Tad stood outside 774 Pine Road, ringing the door bell
and stepping back for a moment as the door slowly swung
open. Brooke stood on the other side, holding Jamie in
her arms. "Tad," she said. "Come in. Come
in." Tad stepped inside, taking Jamie from Brooke.
"Hey there, sport," Tad ruffled the little
boy's hair, causing Jamie to giggle.
"Have you heard anything yet?" Brooke asked.
Tad shook his head. "No," he said, perching the
child on his hip. "This is a nightmare. I take that
back. Even nightmares are better than this.
Dixie's..."
"Dixie's here?!" Jamie squealed.
"No, sorry, champ." Tad put Jamie down and the
little boy clung to his leg.
"M'I comin' wit you t'day?"
Tad nodded. "Are you all ready and set to go?"
The child just looked up at him. "OK, uh, why
don't you go and... get your coat and stuff,
OK?"
Jamie looked up at Brooke. "Go ahead, sweetie. I
need to talk to your Daddy." Jamie loosened his grip
on Tad's pant leg and his tiny feet pitter pattered
over the carpet as he ran to his room. Tad advanced
further into the room, taking a seat on the sofa, leaning
his head back. "Tad, are you sure taking Jamie is a
good idea?"
"The little guy's had his heart set on this for
days. We need to show him that everything's
OK."
"He's bound to ask..."
"I'll deal with that when it comes up.
Dixie..."
"Is she going to be OK with this?"
Tad silently shook his head. "I don't know.
She's... she's all over the place. I can't
keep her at home. I just don't know what to do,
Brooke. How to... show her that everything will get
better when I don't know if I can believe it
myself."
"You have to believe it. The police will find
Junior. They're going to find him and he's
going to be fine. And then they're going to find the
animal who took him."
"I'm going to make sure of that." Tad
said.
"Leave it to the police, Tad. I don't want you
to end up in jail right next to the guy."
Jamie came running out of his bedroom, dragging a tiny
red windbreaker across the floor behind him. A bright
smile was painted on his face. He jumped up onto the sofa
next to Tad, mimicking his position with a giggle."
"Come here, you," Tad said, pulling the child
towards him. Jamie's laughter grew. "You
ready?" Jamie nodded excitedly. "Wanna go get
ice cream?"
"Yea!" Jamie cheered.
"Tad, don't spoil him, please."
"It's just a little ice cream. Tell Mommy not
to worry."
"Dun worry, Mommy," Jamie said.
Brooke shook her head with a smile, giving Jamie a kiss.
"Be a good boy for Daddy and Dixie, OK?"
"OK."
Tad stood, scooping up Jamie in his arms.
"Tad," Brooke said. "Call me if you hear
anything." Tad nodded slowly. "Or if you want
me to come get Jamie."
"We're gonna have a blast, right, sport?"
Jamie smiled. "We'll be great. Having Jamie
around for a while'll be good for Dixie too."
Tad paused. "I'll call you if we need
anything."
"At all."
"At all. I promise." Tad paused again. "We
should get going. Check to see if Dixie's
home."
"Dixie?" Jamie squeaked.
"Yeah, Dixie," Tad smiled. "You wanna go
see Dixie?" the child nodded. "Alright,
let's go. I'll... I'll give you a call
later, Brooke."
"Bye bye, Mommy," Jamie said with a tiny wave.
"Bye bye, sweetie." Brooke said.
Tad turned and walked back out to the car as Jamie waved
goodbye to Brooke. He put the child in a car seat in the
back, before rounding the car and getting behind the
wheel, pulling out of the driveway.
