38. Nolan

CHAPTER 38

Nolan

“ I s Noah coming to my class today?” Cody asks as we walk into the library.

“I don’t think so. This is our last class on gravity, so I think he’ll join next week.” We make our way to the back of the building where the class is held. Dr. Pulaski, the instructor, is standing at the front. His white lab coat is buttoned to his throat, and wire-framed glasses surround his kind brown eyes. He’s a retired physics professor, and all I can imagine him wearing is one of those tweed suit jackets with elbow patches.

“Hello, young researcher!”

“Hi, Dr. Pulaski!” Cody waves before heading to the table we always sit at. One of the many things I enjoy about this class is how the instructor talks directly to the students while teaching. When we get to the experiment phase, he’ll add extra information for the parents to help complete the task, but his main focus is on the students. He never talks around them.

The class fills out with kids and their parents sitting at each empty table. A few minutes later, Dr. Pulaski begins the class, and we all become engrossed in the lesson .

“Today is our last unit on gravity. We’ve learned all about Sir Isaac Newton, how gravity affects us every day, and what it would be like if we did not have gravity. Now, we’re going to take all the things we’ve learned and apply them to different settings. Students, please come grab your materials from the front table, and we’ll get started.”

They follow the instructions, forming orderly lines to grab the boxes Dr. Pulaski has created for them. Cody comes back with his arms full and his eyes bright with excitement. He enjoys the other lessons, but the experiment days are his favorite.

“Inside your boxes are a multitude of items we’ll be testing to find out how fast they fall. Then we’ll discuss the reasons for each.” Dr. Pulaski then goes through each item in the box. He asks the adults to hold the items as high as possible to get the maximum effect while the kids use the stopwatches to time the fall.

Cody giggles his way through the worksheet as he tries to guess how fast things will fall. He amazes me with his understanding of how things work. His assumptions about why each item did better or worse than the others are usually spot on. It doesn’t seem to matter what he’s learning; he picks up on the concepts with ease.

The rest of the class goes by in a flash, as it always does. Spending this time with Cody has been everything to me. We’ve bonded in ways I didn’t think were possible. When I first started dating Katie, I figured I’d have a good relationship with Cody. I knew he was a great kid, and it wouldn’t be any hardship to spend time with him. What I wasn’t prepared for was loving him as if he were my own kid. He means the world to me now, and I don’t know what I would do without him in my life.

“I can’t wait to tell Noah about next week’s lesson. He’s going to be so excited.” Cody bounces as we walk to the front door of the library. “You know he looooooves dinosaurs. Do you think we’ll get to excavate real bones?”

I laugh at his enthusiasm. “I doubt they’ll be real, but it sounds like you’ll get to try your hand at something similar.”

“How will we do that? I don’t even know how Dr. Pulaski comes up with this stuff.”

I glance around the parking lot to make sure no cars are coming while we walk to my truck. The lights flash when I unlock it, and I open the door to help Cody into the back seat.

“What the fuck are you doing with my son?” a voice growls from behind me. Cody whips around, one foot on the step, the other on the ground. I turn, putting my body between Cody’s and Bryce’s. The anger I saw in his eyes in the courtroom has only grown stronger. He looks strung out. His hair is a mess, there are dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes look like he’s been wearing them for days.

“We’re going home, Bryce. What are you doing here?” I do my best to keep my voice calm. Rage is a burning inferno inside my chest. The fucking audacity this guy has to show up where he isn’t wanted.

“He’s my son. Not yours,” he spits. “He should be by my side. She’s not allowed to win this. I win. I’m the winner.”

This guy is fucking delusional. Is he on something? What is his problem? “The only thing that matters right now is Cody. Doing what’s best for him,” I placate. “We’re going to get into my truck and leave before this gets out of hand.” I turn, keeping my eyes on Bryce while reaching for Cody to try and get him into the truck.

The blood drains from my face when Bryce pulls out a silver revolver and points it at me. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m his father. Not you. If he’s leaving, it’ll be with me.”

Cody’s hand grips the back of my shirt. My heart is hammering in my chest. I hold my hands out in a slow-down gesture. “Bryce, you need to put the gun down. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. If you do this, things won’t look good for you.”

The manic laugh coming out of his mouth is almost scarier than the gun. “I’m rich. I can do whatever the fuck I want. Just like I’m going to take the little brat from his bitch of a mother because she doesn’t deserve to have him. She never did, but my parents didn’t want to take care of him, so they paid her off instead.”

If I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, that might’ve made sense to me. Instead, I try to reason with him. “You don’t want to hurt your son. Please, just let us go.”

“No. Hand over the kid.” He levels the gun at me.

Cody’s body is vibrating against my back. I want to hold him, but I’m too scared to move.“I can’t do that, Bryce.”

“If you don’t, I will shoot you.”

“I won’t let you take him,” I repeat. I barely get the words out before there’s an explosion of sound and then pain. The last thing I hear is Cody screaming my name. Then everything goes dark.