A Woman Let Her 11-Year-Old Son Walk Home from School Alone for the First Time – Twenty Minutes Later, Her Neighbor Called Her Crying, ‘Come Outside. You Need to See What Your Son Did’ – Page 6

“Yes.”

“Why did she have it?”

I stared at Ivy’s closing door. “That’s exactly what I’m going to find out.”

Am I in trouble?

***

That evening, Joel sat cutting cardboard at the kitchen table.

“Do you think Mrs. Ivy knows where Dad is?”

“Maybe.”

He hesitated. “I don’t want him making you cry again.”

I kissed his forehead.

Do Mrs. Ivy know where Dad is?

Neither did I.

But Ivy had moved here six months after Nathan left, asked questions about our lives, and somehow ended up with his watch.

I needed answers.

Ivy ignored my knocks the next morning.

***

On Sunday, a moving truck appeared outside her house.

I don’t want him making you cry again.

“Leaving already?” I asked.

“Sarah, this isn’t a good time.”

“Then explain Nathan’s watch.”

“I bought it secondhand.”

“With my engraving?”

A moving truck appeared outside her house.

She looked away.