Chapter 7 #2
Between thinking about the kid, this new drug and the havoc it was creating in his city, and his missing brother, Jackson couldn’t quite shake his mood during his shift. As soon as he left work, he wanted to see if he could track down Dylan and Reggie.
“I have an idea,” he told Swanny. “Tell me if this is dumb.”
“Shoot.”
“Dylan’s teacher and I, ah, we know each other.”
“Oh?” Swanny perked up. “Do I smell romance in the air?”
Jackson’s ears grew hot. “Dude, no.”
The memory of kissing Mia beneath the bleachers mugged him. He shook his head. “I just think maybe she and I could work together to see if we can find Dylan.”
“I thought you went to see the police about him.”
He hadn’t told Swanny what had happened. “Yeah, that didn’t go so well. They told us the kids weren’t high priority.”
“No way!” Swanny yelled.
“Keep it down. I’m only telling this to you.
” Jackson glanced around. Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued.
“Mia has worked with both kids. She knows them. She knows their friends. So instead of relying on the cops to find Dylan, I think I’ll get further if I start searching on my own.
You know I’ve worked with SAR. Why not?”
Swanny scratched his chin. “Well, I’m not one to go rogue, but maybe you should. It’s your brother. And buddy, if I can help, say the word. Anything you need, no matter how big, I’m here for you.”
Jackson cleared his throat. “Thanks, bro. Means a lot.”
Before he could talk himself out of it, he sent Mia a text.
Jackson
I want to try and find Dylan. Could we meet up and compare notes? Maybe there’s something we haven’t considered.
He set his phone to vibrate and put it back into his pocket. He had no clue if she’d agree, but he prayed she would. Because if she didn’t, he was out of ideas.
And the longer Dylan was missing, the less likely they’d find him alive.
Mia leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping her coffee, considering the text from Jackson, torn.
She had to help Dylan. She’d known that since the police said he wasn’t a high priority. But she also had to find this foundation.
She’d still had no reply to her phone call. If she didn’t sign up for classes soon, she could kiss her master’s degree goodbye. “Ugh! I hate feeling selfish!”
Was it selfish? Her goal was to help girls who were pregnant and had zero support. Like she’d been. She clicked the button on her phone. It was after two. Mia bit her lip. Gus was in her bedroom, taking an early-afternoon nap.
On one hand, she wanted to help Jackson find Dylan.
Her heart ached whenever she thought of those young boys out on their own.
Or worse. But on the other hand, with the attraction that had flared when Jackson stepped close enough to smell his aftershave, she’d have to fight against falling under his spell again.
She’d already learned that he had no problem rejecting her based on an assumption and not giving her a chance to tell her side of the story.
That was twelve years ago.
The man she’d talked to yesterday had been willing to admit he’d reacted badly.
But he still didn’t know the whole truth.
She let out a long breath. She wasn’t ready for that conversation yet.
Enough! She was being selfish. This wasn’t about her. It was about finding those boys.
She quickly texted Jackson that she would meet with him about four at the coffee shop in town. Until then, she’d try to contact the parents of her other students to see if any of them knew where the boys might have headed.
The first two parents she spoke with said their child had no idea where Reggie or Dylan might have gone. The third number she tried, an irate grandmother answered the phone.
“Why are you bothering my grandson at home? School hasn’t even started yet! If you call back, I’ll be reporting you to the school board. Just see if I don’t!”
The temptation to argue, and possibly say something that really would get her in trouble, was so strong that she hung up quickly before she gave in to the urge. It had been a long time since she’d let anyone walk all over her. But now was not the time to be defensive.
Finally, on her next call, she hit on some information she could use.
“Sure, Miss Turner,” tenth grader Christa Blair told her, the sound of snapping gum crackling down the line. “I talked with Reggie just last week. He said he was planning a little camping trip. He invited me to go along, but my mom would never go for that, you know?”
She did indeed. Mentally, she applauded Christa’s careful parents.
She wrote down the information about where he’d told Christa he was heading and glanced at the time. If she didn’t move, she’d be late meeting Jackson. She hated arriving anywhere late, even if it was a casual event, and this certainly wasn’t.
But what to do about Gus? Jane wasn’t scheduled to come today, since it was the weekend.
She didn’t want to ask Jackson to come to her house.
If Gus saw him here two days in the same week, she might draw the wrong conclusions.
While Mia adored her aunt, she also knew the woman would be interested in what was going on between her and Jackson.
If she wanted to avoid embarrassing questions and remarks, she needed to meet Jackson outside of the house.
She called Jane but got her voicemail.
I could look up my mom. She didn’t have her number, but you could find almost anything online these days.
And what would her mother say when Mia told her she was working with Jackson?
Scowling, she considered her options. Maybe the neighbor, Kay. She’d offered to sit with Gus before.
Mia sprinted out the door to the neighbor’s house.
Kay answered the door, her phone against her ear. “Hold on, Mama. Someone’s at the door.”
“Sorry to bother you, Kay,” Mia began, then she shifted awkwardly. Asking for help was not something she did. It had been hard enough to approach her cousins. And Kay wasn’t family.
“Spit it out, sweetie. I’m not going to bite.” Kay’s sassy comment was accompanied by a sweet, cotton-candy smile. A true Southern belle to the core.
“I’m sorry.” Mia apologized again. “I hate to ask, but I have to go out. Trouble with one of my students. And—”
Kay held up one finger, then held her phone to her ear. “Mama, I’ve got to go. Someone needs my help. Uh-huh. Love you too.”
Mia stood blinking.
“Let me get my purse, Mia. I’ll be over real soon.”
Mia went back home, stunned at Kay’s generosity. She was grateful, but this was beyond her experience. Gus was awake and sitting in her chair when Mia walked in. Mia told her the plan.
Kay waltzed in a few minutes later, floating like the breeze had carried her in.
“Kay!” Gus cried in her breathy voice. “Thanks for coming to sit with me, but you don’t have to.”
“Don’t be silly, Gus. You know I love visiting. We’ll have fun!”
Mia thanked the woman profusely and rushed out the door.
She pulled into the coffee shop parking lot as her phone chimed. Glancing down, she noticed that the money from summer camp had been delivered to her checking account.
She frowned. She was happy to see the money, but it still struck her as strange that the foundation hadn’t reached out to her. Not even a generic email.
She put her phone in her purse and headed in to where Jackson waited. She’d worry about signing up for her class when she got home. Right now, she needed to focus on helping him find his brother.
Mia didn’t feel like coffee, but it would be rude to take up space and order nothing. She settled on an iced passion tea with a little sugar, and a mixed-berry muffin.
Taking her treat back to the table where Jackson sat, she noticed he’d purchased a bottle of spring water. When she set her plate down, he eyed her muffin hungrily.
She broke the muffin in half and set it on a napkin in front of him. When he opened his mouth to protest, she glared at him. “Don’t even try to tell me you weren’t ogling this.”
Holding his hands up in surrender, he shook his head. “Peace. I’ll admit it. It looked good. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” As if to prove his point, his stomach grumbled. She snickered. He merely shrugged it off with a grin before ripping off a hunk of the muffin.
“Mmmm.” He nodded, chewing. “It’s good.”
Mia set her oversized purse on the chair next to her, then opened it and selected a fine-point gel pen and a notebook. She found the next clean page, dated it, then titled it.
Meeting with Jackson re: Dylan.
Then she glanced up to find Jackson staring at her.
“What?”
He slowly shook his head. “I’d forgotten how organized you were. You were always ready for everything.”
“It only looked that way.”
In real life, she was just struggling to have some kind of control in her overly restricted world. But he didn’t need to know about her home life. She hadn’t even shared how bad it was when they’d been dating.
He gave her a strange look. “We went out for almost a full year. I never sensed you being anything but organized.”
She set her drink back on the table. “You knew my parents.”
“Yes, but not well.”
That was a diplomatic answer.