Page 139 of Never Alone

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"I'll wait."

I had to swallow before I could answer him.

"Yeah, bud. You wait. I'll be back."

He stepped forward and hugged me. Cautiously. Around the sling. The way Jamie had hugged me.

I held him there for a count.

Then he let go. He stepped back. Jack had come over from the couch. He put his hand on Noah's shoulder the way Sam put his hand on a shoulder—same weight, same hand shape, twelve years old and already moving like his father.

"Come on, Noah. We can play while we wait."

Jack led Noah back to the couch.

I stood up.

It cost me. Again, I didn't let it show.

Sam was at the door. Jamie was beside him.

"I'll call when I find her."

"Every hour either way."

"Sam—"

"Every hour, Cole."

"Okay."

He walked us out to the car. Quinn got in the driver's side. I got in the passenger side.

Sam stood at the open passenger window. His hand on the frame.

"Bring her home."

"I will."

He stepped back from the car.

Quinn pulled away from the curb.

She drove south.

CHAPTER 26

Tessa

The Greyhound terminal was in Savannah.

I’d been there for an hour. I had the ticket in the pocket of my jacket. I had the bag at my feet—the bag that had sat in the back of Mrs. Thompson's closet, then the back of mine, then the back of the apartment closet, for eight months and three apartments. I had a sweater that had been Cole's pulled around my shoulders, which I hadn’t meant to take and hadn’t realized I'd taken until I was already on the highway.

The bus to Jacksonville left in twenty-six minutes.

I was looking at the departure board. The board didn't need to be looked at. I’d been looking at it for forty minutes anyway because the board was easier than the people, and the people were easier than the floor, and the floor was easier than the bag.

The bag I wasn’t looking at.

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