest friends I’d ever had.

The woman glanced over at Ross, George’s son. I’d just learned George had died a few days ago. “I’m thinking perhaps we could talk privately,” she said, her tone low.

I nodded. “Do you want to take Nilla for a walk?” I called over to Ross, thinking that would give us a few minutes of privacy.

Ross jumped up quickly. “Can I?”

“Sure thing. She won’t run away. In fact, she’ll just walk beside you. She’s due for a potty break.”

We walked back out the door, and I gestured over toward the trees to one side. “That’s the poop zone.”

Ross burst out laughing. “I like you.”

I smiled down at him. “I said it before, but I’m Wes. It’s good to see you.” Ihadmet him before, but it was back when he was a toddler. I was certain I was all but a stranger to him.

He nodded quickly, a shadow flitting through his gaze. We stared at each other. For a moment, I could’ve sworn my friend was living inside his son. It was like looking into George’s eyes. Ross had the same straight dark brows with a familiar furrow between them.

“Just come back inside in a few minutes.”

Nilla stayed at his side as they walked down the stairs. If she could’ve held his hand, she would’ve. She was that kind of dog.

After the social worker took a long look and seemed satisfied that Ross was content playing with Nilla, she followed me back into the house. Her name jumped into my recollection: Eileen. I gestured toward the windows, commenting, “We can stay right here to keep an eye on him.”

Eileen cast me a quick smile before nodding, her eyes arcing about the space. I’d just finished building this house last year. When I took the job with a hotshot firefighting crew, I’d stayed with my mother for a month or so while working fast to get this place ready. It had been a half-finished house that someone else had sold off because they ran out of money.

I’d lucked out. Whoever had designed it initially planned a square with a courtyard in the middle. The main area had a wide living room with tall ceilings and windows all across the outer wall facing what I eventually intended to be a garden area. To one side was a kitchen that also had a bathroom and laundry off it. The bedrooms were on the other side down a short hallway. There was a main bedroom with a bath as well as two smaller rooms. The last side of the square around the courtyard was a garage. While I didn’t mind the snow, it was a relief to have protected parking.

Eileen’s eyes made their way back to me. “Nice place,” she said.

“Thank you.” I took a quick breath. “Now, I guess, fill me in.”

“Well, as I mentioned on the phone, you are listed as a godparent. This was completely unexpected, and there’s no other family for Ross.”

I tried to breathe slowly and ignore the subtle sense of panic building inside. When someone asked you to be a godparent, it seemed like a formality, not something that would ever become a reality.

“What happened?” I asked.

“They were driving home during a rainstorm. A power line had fallen over the road, and they drove over it. Obviously, there’s no way to know, but the police assume they didn’t see the line on the road since it was dark and rainy. When they drove over the line, it tangled in the undercarriage of the car and brought two electrical poles crashing on it.” She threw a hand up in the air, letting it fall. “It’s heartbreaking.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, almost to myself. “Does Ross know what happened?”

“As far as I understand, someone at the police station explained it to him.”

I scrubbed a hand through my hair, feeling befuddled and overwhelmed and instantly thinking that the way I felt must be nothing compared to what Ross was feeling.

“George and Sarah were good parents. They doted on him,” I murmured, still in shock. “The last time I talked to George was—” I slipped my phone out of my pocket, tapping to open the screen and scrolling through my texts. “We play an online video game together usually once or twice a week and chat then. We texted two weeks ago and had a phone call the next day. I just texted him the other day, wondering why he hadn’t been online to play. We were really close friends in college and worked together for a little while afterward. He and Sarah moved, and then I moved, and you know how it goes. But I saw pictures of Ross.”

I looked out into the yard. Ross was throwing a stick for Nilla, who was happily fetching it.

Eileen nodded when I brought my attention back to her. “There is no family listed to contact. They actually had a will. Honestly, at their age, that’s kind of a surprise. They weren’t that old.”

My lips twisted. “Nope, they weren’t. George was thirty-two, like me. Sarah was a lawyer. She thought things through like that, so I’m sure she made sure they had a will.” I paused and looked out at Ross again. “Obviously, this is a shock for me, but I’ll take him, and we’ll figure it out.”

“Well, there’s one other thing,” Eileen said.

“What’s that?”

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