The Unexpected Work Trip
The next morning, Brandon announced that he had to leave town.
“It’s a warehouse job,” he explained. “Only two days. They’re offering overtime pay just for showing up.”
I frowned. “Since when does your construction company send you to warehouses?”
“It’s temporary work connected to one of the projects.”
He began packing a duffel bag while I stood in the bedroom doorway.
There was something unsettling about the way he folded his shirts without looking at me.
“Brandon?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we okay?”
His hands stopped moving.
For one hopeful second, I thought he was finally going to sit down and tell me what was happening.
Instead, he smiled and pulled me into his arms.
“We’re fine,” he said. “I promise.”
He left before noon.
That evening, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and cut Alex’s into triangles, exactly the way he liked them.
He ate half before pushing the plate away.
“Can I go to bed?”
I stared at him.
Alex never volunteered to go to bed.
That alone should have warned me.
I carried his bedtime book down the hallway and sat beside him.
The moment I lowered myself onto the mattress, I felt something strange.
The bed was hard in several places.
Not worn or lumpy.
Ridged.
It felt as though someone had placed dozens of pencils beneath the sheet.
“Alex, stand up for a second.”
His face went pale.
“Why?”
“I need to check your bed.”
“No, Mommy.”
“Sweetheart, move over.”
He grabbed my sleeve.
“Please don’t look.”
The fear in his voice made my heart pound.
I gently lifted him from the mattress and placed him on the floor.
Then I pulled back the fitted sheet.
When I raised the mattress, the missing forks appeared.
