“Well, when you don’t call me or get in touch with me for a few days, I worry, which is what happened.”
“Yeah, the storm came through and took out the power for a good day.”
“I thought that was the case. But I got concerned when I checked your cameras and saw his truck sitting in your driveway. Well, snowed in to be exact.”
“I’m a little lost in this whole thing. The detective said they were, or someone, was looking for him?” I asked her.
“Oh yes,” she said with wide eyes. “There’s been an entire search party going on for the last four to five days. The entire town has been searching fields, empty homes, abandoned farms, and everything.”
“But why? What did he do?”
“He didn’t tell you?” she asked me with a confused look on her face.
I looked at her, glanced at Easton, and shrugged my shoulders. “He just said he wanted to stop by. He didn’t talk too much on why. Well, he made it out to be that he wanted to see me one last time.”
“Yeah, one last time,” Margo said as she set her bag on the floor beside her. “Erika, Brooks left town with suicide on his mind.”
“What? That’s absurd!”
“Is it? Considering what he’s been through?”
“I already apologized to him for how I left...”
“It’s not that, Erika.” Margo interrupted as she looked at Easton and me. “Jaden is dead. He died two weeks ago.”
“What?” I sat up straight in my chair as hot tears streamed down my face. “No,” I whispered. “No. Not...”
“I’m sorry, I thought you knew. I just found out when I couldn’t get a hold of you. I tried calling you. When I saw his truck at your place, and you weren’t answering your phone, I saw your red light on in the cameras, so I called the police. By the time they got a hold of the police department up here, Easton was already in surgery.”
“What happened? To Jaden?”
“His mother. Something about her. I’m not completely sure. You’d have to ask someone who knows more. I was more concerned with finding you alive. I didn’t ask too many questions about that.”
Easton looked shocked by her response, too.
“I could tell there was something different about him. Something was bothering him. I could tell. But he wouldn’t tell me. I even brought up Jaden...” I paused. “You know what? This makes a little sense. Every time I brought up Jaden, he would get mad. Kind of go off the kilter and get angry and upset and confused. Why didn’t he tell me?”
Margo shook her head. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”
I shook my head. I was sick to my stomach. Jaden. Poor Jaden. What did his mother do to him? I cried in the chair. Margo walked over and held me until I could calm down. “Jaden was his world,” I whispered through my tears.
Margo nodded.
“I’m shaken,” I said as I dried my eyes. And that he was coming to say goodbye to me on his way to take his own life? I was hurting so much for him. She destroyed his world when she used Jaden against him. Now that she... now that she did this, she really destroyed his world.
Margo took a deep breath. “I have a hotel room. There’s an extra bed in there. I think you should stay with me tonight.”
I shook my head.
“I’m going out to the waiting room. Take all the time you need, okay? We’ll leave when you’re ready.”
I nodded as she said goodbye to Easton and left the room. After a few minutes of silence, I looked at Easton. “I had no idea. No idea at all. He was in all this pain, and I never noticed. All the conversations we had, and he hid it. He has all his pain.”
“Erika, if this just happened, I’m sure he’s in complete shock. I’m sure the death of his son hasn’t even hit him yet.”
“How could I have not seen? How could I have not noticed?”
“People process pain differently.”
“Yeah, but we knew each other. At least I thought we did. I’m so blind. What did I miss?”
“Erika, don’t be hard on yourself.”
“And he was going to take his own life, Easton.”
“But he didn’t,” Easton replied. “Come here.” He motioned for me to slide the chair closer to the bed. He reached his hand over and squeezed mine. “He isn’t dead. He’s still alive. You need to look at that. He didn’t die. Even if he flew off the handle when he realized you left the house, he still didn’t harm himself.”
I nodded.
“I’m going to be honest with you.”
I looked at him.
“You know I live alone.”
I nodded.
“It was nice when you moved in, and when I found out you were going to be spending the entire winter up here, I was excited to have company again. I really was.” He paused and looked out the window for a few minutes before continuing, “When everyone is back in the summer, it’s nice, but it’s not the same.”
I nodded when he looked at me.
“Claire and I were married for thirteen years. She was the love of my life. And that’s the God’s honest truth. I’ve met no one like her, and I couldn’t see myself living one day without her. We went everywhere together and did everything together. We were that couple. You know, the ones who hold hands in public and sit together on the same side of the table at the restaurant.”
I smiled.
“We were inseparable.” He paused again for a few minutes. “We had already been through three miscarriages and with each one, she took it harder and harder. And when he fourth one happened, she couldn’t take it any longer, and I found her.”
“Oh, Easton, I’m so sorry. I...”
“I couldn’t believe it because we shared everything together. We were best friends. We knew everything about each other, and I kick myself every single day I’m alive because I wonder how in the world I missed the
