***

“You were so good, Jack!’ TJ jumped up and down, praising his brother as they walked through the dimly lit parking lot.

Maggie bit back her smile as she glanced sideways at Jack, but her smile fell the moment her gaze landed upon him. He didn’t look like a fifteen-year-old who’d just won his very first varsity baseball game. His head was bowed, shoulders hunched like he had more than just the weight of his gym bag resting on them. He kicked at a loose pebble on the pavement before glancing up at his mother as they arrived at the car. “Have you heard from Dad?’

Pressing her lips together, Maggie shook her head. She tried calling Tom a few times, but each call went straight to voicemail. “He probably just got caught up at the office.’ She continued with a little more conviction, “He landed a big case at work.’

Jack rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, which she couldn’t quite hear, but she decided not to press him. He was upset. And he had every right to be. He had been so excited since being selected to start on third for the varsity team at only fifteen: the youngest player in the school’s history. All he wanted was to show off a little in front of his father, make him proud. And yet Tom wasn’t there to see him hit his very first home run, propelling the team to an unexpected victory at the bottom of the seventh.

Maggie sighed as Jack got into the front passenger seat without so much as another word, but she forced a smile onto her face as she waited for TJ to climb up into the back. He was ten with a solid build, but short for his age, like a little pit bull. While he insisted he no longer needed his mother’s help getting into the car, she always stood guard, making sure he buckled up safely much to his dramatic dismay.

The mood in the car was low as Maggie settled into the driver’s seat. With caution, she glanced at Jack, finding him staring out the window, his eyes empty, face long. When she checked the rear-view mirror, she saw TJ staring at her in the reflection, and she offered him a wink which made him smile, causing her heart to warm.

“Who wants to go home and make ice cream sundaes?’ She knew her cheery tone sounded forced as it rang through the uncomfortable silence, but she had to try to lighten the mood somehow.

“I do! I do!’ TJ hollered, his hand held in the air for effect.

Maggie flashed her youngest son a knowing smile. Of course he did, that much was a given. She turned to Jack. “Jack?’

“Whatever,’ he murmured without looking at her.

***

Belmont was a small hamlet in Middlesex County, twenty minutes outside of Boston. And the drive from the high school through the village to their home took all of about eight minutes. Maggie tapped her hand against the steering wheel to the tune of the song playing across the radio, temporarily lost in the moment. But when she made the turn onto the immaculate, tree-lined street, where nearly identical colonial homes sat atop manicured frontages, her brows knitted together at the glare of flashing lights illuminating the night’s darkness.