Read Toward the Sound of Chaos for Free Online Page B

a half-eaten jar of
snickerdoodles between them.
    “Olivia’s
going to kill me for this.”
    My
heart thunders, and I press my palm to it and take several deep breaths, realizing
how unfit I am and how close I was to a heart attack. This boy will be the
death of me.
    “You?”
I say breathlessly. “I’m the one who’ll have to spend all day baking tomorrow
to replace the ones they ate.”
    “Search
and rescue get some of those too right?”
    I
nod and smile affectionately. “I’m thinking they get a lot more than just
snickerdoodles.”
    Good
Lord. Did I just say that?
    “You
like divinity? I’m terrible at making it. I can’t ever get my sugar the right
temperature, but Punta Clara Kitchen makes the best. I’ll pick ya up some.”
    Jake
just laughs.
    What
in the world is wrong with me? I can’t stop my
mouth from moving. I just keep puking words all over this man. At least it’s
not actual puke, because I already did that .
    “I
better get him home,” I say, just praying for some sort of miracle in order to
get me to shut up.
    I
wake Spence and chastise him for running off. Nuke wakes too, but Jake don’t
even need to speak to him to let him know he’s in trouble—he jumps off the
couch and hangs his head in shame. I clean up the mess they made as best I can,
returning Olivia’s cookie jar to her cupboard inside and righting the chair
Spence left sitting in the middle of the kitchen.
    “Spencer
Mason, you march your butt up that hill to the car right now,” I command and he
and Nuke turn tail and plod on ahead of us. Jake and I don’t say a word as we
walk along the path to the shelter. Me, because I’m afraid if I open my mouth
again I won’t stop babbling, and him? Well, I guess he’s the silent type.
    When
we near the shelter I realize something important that I forgot to do in between
having a heart attack and embarrassing myself, yet again, in front of the hot
Marine. “Oh, shoot. I forgot to call Olivia. She’ll be past Montrose and half
way to Daphne by now.”
    I
didn’t bring my phone. I rarely keep it on me. Most days I don’t even switch it
on because I can’t afford the calls. I only carry it with me if we’re going out
of town on long trips, which we almost never do, so I usher Spence inside to
call Olivia’s cell from the shelter’s front desk. I am not losing sight of this
boy again tonight.
    After
I hang up on Olivia, we walk outside. I almost stop dead in my tracks when I
notice Jake and Eloise standing in the lot beside my car. Jake has his back to
me but Eloise is so wrapped up in him she hasn’t even noticed they’re no longer
alone.
    “Thank
goodness you were here,” Eloise says in her sugary voice that puts my teeth on
edge on a good day. She twirls a strand of glossy dark hair around her finger.
“I can’t count the amount of times that silly boy has run off and we’ve all had
to waste time looking for him.”
    Jake’s
voice is pitched low when he leans in and says, “That boy has a disability, Eloise.
The only thing silly here is your ignorance.”
    For
a beat I just stand there, blinking back tears. Eloise is young and offensively
pretty, and I suspect there isn’t much going on inside her twenty-one-year-old
brain, but hearing her talk like that about my son hurts. Hearing Jake stick up
for him hurts too, but in a good way.
    The
gravel crunches beneath our shoes and Jake turns to look at me. His expression is
tight-lipped as he leaves Eloise standing with her mouth gaping wide enough to
catch flies. He moves toward us. I open Spencer’s door and let him climb in.
Eloise storms past us both with her head down.
    “Still
winning friends, I see?” I tease, smiling through my tears and pretending they
ain’t even there.
    “Yeah.
I’m a real popular guy.”
    “Listen,”
I say quietly, “I never thanked you properly.”
    “For
what?”
    “For
everything. For pulling me and my son out of the car. For helping find Spence
today,” I add dryly. “For not