Chapter 7
Teresa arrived at 9:00 p.m.
The restaurant was closed.
Only I, Thomas, Renee, and Nick waited inside.
Nick sat at table seven again.
Same table.
Same boy.
Different air.
When the door opened, a woman in a gray coat stepped in with a folder pressed to her chest.
She looked tired.
Scared.
Determined.
“Nick?”
He froze.
Teresa covered her mouth.
“Nicholas.”
His face crumpled at the full name.
“You came?”
She rushed forward, then stopped herself.
Smart woman.
She knelt a few feet away.
“I never stopped looking.”
Nick stared at her.
“They said you didn’t want me.”
Teresa shook her head, crying.
“Your mother named me guardian before she died. The temporary home never told me you were moved. I filed reports. I called every agency I could find.”
Nick’s hands shook.
Thomas whispered, “She came.”
Nick stood slowly.
Then walked into her arms.
He did not hug at first.
Then he did.
Hard.
Teresa sobbed into his hair.
I turned away.
Some reunions deserve privacy.
Later, Teresa thanked Thomas.
He looked embarrassed.
“I just gave him spaghetti.”
Nick wiped his face.
“You gave me an address.”
That sentence stayed with me.
An address can be a lifeline when no place feels safe.
Teresa agreed to stay in town until custody could be sorted properly.
I paid for her hotel.
She tried to refuse.
I said, “Let me help without making it a debt.”
She cried again.
That night, Thomas slept better.
So did I.
For four hours.
Then my phone buzzed.
A photo from an unknown number.
Thomas walking home from school last month.
May you like
A message below it.
Your son found one secret. He missed the bigger one.
