A Companion for His Son by Lee Tobin McClain

Author:Lee Tobin McClain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-05-01T19:30:15+00:00

* * *

Nick ran out the front door right behind Scooby. Up ahead, Freddie’s arms and legs were pumping as he hurtled down the sidewalk. Scooby reached him first, but although the big dog nudged at the boy, he was trained to comfort, not herd. He couldn’t make Freddie stop.

It wasn’t as terrifying as when Freddie had bolted in the city. The risks here weren’t as great, but they weren’t nonexistent.

There was a crowd of people up ahead. Behind him, Joyce and Olivia were both running, calling out Freddie’s name.

“Whoa there! Catch that boy!”

“Geraldine! Over here!”

A gray-haired woman, apparently Geraldine, sped over in a wheelchair, directly in Freddie’s path. Scooby grabbed Freddie’s shirt, softening the blow as the boy landed in the woman’s lap.

Nick reached them a moment later and lifted Freddie off of poor Geraldine. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ll pay any medical expenses—”

“No worries,” she said breezily. “I’ll have an impressive set of bruises, but nothing’s broken. At least, I don’t think so,” she added, leaning forward and stretching her arms this way and that.

The other seniors were gathering around Nick, Freddie and Geraldine as Joyce and Olivia arrived, panting.

“Caught him, or rather Miss Geraldine, here, caught him,” Nick said. He was out of breath himself.

Freddie twisted in Nick’s arms, and he put the boy down, but kept a firm hold on his hand. Freddie leaned against Scooby, burying his face in the dog’s shaggy fur.

Nick took a couple of deep, calming breaths and then knelt beside Freddie. “No running. You’ll have a consequence tonight. Um...no dessert.”

“In my day, we would have whacked him one,” Geraldine said, and several of the elders chuckled and nodded. “But the world has changed.”

“It has.” Olivia stepped closer and ran a hand over Freddie’s hair. “You scared us, kiddo.”

Freddie didn’t even flinch away. He almost seemed to lean into Olivia.

“Give the people some air,” one of the men said, and the seniors backed off, still talking and watching.

“Those two don’t need air, they’re dating,” someone called out.

Olivia blushed.

“I’m so sorry,” Joyce said to Nick. “He hasn’t run off since we got here, and I thought he might be over it. It’s my fault.”

“No. I was home. I should have been more aware.” Nick closed his eyes briefly, hoping to rid himself of the image of Freddie running down the street, away from him.

“Don’t blame yourselves,” Olivia said, her voice gentle. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading and studying, and what you mentioned before is documented in the literature: kids with autism tend to bolt. It’s not your fault.”

“Still,” a gray-haired gentleman said, “you people should have been keeping an eye on him.”

Joyce spun to face the man. “You try taking care of a five-year-old boy with special needs when you’re seventy-eight years old.” Her voice broke a little at the end. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her knuckle under one eye. “It’s been an emotional day.”

Several of the women and one other man clustered around Joyce immediately, and Nick heard murmurs of

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