Chapter 4 - The Boy in the Corner Booth
Hazel locked the door.
The footsteps stopped outside.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Measured.
“Hazel?”
Mateo.
She exhaled so hard her knees weakened.
Then she looked at the photograph again.
“Hazel?”
She opened the door.
Mateo immediately saw her face.
“What happened?”
“You.”
“What?”
“Why are you here?”
“I left my phone.”
She looked down.
He wasn't lying.
His phone sat on the entry table where Luca had been showing him dinosaur pictures.
Hazel handed him the photograph instead.
Mateo's entire demeanor changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“Someone left it.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
He turned it over.
“He's ready to tell you.”
Mateo looked toward the stairs.
“I didn't see anyone.”
“Is Caleb alive?”
“As far as I knew, yes.”
“You knew?”
“I've been trying to locate him for years.”
Hazel stared.
“Why?”
“Because what happened five years ago was larger than the theft.”
Mateo entered only after Hazel stepped aside.
They sat at her kitchen table.
For the first time, they talked without anger protecting them.
Mateo explained Adrian Vale.
How Adrian had manipulated Caleb's debts.
How the copied records had been altered before they were transferred.
How Caleb had been used as the obvious culprit while Adrian tried to conceal years of financial fraud.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“You could have come to Milwaukee.”
“I should have.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
Mateo looked down.
“I thought leaving you alone was respecting your decision.”
Hazel laughed bitterly.
“You were always talented at deciding what was best for me.”
“I know.”
The lack of argument startled her.
Mateo continued.
“I made the wrong decision.”
Hazel studied him.
Five years ago, Mateo would have explained.
Defended.
Justified.
Now he simply owned it.
“I tried emailing you,” she said.
Mateo looked up.
“What?”
“Caleb called me.”
“When?”
“During my pregnancy.”
His face changed at the word.
“He said someone inside your organization helped him. I emailed you.”
“I never received it.”
“I called too.”
“My number changed after the security breach.”
Hazel leaned back.
For five years she had believed Mateo ignored her.
For five years Mateo had believed Hazel wanted to disappear.
Two people.
Two wrong conclusions.
One child between them.
“Why Luca?” Mateo asked quietly.
Hazel understood.
“Your grandfather.”
Mateo swallowed.
“You remembered.”
“You talked about him all the time.”
“Not all the time.”
“When you couldn't sleep.”
He smiled faintly.
“Apparently I talked too much around you.”
“You did.”
Silence.
Not uncomfortable.
That was dangerous.
Mateo looked toward the hallway leading to Luca's bedroom.
“What was he like as a baby?”
Hazel's defenses rose.
“Mateo.”
“I missed everything.”
“You did.”
His eyes lowered.
“I know.”
Hazel expected anger.
Instead she saw grief.
That was harder.
“He hated peas,” she said.
Mateo looked up.
“What?”
“He would spit them everywhere.”
A tiny smile.
“What did he like?”
“Bananas. Mashed potatoes. Anything involving cheese.”
“That sounds hereditary.”
Hazel almost laughed.
“He walked at eleven months.”
“Early.”
“Too early. I spent the next year chasing him.”
“First word?”
Hazel paused.
“Mama.”
Mateo nodded.
“Good.”
“Second was truck.”
He frowned.
“Less meaningful.”
This time Hazel did laugh.
The sound surprised both of them.
Then Luca appeared in the hallway.
His hair stuck up.
He held a stuffed dinosaur.
“Dad?”
Mateo became completely still.
Luca rubbed one eye.
“You're still here.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
The child walked to Hazel and climbed into her lap.
Mateo watched with naked longing.
“Can he stay for pancakes?” Luca asked.
“At midnight?”
“Breakfast.”
“Breakfast isn't for eight hours.”
Luca considered this.
“He can sleep on the couch.”
Hazel looked at Mateo.
Mateo wisely said nothing.
“No sleepover,” Hazel said.
Luca frowned.
“But he was lost.”
Mateo looked away.
Hazel's heart hurt.
“Your dad has somewhere else to sleep.”
Luca looked at him.
“You'll come back?”
Mateo answered without hesitation.
“If your mother says I can.”
Hazel appreciated that.
“Yes,” she said. “He'll come back.”
Luca nodded.
Problem solved.
Hazel returned him to bed.
When she came back, Mateo was standing.
“I'll go.”
She handed him the photograph.
“Take it.”
“You trust me with it?”
“I trust that you want Caleb found.”
Mateo slipped it into his jacket.
At the door, he stopped.
“Hazel.”
“What?”
“I won't disappear from Luca unless you ask me to.”
She folded her arms.
“And if I ask?”
His face tightened.
“I'll respect whatever boundaries you set. But I hope you won't ask me to stop being his father.”
She did not answer.
Mateo left.
Over the following weeks, he kept every promise.
He arrived when Hazel allowed.
Never unannounced.
Never with expensive gifts.
The first thing he brought Luca was a library book about dinosaurs.
The second was an apron.
They cooked pancakes.
Badly.
Mateo burned three.
Luca declared them “crispy.”
Hazel stood by the sink trying not to smile.
Slowly, father and son learned each other.
Luca discovered Mateo hated pickles.
Mateo learned Luca slept with four stuffed dinosaurs arranged according to size.
Luca learned Mateo spoke Italian.
Mateo learned Luca could not pronounce archaeopteryx but refused to stop trying.
Hazel watched all of it with conflicting emotions.
She had wanted Luca protected.
But protection had a cost.
Her son had spent five years without a father who clearly loved him before he even knew how.
One Friday, Mateo arrived looking serious.
“I found the gas station.”
Hazel's stomach tightened.
“Caleb?”
“The photograph was taken three weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“Outside Rockford.”
“Can you find him?”
“I think he wants us to.”
Us.
Hazel noticed the word.
Before she could respond, Luca ran in holding a cardboard dinosaur.
“Dad!”
Mateo smiled.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen.
The smile vanished.
“What?”
Hazel watched him listen.
Then he looked directly at her.
“Say that again.”
A pause.
Mateo's face went pale.
He lowered the phone.
“What happened?” Hazel asked.
Mateo stared at her.
“They found Caleb.”
“Where?”
Mateo looked toward Luca.
May you like
Then back at Hazel.
“He's downstairs.”
