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The dive team was in the water

The dive team was in the water

Please, God, don’t let hies were too clear, his little body being pulled up, limp and white, a tiny casket, Ethan devastated, their beautiful boy, gone Parker choked, started to gasp, her breath yanking in and out of her chest Maggie hugged her, hard "Easy, Parker, easy," she whispered

That’s right She didn’t have the luxury of her own feelings Her son needed her She would not fall apart now

"Giveoff James, who looked decades older She put her hands over her ears,her eyes, she thought

"Where’s the nail gun?" she asked The chief glanced at so it "Is the nail gun around?"

James bolted into the darkness A second later, he was back "It’s not in my truck That’s where I left it"

"Okay, so he took it The nail gun is with Nicky, so he probably went off to one down to the dock to drive nails He could’ve fallen in "Has anyone talked to Ethan? Maybe Nicky called hietting a flight up"

"Where was he the last ti herself to look at him, and in that moment, she hated him, God help her, and hated herself, as well, because she’d left her baby, her boy, her son, with him, and James had lost hi "I wasdinner Macaroni and cheese He was on the couch, playing with his little co--"

"Nintendo" God, she’d left her son with aabout children, who’d told her he knew nothing about children, and she wouldn’t listen, she did what she wanted--

"--and then he was…gone" His voice broke It didn’t o anywhere today? To the hardware store? To the harbor?"

"No"

"Maybe he went to the Pines," Lavinia suggested in a wobbly voice "I told hirandfather built the place"

The chief dispatched a crew to go up the street Collier squeezed Parker’s shoulder and ith them

It was fully dark now

What did Nicky love? What would ," Parker said abruptly "He hides all the ti in a fort somewhere Where’s Beauty? Maybe she’s with hiers; Beauty, who hid when people ca," the chief instructed "People, quiet down!" The crohich had grown to rowl of the town’s three fire trucks died abruptly "Go ahead, Miss Welles"

"Beauty!" Her voice was quavering and weak "Beauty, girl! Co

"Beauty! Coo for a swied with hysteria

There was nothing but the sound of wind and water

Oh, please, God, please She tried again "Beauty! Coo for a swi

"Over here!" sohts at the bottom of the house, where Jaet under there But there was a shallow scraping in the dirt, enough so that a child and a dog could fit under there Jarabbed a flashlight and wriggled under, spiderwebs veiling her hair, sand in her pants Then her light caught the reflection of her dog’s eyes, and she saw Nicky’s head, the cowlick he got fro out to touch hi "Nicky, sweetheart?"

Her son opened his eyes "Moot him," she called over her shoulder, and a cheer went up fro for you, baby"

"I fell asleep inhis eyes "Mo?"

LATER, WHEN EVERYONE had patted her son, when Chief Tatuiven him a plastic fire hat, when the yard and road had cleared, when Ethan had been called, when Nicky had been fed and bathed, Parker just held her son on her lap

"I’m sorry," Nicky said for theto hide," Parker said, kissing his head

"You weren’t here" There was a hard edge of resentment in his little voice

No She wasn’t "You should’ve told James, then"

"I don’t like James," Nicky said sullenly, and Parker knew he bla "I want to go ho home in a few days"

"Good Because I hate it here And I wanna live with Daddy" He started to cry

She kissed his head and held hihter "Listen, honey Everyone makes mistakes It’s what you do after thea grown-up, and you never go somewhere you don’t know is safe Promise me, Nicky It’s really, really i breath and snuggled closer "I love you, Mommy"

"Oh, sweetheart, I love you, too So, soin the scent of baby shaot in beside hi quietly to Beauty to jump up next to theht now She could’ve been watching a boat drag the harbor She could’ve been picking out a little casket Oh, Jesus, thank you for sparing me that

Little sobs jerked out of her as she s and watched with her mournful eyes as Parker wept

Her cell phone buzzed, and she looked at the screen Ethan

"Hey," she whispered They’d already spoken twice since Nicky had been found

"How is he?"