Chapter 3 - If I Leave First.At breakfast, Ben acted as though nothing had happened.
He ate half a pancake.
He rejected the blueberries.
He complained that his milk was too cold.
To anyone else, he looked like a normal four-year-old.
Cole could not stop looking at the tiny backpack beside the kitchen bench.
Maggie had placed it there.
Three shirts.
Two pairs of socks.
A plastic dinosaur.
A stuffed bear.
One toothbrush.
And a framed photograph of Natalie.
That was everything Ben had decided he needed to disappear.
Cole picked up the photograph.
Natalie smiled back at him.
Her blonde hair had been tied loosely behind her head.
Ben was still a baby in her arms.
Cole turned the frame over.
Words were written on the back.
For our little traveler.
Natalie's handwriting.
Cole closed his eyes.
Maggie entered with coffee.
“He found that in the drawer last week.”
Cole showed her the message.
“Little traveler.”
“I know.”
“I forgot she wrote this.”
Maggie sat opposite him.
Cole lowered his voice.
“Does he remember her?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Pieces.”
Cole hated the answer.
“What pieces?”
“Her singing.”
He looked down.
“The yellow sweater she used to wear.”
Cole remembered it.
“And the hospital.”
Cole's eyes rose.
Maggie continued carefully.
“He remembers waiting for her.”
Cole's fingers tightened around the frame.
Natalie had spent the final six weeks of her illness moving between hospitals and home.
Cole had tried to keep Ben away from the worst of it.
He had believed children forgot.
Apparently children forgot details.
Not feelings.
Maggie took a sip of coffee.
“He doesn't understand why she didn't come back.”
Cole stared at the photograph.
“So when I leave—”
“He doesn't think about your meeting.”
Maggie leaned forward.
“He thinks about somebody disappearing.”
Cole felt sick.
Ben entered carrying a toy fire truck.
He climbed onto the chair beside his father.
“Can we build the big track?”
Cole looked at him.
“What big track?”
Ben pointed toward the living room.
“The one in the box.”
Cole had bought the expensive wooden train set seven months earlier.
It remained unopened.
He had intended to build it with Ben.
There had never been time.
“Sure.”
Ben looked surprised.
“Now?”
“Now.”
They carried the box into the living room.
Cole opened it.
There were more pieces than he expected.
Maggie watched from the doorway.
For two hours, Cole and Ben built bridges, tunnels, and tracks across the rug.
Cole put his phone on silent.
At nine twenty, he had thirty-seven missed calls.
At nine thirty-five, Evan arrived at the house.
He did not knock politely.
He hammered the doorbell.
Maggie opened the door.
Evan stepped inside wearing a charcoal suit and an expression of disbelief.
He was forty-two, polished, sharp, and always looked as though he had walked out of a business magazine.
He stared at the train tracks covering Cole's living room.
“You missed the meeting.”
Cole connected two wooden pieces.
“I know.”
“The client waited twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
“They walked.”
Cole stopped.
Ben looked up.
“What does walked mean?”
Cole smiled faintly.
“It means they left.”
Ben's expression changed immediately.
Cole saw it.
So did Maggie.
Cole touched his son's shoulder.
“They're okay.”
Ben nodded uncertainly.
Evan looked between them.
“Can we talk?”
Cole stood.
“In the kitchen.”
Evan followed him.
The moment they were out of Ben's hearing, Evan exploded.
“Fourteen million dollars.”
Cole folded his arms.
“Lower your voice.”
“Fourteen.”
“I heard you.”
“You didn't just miss a meeting.”
Evan slapped a folder onto the counter.
“You embarrassed us.”
“I had something more important.”
Evan stared.
“You've never said that before.”
Cole almost laughed at the truth of it.
“No.”
“I haven't.”
Evan lowered his voice.
“Is this about Natalie?”
Cole went still.
“Don't.”
“I'm asking because every year around this time, you get strange.”
Cole stepped closer.
“My son had four nightmares this week.”
Evan's anger softened slightly.
“Okay.”
“He packed a bag because he thought he needed to leave before I did.”
Evan had no immediate response.
Cole looked toward the living room.
“I almost got on a plane this morning without saying goodbye.”
Evan rubbed his jaw.
“You would've come back.”
“That isn't the point.”
“No.”
Evan admitted it reluctantly.
“It isn't.”
Cole expected the argument to end.
Instead Evan opened the folder.
“There is another reason I came.”
He slid a document toward Cole.
“What is this?”
“An acquisition offer.”
Cole scanned the first page.
The number made him pause.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
Evan watched him.
“They want the company.”
“Who?”
“Northstar Development.”
Cole looked deeper into the papers.
Then he reached the section titled MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS.
His stomach tightened.
Eighteen-month transition.
Primary office relocation.
Chicago.
Evan spoke quietly.
“If we accept, you would have to move.”
Cole looked toward the living room.
Ben was pushing a train around the track.
He made a soft engine sound.
Maggie sat beside him.
Cole looked at the offer again.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
Enough to secure Ben's future forever.
May you like
There was only one problem.
To accept it, Cole might have to break the promise he had made less than twelve hours earlier.
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