Page 66 of Small-Town Secrets

"Oh, yeah. That. That was stupid of you."

"I just wanted them to stop fighting, and honestly, I think they're old enough to know that Santa isn't real."

"I'll forgive you this once, but in the future, that's not something you should decide by yourself."

"You're right. I really don't know enough about parenting to make judgment calls like that."

"You'll learn." Laurence rested his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. "I doubt that you convinced Tyler anyway, and Chris... well... Chris believes what he wants to believe. I guess in that way they're both the same. I just want them to be kids for a little while longer. I want them to have a happy Christmas. They haven't had a good one in too long."

"I'll help you," I promised.

Laurence blinked his eyes open at me. "Yeah? And when will we tell them about you?"

I sighed. The plan had been to do it today, but then everything had sort of gone to hell. "Friday, I promise." And then they would have the weekend to process things.

It sounded like a good plan.

It was really too bad that things didn't end up working out that way.

29

Laurence

"Haveyou seen my phone anywhere?" I asked Aaron, turning over a stack of magazines on the coffee table in the living room. I'd been looking for a full twenty minutes now, but I couldn't find it. I was so sure I'd put it on the coffee table after getting the kids from school. It wasn't there anymore, though. "I hate Mondays," I said with a huff. "My brain never works on Mondays."

"I'm sorry," Aaron said. "I don't know where your phone is."

"It's okay, it'll show up again eventually."

"I could try calling you."

"Oh, great idea!"

Aaron took his own phone out of his pocket and dialed my number. I listened closely, but didn't hear a ringing. "That's weird," Aaron said. "The line's busy."

I frowned. "How can it be busy? I'm not using the phone."

"Maybe someone else is," Aaron responded, scratching his chin.

"You think one of the twins?"

"Tyler," Aaron guessed. "He has a thing for phones and tablets, doesn't he?"

"He knows he's not supposed to play with my phone." But then, he'd also known he wasn't supposed to play with Gregory's tablet and that had never stopped him either. "I'll go check on them."

Even if Tyler was playing with my phone, who would he even be calling? He had better not be making prank calls to expensive numbers!

When I opened the door to the twins' room, I spotted Chris sitting on the bed with his game boy, but Tyler was nowhere to be found. "Where's your brother?" I asked.

Chris barely looked up from his game. "I'm not a snitch."

"He took my phone, didn't he?"

Chris shrugged. "Maybe."

"Do you maybe know where he went?"

"Maybe," Chris confirmed.