Chapter 3

Standing in a grassy quad outside of Colten’s classroom, I waited to pick him up from his last day of school before the summer break. A guy around my own age emerged from a small crowd of parents chatting nearby, looking around until he zeroed in on me. Wearing a bow tie with a tweed jacket and thick glasses, he smiled, but he also suddenly seemed nervous for some reason.

James Lafferty was Colt’s teacher and, as I’d recently learned, was responsible for encouraging him to play chess. He and I had had a few talks since Colt had joined his class, but he’d never pulled me aside like he did now.

“Mr. Payne, may I speak to you for a moment?”

I nodded. “Of course. What’s up?”

“Colten is a brilliant young student,” he started hesitantly. “He’s got a great head on his shoulders, his reading comprehension is staggering, and his mathematics are getting sharper every day. He’s a natural problem solver, which is wonderful for his age.”

Having said all that, he stopped speaking and I frowned. My head lowered slowly to one side as I looked at the man. “All of those sound like good things to me, so what’s the catch?”

“Well, I’m afraid his social skills aren’t developing quite as well.” Fidgeting with his hands, he averted his gaze and sighed before he looked back at me. “He doesn’t socialize well with the other kids, Mr. Payne. He doesn’t fit in and he doesn’t seem to care.”

My heart thudded against my ribs. “As far as I know, he’s been playing chess with you during lunch to hone his skills. Could it be that he’s simply more interested in chess than the other children at this stage?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to encourage him to go out with his classmates to play during their lunch hour, but he always chooses to stay in the classroom with me instead. He just doesn’t seem interested in going anywhere.”

Sucking in a deep breath, he swiped his tongue across his lips and then reached up to straighten his already straight glasses. “I don’t want to cause any trouble by making unfounded allegations, but while I haven’t seen any proof of this, I’m worried he’s being bullied. I wanted to bring it to your attention.”

“Thank you,” I said, overwhelmed and uncertain how to handle this but grateful for a teacher like Mr. Lafferty watching out for my son. “We’re spending all summer together in lake country. I’ll talk to Colt. If anything comes out that involves the school, I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks again, James.”

He inclined his chin at me, grasping my hand warmly before he left. “I’m happy to help, Landon. You have a truly wonderful son and I’m sure he’s going to have a blast this summer. It’s marvelous you’re going to be spending the whole break together. He’s a lucky boy to have a father who’s willing to do that.”

Surprised by the compliment, I watched him turn and hurry back into his classroom. A minute later, kids started running out of it and the quad was suddenly filled with noise, laughter, and chatter.

Colten was one of the last kids to leave the room and he paused in the door, searching before he made a beeline for me. “Straight to the airport?”

“Straight to the airport,” I said, grinning at him as he hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder.

We strode out of the building together and I was curious to see if he’d run into a single friend, but we made it all the way to the car without him even acknowledging anyone else.

Worry started gnawing at my insides. I’d missed that he’d joined a chess club, but I would’ve noticed if he was being bullied.

Right?

While I wasn’t in the habit of doubting myself as a counselor, being a single parent was tough sometimes. I had no one to use as a sounding board and no one to share these observations with. It’d never bothered me, but finding out one’s own son might’ve been in peril at school without you ever having considered it a possibility had a way of getting in one’s head.

Wondering if I should give Walter a call to find out if he knew anything, I drove us to the airport, parking close to the private plane I’d chartered. After we boarded, Colten immediately picked a seat, opening his iPad to start playing chess, and I decided I’d speak to Walter later.

Right now, it seemed to me that the person I had to speak to the most was right here. I sat down next to him and plucked the computer out of his hands. “This summer is about disconnecting, Colt. I’m not even going to look at any work and you’re not going to bury your face in a screen either.”

He groaned, protesting throughout our preparation for takeoff and until we’d reached cruising altitude. “That’s not fair. We’re on a plane. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Take in the view,” I suggested. “Talk to your old man. Play ISpy. Just be bored for a change. Take your pick.”

“I want to play chess,” he said, turning to face me and sticking out his lower lip. “That’s not the same as normal screen time. That melts your brain. Chess strengthens it. It’s all about strategy and stuff. It’s good for me.”

“It sure is,” I agreed. “So is being bored and all those other things I mentioned. You’re a kid, Colt. Act like one.”

“I am. Can’t you see? I’m pouting.” He stuck his lower lip out further and widened his eyes.

I chuckled. “I can see, but it’s not going to work.”

He tried a few more arguments, but I held my ground. Between what Walter had said and what James Lafferty had told me earlier, it was more important than ever that I got caught up with my son.

“Are you going to miss your friends while we’re gone?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

Colten crossed his arms and looked out the window. “Not really.”

I exhaled slowly through my nostrils, wondering if he even had any friends at all. He’d never invited anyone over, but I hadn’t thought much of it before.

How could he when his father was never home?

Most kids their age wouldn’t get left alone without a parent in the house for a play date and I usually only got home long after he’d gone to bed. If I went home at all. Oftentimes, I simply crashed in my office for a few hours before I got back to work.

A driver picked Colt up from school every day, bringing him back to our estate where he worked on his homework with his tutor. He had dinner made for him by our chef and then he wound down for the night by himself, but under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Neil, our housekeeper.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, my mind racing as I thought back over the last few years. Colt and I had been close when he was younger. We’d spent a lot more time together than we did now, but as he’d gotten busier at school, I’d taken on more work.

Quickly rising from obscurity, I’d made something of a name for myself and I was doing pretty darn well. It was a point of great pride for me that I’d done it all without my late parents’ money. Walter had never been rich and he’d been frugal with the allowance he’d received from the trust to cover my expenses.

As a result, I’d grown up respecting the value of money and the effort put into earning every dollar. I’d never become obsessed with making as much as I could, but in retrospect, I had been prioritizing work above Colten in recent years.

Exhaling slowly, I opened my eyes and tried to recalibrate my brain. “Do you want to see the house we’re going to be staying at?”

Suddenly even more eager to reconnect with my baby, I hoped this would be the kind of summer Walter thought it would. Colten arched an eyebrow at me though, not nearly as enthusiastic now that I’d taken away the iPad. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to look at screens?”

Smart ass, I thought, but I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders as I leaned back in my seat. “Fair point. It would spoil the surprise anyway.”

A little while later, we landed at a tiny airport surrounded by rocky mountains and tall pines. The sky was an azure blue and there wasn’t so much as a wisp of cloud in sight. Colten leaned forward to study the landscape through the window, skepticism in his eyes as he glanced at me.

“What are we doing here again?”

“Taking a real break,” I replied firmly, unbuckling when the plane came to a full stop. “Some fresh air and bright sunshine never hurt anybody.”

“But we live in LA,” he said as he followed me to the door. “There’s plenty of sunshine at home. Fresh air nearby too.”

“That may be true, but there’s also a lot of distractions there. We won’t have that here. It’s just going to be me, you, and the lake.”

When we stepped off the plane, the sun beat down on our shoulders, but we were only uncomfortable for a minute. Piling into a large SUV with the AC blasting, we waited while our bags were loaded in the trunk and then we set off on a winding drive that eventually led us through the tiny town that was June Lake.

Colten blinked hard as he stared out the window. Then he gave me a completely incredulous look. “We have to spend a whole summer here? When you said it was just going to be you, me, and the lake, I thought you were being metaphorical.”

“Look at your vocabulary coming along,” I said lightly, ignoring his question because as I looked through my own window, I was starting to have doubts too.

On the internet, the town had looked pleasant and quaint, but now, it only looked simple. Maybe a little too simple for my liking.

“Just give it time,” I told Colten, but I was speaking to myself as well. “It will grow on you.”

It didn’t take more than a minute before we’d driven through the entire town and started traveling down a lakeside road that soon began offering the most incredible views. Even Colten relaxed a little bit as he appreciated them, gluing his nose to the window and looking out at the glittering lake below.

I did the same thing, not at all ashamed of acting like a ten-year-old. It was stunning out here, and as much as I was hopeful that I would get to reconnect with my son this summer, I was also keen to have some time to reconnect with myself.

It had been a long time since I hadn’t had work looming over me, and at this point, I didn’t even know who I was without a case to work. After my conversation with Walter on Father’s Day though, I’d realized it was time to figure it out.

Just as I was really starting to lean into the idea of this vacation despite the simplicity of the town, the SUV came to a complete stop. Right in the middle of the road.

There was no house nearby and no driveways leading off this road either, which meant we certainly hadn’t reached our destination. Sighing as I leaned forward, I looked at the driver. “Why have we stopped?”

“There’s a car blocking our way, sir,” he responded. “Just a minute. I’ll sort it out.”

I frowned. What is this all about? And why, oh why, did it have to happen right the hell now?

“No,” I said firmly. “I will. Who the hell parks right in the middle of a goddamn road? On a mountain, no less. I’ll get them to move. Don’t worry. Just be ready to get us to the house as soon as they’re out of the way.”