Death under the Stone Arch Bridge: A Tommy St. James novella (A Tommy St. James Mystery Book 1) by Kristi Belcamino

Author:Kristi Belcamino [Belcamino, Kristi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: novella, series, Mystery
Publisher: Kristi Belcamino
Published: 2017-12-02T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

At Target, Tommy picked out seven outfits for Rafael, a bunch of power bars, two cases of water, three grocery bags of nonperishable foods, and two flashlights. They stopped on the way out so she could buy Rafael his first slushee and they both got submarine sandwiches.

“I think we’re set, buddy,” Tommy said ruffling his hair. “We’ll leave Friday morning.”

Later that day, Tommy gave Rafael a tutorial on the remote control and told him he could watch anything on the cartoon channel while she was at work on Thursday.

After a dinner of corn dogs and tater tots, Tommy taught Rafael how to play Go Fish. At one point, when she kept dropping her cards in a slapstick manner, they both laughed until they cried. Suddenly, Rafael stopped laughing, threw his cards down and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind them. Tommy sat there stunned. What had she done wrong? She thought they had been having fun. Maybe she said something?

She went and knocked on the bathroom door and then said softly, “Rafael?”

No answer.

“Rafael? Did I say something wrong?”

She heard some sniffling sounds.

“If I said something that upset you, I’m awfully sorry. Can you please come out so we can talk about it?”

Nothing. She waited a few seconds and then slowly the door swung open. Rafael was hastily wiping the tears from his face.

“What’s wrong honey?”

“I don’t know,” he said, choking on his words.

“Are you sad?”

He bit his lip and nodded yes.

“Do you miss your father?”

He nodded again.

In some ways, he was so mature for his age, she forgot he was still just a small, scared child. She crouched down and wrapped him in a hug. “You’ll be home by this time next week. I promise you.”

“It’s not just that.” Rafael said, drawing back from her. “I am sad for another reason, too.”

“What is it? I’ll try to help you in any way I can.”

“It’s just that you are so nice,” he said and a fresh flood of tears began.

“I didn’t know me being nice would make you cry,” she said in a lame attempt at levity. “Should I be crabby instead?”

She was rewarded with a small smile.

“You and Belinda have taken care of me like I’m your hijo – your son. And it makes me miss my mama.”

“Oh, my gosh. Of course, you miss her.”

She tightened her hug.

“Will I ever stop missing her?”

Tommy shook her head, sadly. “Rafael, I’m not going to lie to you. My mama has been dead for eight years and I still miss her every minute of every day.”

“Your mama is dead, too?”

“Yes, honey. But even though you will miss her forever, sometimes there are days when instead of it hurting for me to think about her, it feels good to think of her. It makes me happy to think of her. That will happen to you, too. I promise. When you hold that whale and it makes you think of her, does that make you happy?”

“Yes. It makes me happy because I know the whales are with her.

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