Chapter 28 Jace
JACE
Fuuuuuuuuck…
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I did not just lose my kid. Especially not immediately after I just made a whole big scene about how he has a family and is loved and cared for and there are all these people watching out for him.
I am apparently just not one of those people right this moment.
Pure terror rises in my chest, creeping through my body like a vine ready to strangle the life out of me. He was right here. Right next to me. Or so I thought. I should have known better. He’s a runner—we know this. That’s how he and I met.
“It’s okay…” I tell Presley. It’s a lie, one that neither of us believe for a single second, but I’m trying.
I should have held on to him. I shouldn’t have lost my cool to begin with.
There was just no stopping it. That asshat needed to be shown the door.
He’s lucky that I held back as much as I did.
That we’re in public. Because if we hadn’t been, I would have clocked him.
Let him know exactly what I think of him and the way he’s treated my family.
“Jace…we…shit…” Presley pants.
“We’ll find him. He can’t have gone far.”
I hope.
Okay, I need to think. What’s caught his attention the other times he’s done this?
At the farmers’ market it was the ducks in the kiddie pool in The Grain Store’s booth. We don’t have any ducks here today. It’s too cold. Brian also doesn’t traditionally sponsor this event. So, that’s out.
Popcorn. The Touch-a-Truck run was because he saw Milo with a popcorn machine and he wanted some.
Could he have been hungry? He shouldn’t be, since we had breakfast at home.
Then again, Dolly’s got her cinnamon rolls out and we’ve—okay, I’ve—created a bit of a monster when it comes to Otis and those pastries.
Maybe that’s it; he wanted a snack. Wanted to go hang out with Aunt Dolly and see what he could con her into feeding him. Which I’m sure is a lot.
My brain is moving as fast as it ever has, trying not to waste a single second. Then Presley’s voice cuts through.
“We need to split up to look for him. I’ll text my parents, see if they’re here yet and can help. Would it be too much to ask your brothers?”
“Absolutely not.”
I pull out my phone and send the only thing I can think of to my sibling group chat. The one single word that I know without a doubt will have everyone’s attention in a flash and put us on high alert.
ARMADILLO.
“Armadillo?” Presley asks, watching my thumbs fly over the screen.
“Family distress signal.” I continue to type, ignoring the responses from my siblings that they are present and ready, tapping out a BOLO for Otis.
“Wha—"
“Longtime running family joke,” I cut her off. “Anton is afraid of them.”
“Because, of course…” Presley lets out a ragged sigh, spinning in place as she scans the crowd. “Jace, what if—”
“We’re not going there, Mama,” I answer, knowing exactly where she’s going with this.
“That’s exactly where my head is at. Cody wanted nothing to do with Otis until just now. What’s going to stop him from just taking him?”
Nothing. That’s what.
Her fear is legit, even if I don’t want to go there. We have to. We have to consider all options.
Stranger Danger…
“Everything you taught him. Everything you’ve put in the stranger danger videos. We just need to be listening for a small child yelling fuck.”
Presley spins, looking at me, the fear on her face as clear as the sky. I can see her pulse racing under her skin, the waves of panic radiating off her in full force.
“How can you be this calm?” A tear escapes and trickles down her cheek.
Calm? I am anything but calm right now…
“I promise you, I’m not. But both of us losing our shit at the same time won’t solve anything either.”
“Right…okay…you go that way. I’ll go this…” She points in opposite directions, sucking in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Are the girls in on the armadillo thing or just your brothers?”
“My brothers and Willa.” I should have sent it to the big family group text, but I wasn’t thinking. “Word travels fast though. Especially since all y’all were together helping Dolly.”
“Everyone but Maisey,” Presley says, half absentmindedly.
Maisey. That’s it.
I grab Presley’s hand, a sliver of excitement squeezing its way past the fear.
“I know where he is.”
“What? How?”
I don’t answer. I simply turn, not letting go of her hand, and run.
Holding on as tight as I can, I weave the two of us between groups of people, bobbing and dodging strollers and strangers as we go.
Presley yells my name a couple more times, but answering her would be wasting time. We’ve done enough of that.
Especially since I’m reasonably confident I know where he went.
I should have figured this out sooner. Otis only rambled on and on about it all morning. While we got ready, on the drive over here, the whole walk to find Presley. How could I have forgotten?
Oh, panic, that’s why.
“Jace!” Presley cries, her voice still laced with worry.
I stop, pulling her into me and kissing her. Soft, sweet, reassuring.
“The ambulance,” I whisper. Nodding to my left, I smile, because I’m right. I don’t even have to look over there to know.
“Wha—”
Presley twists in my arms. Then, she relaxes. Her whole body eases, all the tension and turmoil fading away as she melts into my chest.
“Oh, thank God…” she says under her sigh of relief.
“That’s the defibrillator,” Maisey says, holding up the small electronic device. “We use that if someone hurts their heart. There are these very special stickers that we put on their chest and then we push this button and it sends little bits of electricity into them.”
“Owie,” Otis replies.
“It’s only a little bit,” Maisey assures him. “And we only do it in very special hurt heart moments. If you hurt your heart bad enough that we need to do this, you don’t feel it.”
I smile, chuckling to myself. Maisey’s bedside manner is perfect, explaining things in a way that’s understandable to a little kid, but not talking down to him.
Otis is eating up every word too. Anton has been banking on Otis taking up a love of farming after his reaction to all the farm equipment, but after watching this, first response might give him a run for his money.
“How’d you know?”
I tighten my embrace, my heart still racing from the shock and the run, Presley’s warmth helping to soothe me back to normal.
“He was talking about it all morning. He wanted to see the ambulance. I don’t know what inspired it.
Maisey must have said something at Friendsgiving.
Or maybe Landon mentioned it last weekend.
But from the second he woke up, he was talking about it.
When we passed it on the way to find you, I promised him we would go back so he could see it.
Guess he didn’t want to wait for us to be done. ”
“Adding patience to the list of things we need to work on.” Presley huffs, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Mama!” Otis calls, waving over to us. “I drive the am-boo-wince!”
I wave back, not ready to let go of Presley quite yet. Otis is safe and that’s what matters. So I’m going to steal an extra couple of seconds with my girl. My forever.
“Just remember, Mama, I got you,” I tell her. “Him too. We’re gonna tackle that list together. And who knows, maybe the next one will be easier.”
Presley snorts. “Ha. Pretty sure that’s not how it works.”
She winks, then steps back, letting the cool morning air slip between us. As much as I want to yank her right back into me, that can wait. We have other things to attend to.
“Little Man…” I walk over to where he and Maisey are sitting on the edge of the ambulance. I’m so full of relief that it’s hard to conjure the seriousness needed for the moment, but I do it. “What happened to staying with me at all times?”
Otis looks away, his eyes turned down like he knows he was wrong.
“That man was mad. And he wasn’t a safe grown-up,” he answers, still not looking at me. “He hurt you. I get help.”
Oh, hell. In the blink of an eye, I’m a puddle. Nothing but liquidy goo, melting and spreading all over the place.
“He ran right over here, yelled a word I’m pretty sure he’s not supposed to use, and then told me a stranger was yelling at you,” Maisey interjects. “So I thought it would be best if we just hung out here and looked at all the cool things we have in the back of the ambulance.”
“Thank you,” Presley replies.
“I texted Ewan. I probably should have included y’all in on that, but he said he was on his way to find you.”
I pull my phone from my pocket, immediately flipping to the group text. Sure enough, right there in all the responses I ignored, is one from my younger brother. Plus another one.
Ewan: Hey, Maisey’s got Otis with her. Said something about some yelling? Everything good?
Ewan: Did you not see my text? Maisey says she’s with him at the first aid tent. He’s safe.
Fuck, I should have read those. That would have saved me from almost needing that defibrillator.
Presley rushes over to Otis, scooping him up in a hug. I give them a minute, every inch of me aching to go join them. But they need a second. One that is just Mama and Otis.
Or so I assume.
At least until I see those little blue eyes—the ones that match his mama’s—look over expectantly at me. That’s all I need.
Closing that gap in a single step, I wrap both of them in my arms, holding on as tight as I think I can get away with. I’m never, ever letting go. These two are too important. They’re my everything.
“I found a safe grown-up,” Otis says, still squished in between us.
“Yes, you did, Little Man. You did good. Doesn’t mean Mama and I weren’t worried though.”
“Sorry, Dad…”
The world stops.
I can’t breathe, my lungs constricting and burning as my brain screams that we need oxygen. There isn’t any, though. Those two words have sucked it straight out of the atmosphere.
Dad…
Presley looks over at me, the tears in her eyes matching mine. Dad. He called me Dad.
I’ve never felt so…I don’t even know the word. Full? Complete? Shit…I’m not sure there is one. All I know is that I couldn’t love him any more. He is mine.
They are mine.
“It’s okay, Little Man. Just promise you’re going to stay with me for the rest of the day, okay? No matter what else happens.”
“O’tay, Dad.”
And here I thought it didn’t get better, then he said it again.
“Wanna go get a cinnamon roll with Dad?” Presley asks, upping the ante.
I thought it was something when he said it. Presley echoing it is almost too much. So much for not needing that defibrillator. These two keep this up then Maisey is about to have to show off her EMT skills.
“Yeah!”
Presley shifts, passing Otis to me. He slides over easily, wrapping his arms around my neck the same way he did that first day at the farmers’ market. I knew we were destined to be buddies back then, but had no idea it could be like this.
“Lead the way, Dad.”
Taking her hand, I quickly steal a kiss, my heart ready to burst.
“Gladly, Mama.”