Davey grabbed at it, and Paul held it out of reach. “No way, kiddo. You know you’re not allowed to play with guns.”
“I was wondering where he got it,” the mother said, frowning. “It’s way too realistic of a toy gun, especially for such a young child. Davey had it in his backpack, and he got Justin interested in playing with it. It has rubber bullets, too.” She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a case of brightly colored bullets. “They weren’t able to figure out how to load it, and nobody got hurt. Maybe I’m a wimp, but I’m just not comfortable with this type of toy, and Davey got really upset when I took it away.”
This didn’t make sense. Paul wiped sweaty hands on his jeans. The last thing he wanted was to see a toy gun in his child’s hands. He’d even vetoed squirt guns, so far. “I apologize. I don’t know where he got it, but he certainly won’t be playing with it anymore.” He felt Davey tense and suck in his breath for what was sure to be a wail. “I’ll talk to Davey and get to the bottom of this.”
“Great, I thought you’d probably want to do that. No judgment here, but I do need to get back to Justin. He hates being left alone in the car.” She turned and hurried down the walk, almost colliding with Amber, who was jogging her slow jog. Amber stopped and greeted the woman, and the two exchanged a few seemingly friendly words. Then Justin’s mother got into the car and drove away.
Davey grabbed for the gun again. “It’s mine!”
Amber continued on toward her house, but after a few steps she paused, turned and walked slowly up the pathway to Paul’s porch. “Is everything okay? Any way I can help?” Her eyes widened, and Paul realized she was looking at the gun he was holding out of Davey’s reach.
“It’s a toy,” Paul said. “A toy Davey had without my knowledge, and I’m not sure where he got it. It upset his friend and his friend’s mom.” He nodded toward the departing car.
“Oh, wow,” she said. “How would Davey have gotten a toy without your knowing about it? Do you think he got it at school or something?”
“Are you kidding? They have a total nonviolence policy, and I’m behind that.” He stroked Davey’s head. “Look at me, son. Where did you get your toy gun?”
Davey jerked his face away, staring at the ground. “Can’t say,” he mumbled.
Paul stared blankly at Davey. “Did someone give it to you?” His heart pounded. Was someone stalking Davey?
Amber paused her music and knelt down to Davey’s level. “Even if someone tells you to keep a secret, buddy, you never have to do that. You’re always allowed to tell your father. You won’t get in trouble.”
Davey looked up at her and then looked at Paul, his brow furrowed.
Paul nodded. “Miss Amber is right. You won’t get in trouble for telling me a secret.”
“But Grammy and Grandpa said not to tell you,” Davey said. “They said you would be mad.”
They were right. Fiery anger built in Paul’s chest, but with an effort, he kept his voice steady. “I’m not mad at you. Did Grammy and Grandpa give you the gun?”
“Yeah. And it’s mine.” He grabbed for it again.
Paul kept a hold on it. “No way, pal.”
Davey lifted his chin. “You have a gun.”
Paul shook his head. “Not anymore. Guns are very, very dangerous.” He was glad he could say it, glad he’d given his weapon to Trey for safekeeping. The thought of Davey mixing up this gun with a real one, playing with it, shooting it...ugly terror rose like lava in his gut. He’d been careful, used good rules of gun safety, but he also knew that the best efforts didn’t always keep kids safe.
“I’m going to call Grammy and Grandpa and talk to them,” he said. “You did just right, telling me. Let’s go inside and get you a snack.”
Davey shook his head. “I don’t wanna go inside.”
Amber touched Paul’s arm. “He could come dig me more holes,” she suggested, “while you call.” She was speaking in a low voice, obviously trying not to let Davey hear in case Paul didn’t want him to come.
“Thank you. That would be a help.” He didn’t want to be close with Amber, or rather, he knew he shouldn’t, but he needed to find out what was going on right away. This constituted an emergency. “I’ll try to reach them now and pick him up in a few minutes.”
“No problem. Come on, Davey, let’s you and me and Sarge go get some treats and dig some holes.”
“’Kay.” Davey grasped the hand she’d extended, and they walked off toward Amber’s home.
Paul watched them and thought, again, about how good Amber was with Davey. He’d love to go over there right now with them, sit on the porch with Amber, chill out and talk through what had just happened.
But first, he had to deal with Ferguson and Georgiana. What was going on with them? They’d attempted to pick Davey up at school without Paul’s permission and they’d threatened to sue for custody. Now it turned out they’d given Davey an even more inappropriate toy than the jeep. If they were anyone else but Wendy’s parents, he’d cut off their access to Davey without a second thought.
But not only was Davey their only connection to the daughter they’d lost, they were important to Davey. They would help keep Wendy alive in Davey’s heart, and that mattered. A lot.
He needed to get them to come to a counseling session with him. To try and figure out why they were acting this way,
