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Remembering, Dex gave her the gist of the conversation, the humor in his tone lacking. “Yeah, told him my eight-year-old nephew was on the run, and we needed to find him.”
Jasmin snorted in a very unladylike style. “One way of explaining things. Of course, he wanted to know more.”
Thinking back, Dex remembered the grizzled face of the snow plow driver wreathed in smiles, his blue eyes twinkling. “He asked me… what happened to a kid his age for him to feel the need to run?”
Even now, Dex’s mood changed from playful to angry. “I told him that Dillon’s rotten grandmother led him to believe I wasn’t coming to get him, so he’d taken off.”
“Oh, Dex. We’ll find him. Once we get there, we can call on the police and see what they’ve learned.” Wanting to keep Dex talking, she asked, “Was Ralph surprised by your answer?”
“You could say that. His reply was what I expected. ‘Man, that’s too bad.’ Then he hit me with a shocker I’d forgotten about in all this upheaval. He said, ‘Especially when it’s only two days until Christmas’.”
Chapter Thirteen
Dillon had never known this kind of fear before. Alone in a house was completely different from being there with his mom and dad. It was eerie and cold, though the rug he slept on felt warm on his face and had dried up his tears. Peering into the darkness, he admitted one thing. He hated the silence almost as much as he had the wind and snow he’d had to fight through to get here.
Thankful that it hadn’t been too cold when he’d left his grandmother’s house, he was able to make his way onto the same bus that would take him to the shopping mall near his old house.
But by the time he’d gotten off the bus, the wind had picked up, the daylight had dimmed, and the cold had turned bitter.
The day before, when he’d walked to the nearby store with his granny, he’d seen the name he’d recognized over the windshield of the passing bus and asked, “Is that the same mall my momand dad used to shop at? The one close to our house?” He’d watched the bus stop to let passengers out.
“Yes. That’s the same mall. Your mom used to spend a lot of money at that place. Way too much if you ask me. Wasted a lot on fancy foods and such. If I told her once, I told her a thousand times that you don’t need all that expensive stuff. Stick to the basics, I said. But do you think she’d listen to me? Not at all.” The old battleaxe – as his dad used to call her – shrugged and rambled on. “Told her not to get mixed up with that reporter, Max Hall, too. She ignored me again. Now see where that got her?”
Dillon had stopped listening to her tirade after that, knowing she’d go on and on about his parents, calling them names in that mean way he disliked so much. She only caught his attention when she tore his world apart with her nasty muttering. “You’ll probably be staying with me for Christmas so might as well get those turkey legs to boil after all.”
“What do you mean? Dex is coming for me today. He said so.”
“Don’t you use that tone with me, young man. And no, he isn’t. Called to say he was in an accident and didn’t know when he’d get here… if ever. Can’t blame him for changing his mind about taking on someone else’s bratty kid.” Grabbing his arm, she hauled him into the grocery store and to the area where they sold meat.
After hearing her awful words, his legs trembled, his stomach became achy, and a nervous feeling of dread covered his whole body.Oh, no. What was he going to do?It had been bad enough living with such misery for this long, but he’d had something to look forward to. Not now.
And how could he spend the happiest day of the year having her ruin everything for him. Belittling every memory he had of his father and mother as they spoiled him with gifts of love, trying to make up for their lack of being home.
Times came where he’d missed them terribly… sure, but he’d had Sara to look after him, and he knew she loved him a lot. They had fun together and always planned great events for when his parents would return. Life had been safe and happy. Then…
He’d tried calling Sara, but his granny had caught and lectured him, which forced him to explain about how much he missed his friend. Only instead of listening, she’d gotten furious at him for whining.
Except he hadn’t been whining or arguing. Well… not really. He’d been trying to get through to her. But because he’d talked back, she’d made him stay in his room all day without lunch. A place he hated because it made himclaus-to-phobic. That’s what his mom said he suffered from. Being enclosed in small places. She’d had the same problem. Guess the fact that his room was the size of a large closet could be the cause.
Another reason in the long list of why he’d snuck out… why he’d run away. He’d rather live alone in their empty house than be surrounded by the rantings of that wicked old woman. Though it had taken him over an hour to walk from that mall to where he used to live, he eventually found his way. He’d gotten lost but eventually found the nerve to ask a teen on a bike which way to go and the guy had shown him. He’d been nice and Dillon had liked him.
More tears tried to spill, but this time he refused to let them. With his hands scrunched into fists, he wiped them away and decided he’d cried enough. Now he had to figure out a plan for moving forward.
So much thinking made him sleepy. With drowsiness overwhelming him, he drifted off again, only to wake to the sounds of someone moving inside the cold, empty house.
Chapter Fourteen
Jasmin drove as fast as she could while still maintaining control of the car on such slippery surfaces. No doubt Dex would have done better but sensing that fighting the conditions was hard for her, he spoke only words of encouragement.
“You’re doing a wonderful job, honey. Couldn’t do better myself.”
Hearing the endearment her dad always used made a softness pool in her heart. All her life, her parents had used that word filled with such warmth and love, it made her feel important to them. Now… Dex had snuck onto her small sacred list ofspecialpeople.
“We’re almost in the city. You made good time.”
“Where do you want to go first?”
“Well, I called Margot while you were getting takeout, and she said Dillon hadn’t returned there. She still has no idea where he could be. Next I called the police, and they have an amber alert out for the boy, checked every place they could think of,but hadn’t heard anything. Guess your dad got onto them about Dillon’s story so they were going above and beyond, searching the neighborhood, checking door to door. They did pick up the image of him running from Margot’s house on a neighbor’s street cam, but other than seeing him run to the bushes, they have nothing else.”
