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He struggled to find his voice. “I told you to stay with me,” he ground out through a jaw that felt too tight to speak. “I’ve been searching the whole store for you.”
At his grim tone, Casey gulped. The little boy backed away. “I just wanted to see my turbo blaster. Don’t spank me. Don’t spank me, Zane.”
Still shaking, he fought to control his ricocheting emotions. “I’ve never seen Jillian spank you.”
“Not Aunt Jelly, she puts me in the timeout chair. But Uncle Richard spanks me.” Casey’s lower lip trembled. “And Aunt Brooke uses a wooden spoon now cause one time she ruined her manny-cure spanking me and gotrealmad.”
The flame of anger roared into a blazing inferno. That vicious bitch wasnevertouching his son again. “Shit,” he hissed.
“I’m sorry.” Tears welled in those big brown eyes. “I’m sorry, Zane. Don’t be mad at me.”
“Okay. It’s okay.” Sucking in a shuddery breath, he dropped to his knees in front of the child. “Listen, I was afraid something had happened to you and I got scared.” He gently grasped the child’s shoulders. “We talked about bad guys who hurt other people, remember? I’m sure your mom and Aunt Jillian warned you about staying with grownups you know well and not going off with someone else.”
“Uh, huh. They did. Stranger danger.”
“Right. When I couldn’t find you, I was afraid—” Zane’s voice faltered. “I worried someone might be hurting you, and I got scared. Then when I was afraid I might not be able to help you, to stop a bad guy from hurting you, that made me mad. Do you understand?”
Casey’s tears spilled over and trickled down his cheeks, socking Zane in the gut. “I’m sorry I scared ya, Zane. I didn’t mean to.”
Zane swallowed down the unfamiliar urge to cry himself. “I know you didn’t. But when you’re out in public, you have to stay with the grownup who brought you at all times, even in a place you’re familiar with. It’s to keep you safe.” He held his son’s watery gaze. “I don’t want you toeverforget, okay?”
Casey sniffled and nodded. “I won’t. Are you gonna punish me?”
Chest aching, Zane gently wiped the child’s tears with unsteady thumbs. “This is serious stuff, pal, so yes. When we get home, I’m going to give you a timeout. And while I’m still going to buy the water blaster today, I’m going to put it away for a week, and you can have it after that.”
“‘Kay.” Casey’s slender arms slid around Zane’s neck. “Are we still friends?”
His heart crashed into his ribs. “You bet.” He patted Casey’s back. “Just promise you’ll never do this again.”
“Cross my heart.”
He held his son’s small, trembling body, willing away lingering fear. Casey was okay and that’s what mattered. He struggled to regain his equilibrium, then gave Casey a final reassuring pat.
Zane notified the service desk he’d found Casey, and he and the kid relocated the abandoned cart.
Casey was silent during the drive home, giving Zane hope he understood the gravity of his actions.
When they arrived, Zane popped three ibuprofen tablets before directing Casey to a chair he’d faced toward the kitchen corner. “I’ll set the timer on my watch for the amount of time I spent looking for you. While you’re sitting there, I want you to think about how it felt for me to worry about you that long.”
He figured his gut-wrenching search had lasted no more than fifteen minutes. Though it had seemed like hours.
Fifteen minutes again seemed like hours as he put away the groceries, took his new clothes upstairs, and returned to sit on the sofa and wait for the timer.
He didn’t hear a peep out of Casey.
Nobody had ever told Zane punishment was this tough on the person dishing it out.
An eternity later, his watch beeped. Before he could rise, Casey tore into the room. He climbed onto Zane’s lap, his small face solemn. “That was areallong time to worry. I won’t never do it again. I’mrealsorry, Zane.”
“Apology accepted.”
Casey smile beamed. “I’mstarving.Can we eat now?”
He glanced at his watch. No wonder. It was well past two o’clock. First he lost the kid, then he starved him. Amazed at the little boy’s resiliency, and relieved that Casey wasn’t going to carry a grudge, he nodded.
“Piggy-back me like Luke’s tauntaun, Zane.”
Grinning, Zane bounced the laughing child to the kitchen on his shoulders. “Hey, kid, do you know what the interior temperature of a tauntaun is?”
