Page 82 of String Boys

Kelly and Linda both exited the room, slamming the sliding glass door behind them with unnecessary force.

“I’m sorry,” Seth muttered, under Chloe’s crying. “Here. I’ll take her to the waiting room. I’m sorry. I should never have come. I’m sorry.”

Chloe, who had fallen in love with Seth at first sight—Seth thought it was his deep voice—gave a tiny hiccup and settled, whimpering, clutching his sweatshirt in her tiny fists.

She was eight months old?

“Agnes was bigger than this,” Seth said into the sudden silence. “And not as scared. Poor baby. What’s so scary about the world?”

“Matty!”

Linda and Kelly both straightened when they heard the voice, and Linda grabbed Kelly by the hand and ushered Seth to the other end of the unit. “Come on,” she told them. “There’s doors at the other end. Hurry!”

By the time they rounded the corner out of sight, they could hear Isela, a full panicked cry, her father trying to calm her down.

She screamed at Matty like he was getting sucked down in a flood.

As Seth and Linda and Kelly made their exit—closely pursued by Nurse Osborne, Seth noticed—he had a moment to think that both of them had already been swept away.

NURSE OSBORNEled them back down a couple of corridors to a quiet waiting room that was hard to spot from the main corridor and told them to stay. She came back shortly with a harried-looking white woman in her early thirties, wearing jeans and a T-shirt and a fuzzy brown ponytail, and a rather severe-looking doctor, his East Indian features lean and narrow, his eyes flinty with condemnation.

“Your son is a drug addict,” the man—Doctor Takeri, his name badge proclaimed—said. “His blood work came back with high concentrations of opioids. We told you this.”

Linda nodded.

“We notified the police, but the fact is, your son went off the road and hit a tree. There was minimal property damage, and only the car’s occupants were injured. He’ll be charged with driving while impaired at the very least, and you will need to get a lawyer in order to keep him out of jail.”

Linda gasped. “Police? Why has nobody—”

“Because we were waiting for the blood work, you understand? Now about the child—”

“The child lives with her parents right now, is that correct?” The social worker stepped forward. Trisha Alford. She probably had a lovely family, but Seth clutched Chloe closer to his chest.

“Yes,” Linda said, sounding dazed. “Her mother leaves her with us a lot.”

“Does she work outside the home?”

Linda and Kelly exchanged looks, and they both shook their heads.

“She says Matty should provide.” Linda’s weariness was palpable.

“Mrs. Cruz, I know this is hard to hear, but that child can’t go home until we’ve checked the home out for drugs and drug use. And I’ve got to tell you, hearing that girl screeching away, I’m not really hopeful that we won’t find it in both parents. Are you prepared to take care of that little girl?”

Linda nodded. Without hesitation, she nodded. Seth swallowed and clutched Chloe a little tighter. This baby needed Kelly’s mom right now. Kelly needed his mom right now.

Nobody needed him.

In fact, he might be the biggest danger to the Cruz family, next to Matty’s drug use.

Ms. Alford’s next words confirmed it.

“We’ll need to check out your house,” she said. “She’ll need a space for a crib, even if it’s in an adult’s room—”

“Will my son Kelly’s room be okay?”

And for the first time in forever, Kelly and Seth met eyes. “Poor Agnes,” Seth mouthed, and Kelly smiled.

It was small and strained, but Seth could do that much, at least.