Chapter 8 - Everybody Leaves.Maggie wished she could pull the sentence back.
She saw Ben's hand freeze.
The piece of blue chalk dropped onto the patio.
Cole looked at her.
“Boston?”
Ben looked between them.
“You're leaving?”
Maggie immediately crouched.
“No decision has been made.”
That was the wrong answer.
Ben's face changed.
Cole saw it.
Maggie saw it.
The little boy backed away.
“Everybody leaves.”
He ran inside.
Maggie stood.
Cole's anger arrived instantly.
“How long have you known?”
“Two weeks.”
“Two weeks?”
“I wasn't sure.”
“You've been lecturing me about disappearing while you were planning to disappear?”
Maggie stared at him.
“That isn't fair.”
“Really?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't have a son upstairs.”
Cole stepped closer.
“You are part of his life.”
“I know.”
“He depends on you.”
“I know.”
“You knew about the nightmares.”
“I know.”
“And you were going to Boston?”
Maggie's eyes filled with anger.
“I have a life too, Cole.”
The sentence silenced him.
Maggie continued.
“I stayed eighteen months longer than I planned.”
“You were paid.”
Her expression hardened.
“That is a terrible thing to say.”
Cole regretted it immediately.
“Maggie—”
“No.”
She removed the second glove and dropped it onto the table.
“When Natalie got sick, I stayed because she asked me.”
Cole stared.
“What?”
Maggie's face changed.
“You didn't know.”
“No.”
Natalie and Maggie had been friends before Maggie became Ben's caregiver.
Cole knew that.
He did not know there had been a promise.
“What did she ask?”
Maggie looked toward the house.
“She asked me to stay until you learned how to be home.”
Cole almost laughed.
“She said that?”
“Almost exactly.”
“And you agreed?”
“I told her I'd help.”
“For how long?”
“I didn't know.”
Cole looked away.
Maggie's voice softened.
“She was scared for both of you.”
Cole rubbed his jaw.
“She left everybody instructions except me.”
“She tried to talk to you.”
“I was working.”
“Yes.”
The truth sat between them.
Maggie looked toward the door.
“The Boston offer is at a children's rehabilitation center.”
Cole was surprised.
“What would you do?”
“Family support coordination.”
“That sounds important.”
“It is.”
“You want it?”
Maggie hesitated.
“Yes.”
Cole nodded slowly.
His anger became shame.
“Then you should consider it.”
Maggie looked at him.
“That isn't the point.”
“What is?”
“The point is Ben cannot build his entire sense of safety around whether I stay.”
Cole understood immediately.
Maggie continued.
“I love him.”
“I would do almost anything for him.”
“But I cannot become the reason you don't have to change.”
Cole swallowed.
“You think that's what happened?”
“I think I've made it easier.”
She looked toward the house.
“When you travel, I am here.”
“When you miss dinner, I am here.”
“When you miss preschool meetings, I am here.”
“When he wakes up crying, I am here.”
Cole lowered his eyes.
“And because I am reliable, you get to tell yourself he is okay.”
Cole had no defense.
Maggie exhaled.
“I don't want to leave him.”
“But I also don't want him to grow up believing that one caregiver can simply replace another.”
Cole looked toward the door.
“He thinks everybody leaves.”
“Yes.”
“So how do we fix that?”
Maggie gave a sad smile.
“We stop pretending nobody will ever leave.”
Cole frowned.
She continued.
“People go to work.”
“People move.”
“People die.”
“People change.”
“We don't make him safe by promising the world will never change.”
“We make him safe by teaching him he won't face those changes alone.”
Cole stared at her.
Natalie's letter had said something similar in different words.
Footsteps in a hallway.
A voice answering.
Presence.
Not permanence.
Cole went upstairs.
Ben was under his bed.
Cole lay flat on the carpet.
Two blue eyes stared back.
“Hey.”
“No.”
“I didn't ask anything yet.”
“No anyway.”
Cole almost smiled.
“Maggie might get a new job.”
Ben covered his ears.
Cole waited.
Then he said something he would once have avoided.
“And that makes me sad too.”
Ben slowly uncovered one ear.
Cole continued.
“But if Maggie goes to Boston someday, you will still have me.”
“You leave.”
“Less.”
Ben frowned.
“Less isn't never.”
“No.”
Cole nodded.
“It's not.”
Ben watched him.
Cole continued.
“I can't promise never to leave the house.”
“I can promise you will always know where I'm going.”
“I can promise you'll know when I'm coming back.”
“I can promise I'll answer you.”
“And I can promise that if plans change, I'll tell you.”
Ben crawled slightly closer.
“Like a schedule?”
Cole smiled.
“Exactly like a schedule.”
Ben loved schedules.
Maggie appeared in the doorway.
Ben looked at her.
“Do you have a schedule for Boston?”
Maggie's face softened.
“Not yet.”
“When you do, tell me.”
“I will.”
Ben crawled out from under the bed.
He looked at both adults.
“Can we have pancakes for dinner?”
Cole nodded.
“Yes.”
Maggie smiled.
“Absolutely.”
Ben walked downstairs.
Cole started after him.
Maggie stopped him.
“One more thing.”
Cole turned.
She handed him an envelope.
“What is this?”
“The Boston offer?”
“No.”
Her face had gone pale.
“It came in today's mail.”
The return address was Northstar Development.
Cole opened it.
Inside was a revised acquisition agreement.
No relocation requirement.
For one second, hope flashed through him.
Then he saw the new price.
Twenty-one million dollars.
Seventeen million less than yesterday.
And a handwritten note from Evan was clipped to the top.
Take this before they find out how bad it really is.
Cole stared at the words.
“What does that mean?”
Maggie asked.
Cole picked up his phone.
“I don't know.”
May you like
But for the first time, Cole suspected the biggest problem with his company was not Chicago.
It was the man who had been standing beside him for twelve years.
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