Page 63 of Take My Kiss
Unable to speak without my voice cracking, I nod.
As soon as we park next to the sheriff’s car, I jump out and rush to the door. It whips open, and I fall to my knees when I see Sam’s smiling face.
“Oh, thank goodness.” The air bursts out of my lungs when I pull him into my chest and wrap my arms tightly around his small body.
“Mom, too tight,” he grunts.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” I grip his shoulders, meeting his brown eyes. “I was so worried, Sam.”
He furrows his brows. “Why?”
The guests of the cabin and the sheriff stand behind him, watching us, looking as confused as I am.
When Mr. Langston explained that an older couple had found him near the river on their morning walk, he asked to use their bathroom, and they assumed he was also a resort guest. After bringing him back to the cabin, he mentioned he was hungry, so she made him breakfast.
“’Cause we didn’t know where you were and couldn’t find you,” Colton replies, kneeling beside me. “You can’t wander off without an adult or tellin’ your mom, remember?”
“I would’ve called the sheriff sooner, but he said his parents knew where he was,” the woman explains. “But when the description of the little boy was posted, I realized it was him.”
“Sam, why would you lie?” I ask. “You know you’re not supposed to go anywhere without permission.”
“But I did ask, and you said it was okay,” he tells me, furrowing his brows.
“What?” I straighten my spine. “When?”
“When you were in bed. I heard your phone ring, and then I walked in and asked you.”
“W-what did you ask me?”
“If I could go fishin’ by myself since Colt wasn’t awake.”
Glancing at Colton, I rack my brain for any memory of our conversation and come up blank.
“And what did I say?”
“You said sure! Then rolled over and went back to sleep.” He shrugs, innocently. “So I got ready and walked down to the river, but the canoe floated away before I could get in it.”
All that panic I had rolls through me once again at the what-ifs. What if he had managed to get inside and tipped over? What if he followed the canoe out to bring it back and went under when the water got too deep? What if someone bad had found him instead?
I’m so damn relieved none of those scenarios happened, but it doesn’t erase the fear of knowing it could have.
“Where did you go after?”
“Um…I took my fishin’ pole and walked to one of the docks instead,” he explains. “But I forgot worms.”
“Oh, okay.” I nod. “Then what?”
“I had to use the bathroom.”
“That’s when we found him,” the woman says. “We’d just left for a walk, and he asked if he could use ours. I figured he was too young to be wanderin’ out on his own, but he said he was livin’ here and was allowed to.”
Looks like we’re going to have yetanothertalk about stranger danger. And not asking me things when I’m in bed and barely awake.
The first three times my phone rang, I silenced it and fell back asleep. I’m not sure how much time passed between each call, but if he came in between one of those and me answering the fourth time, I would’ve been coming out of a deep sleep and wouldn’t have even remembered we had a conversation.
“I appreciate you takin’ such good care of him. Thank you.” I stand, gripping Sam’s hand.
“He was no trouble.” She grins sweetly. “We’ll be here for the next few days if he wants to come back.”
