“Where did you get those?”
“Under Ben’s mattress, I told you.”
He grabbed the paper.
Tara had just entered the kitchen.
Adam looked between us.
“He’s had this all summer?”
I placed Ben’s handwritten list beside it:
Dad – red door.
Mom – blue mailbox.
Grandma – four hours away.
Adam read it.
“He wrote this?”
“He’s been trying to work out where his family lives while the three of us kept pretending he didn’t notice anything.”
Adam sank into a chair.
“He saw the apartment and got upset. I gave him the key so he’d know he had a home with me too.”
“Then tell him the truth.”
Adam looked up.
“Not for me,” I said, tapping Ben’s note. “For him.”
We moved into the living room, and I sat in the chair across from Adam and Tara.
Adam looked at Ben first.
“Your mom and I need to explain something we’ve handled badly.”
