I tapped on Brooke’s door, laptop in hand. “Brooke, your dad’s on the call.” I wanted this day to be over at this point. I hadn’t imagined that so many emotions, so many highs and lows, could be stuffed into just a few hours. I didn’t think I’d ever want to ride a roller coaster again. The remembrance of our time at Cedar Point had a jolt of pain shooting through me.

She swung the door open, sending a quick look at me before grabbing the laptop. She went to close the door and I stepped in after her, much to her disgust. “When can I get a flight out?” She asked, and I could see she had indeed begun packing her bags. I rubbed at the ball of pain in my chest.

“You’re not coming to live here, Brooke,” Ian answered, solemnly. “I love you, and I want what’s best for you, and I think that’s being with your mom. You’ve been through one move and you’re going to be heading to college soon. Your mom works from home. Your brothers are there with you. I get that you’re pissed, but it doesn’t excuse your own behavior.”

“You’re seriously taking her side?” Brooke gaped down at the laptop, complete shock written across her face. “Do you know what she’s doing?”

“I know she’s finally making choices for herself, and that she was willing to give up her chance at happiness when she thought it could potentially hurt you kids. I know that you hurt her far more than you know by insinuating she’d hurt you or the boys. I have honestly no idea what you were thinking calling her selfish or a whore. That is not how I raised you. You remember that a year ago you and I had nearly this same fight?” His words shocked me. I hadn’t known he and Brooke had openly fought about his relationship with Joseph; I thought she had only complained privately to me. “Nothing bad happened then, and it won’t now. People will get bored of talking, or you will move on for yourself. You can’t take away your mother’s chance at happiness simply because you don’t like how your friends respond. You told me that you would never want to live with me, you couldn’t stand my selfishness, and that I was picking Joseph over you. That argument didn’t work then, and I won’t let you use it on your mother now. Start thinking outside yourself, Brooke. You’re old enough to.”

“I was thinking of Jake and Cal.” The words were sulky and full of tears.

“No, you were thinking of you. Jake may be confused, but he’ll ask questions and analyze. Cal would be thrilled to have extra attention on him, he’s too young to think of it any other way. It may come to a head in the future, and if so we’ll deal with it then. Playing off the fact that your mother always thinks in worst case scenarios and puts her children first isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’re grounded.”

“You can’t ground me!” Brooke’s voice had gone from teary to outraged in a second.

“I’m your father, of course I can.” Ian’s voice was calm. “I also happen to know your mother has already grounded you. That stays in effect. No phone. No laptop. The computer just for school. Any other criteria your mother puts on it is okay by me.”

“You’re both freaks,” Brooke muttered, pushing the laptop away.

“One day you may be lucky enough to be a freak too,” Ian stated. “Or lucky enough to have children who will believe you’re a freak. We love you. Let that be enough for now. If nothing else, start counting down the days until you go to college. You won’t have much else to do in your free time.”

I grabbed the laptop off the bed as I heard the call end with a click. “I’m going to check on your brothers.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Brooke rolled away, staring at the wall.

“I do love you, Brooke. I’m sorry you’re unhappy.”

“If you were actually sorry, you would have ended things,” she muttered.

“I did, actually,” I admitted. “I ended everything.”

“With all of them?” She turned over, her eyes huge. I nodded. “Well, good. Maybe now things can go back to normal.” I nodded, a tight smile on my face, and headed back to my room to store my laptop. Normal. Right. That’s what I had always hoped for.

I placed the laptop in its case, avoiding looking in the mirror before heading back downstairs to check on Jake and Cal. I hadn’t asked them yet which games my sister had picked out for them, and I sincerely hoped she had taken ratings into mind if it was for Cal’s enjoyment as well as Jake’s. I was surprised they hadn’t come to me yet to ask for snacks or attention, it wasn’t like my conversations with Brooke and Ian had been short. I headed down into the living room, stunned to find it empty. I doubted both had gone down for a nap, though Cal was still known to do so occasionally. I headed to the back door, planning to call Jake back inside so I could make them something to eat. I hadn’t hit the grocery store yet, but I figured I could whip some pasta together or something along those lines. They had to be starving at this point.

“Jake.” I opened the door, calling outside as I continued to catalog the contents of my pantry in my head, studying the kitchen behind me as I mentally searched the cupboards. “Hows does pasta sound for lunch? I can do grilled cheese, instead?” When no commentary met my question, I turned to face the yard. It was completely empty, not even the usual scatter of bikes or baseballs decorating it.

I swore, heading for the stairs. If they were both napping that meant they--and the rest of our house--was coming down with something. I wondered if I had stocked up on enough cough syrup? With it being summer I hadn’t been piling up as much of it as I would in the winter months. “You guys napping?” I knocked softly on the door, pushing it open when I didn’t receive a response. Their empty beds had me staggering, the shock rushing over me. I headed for Brooke’s room, pounding quickly before ducking over to open the bathroom door. “Brooke!” I nearly screeched her name, flinging open the door to my office, then my bedroom. All were empty and still. “Brooke!” I shrieked again, and her disgruntled face was framed in her doorway.

“You yelled at me for shrieking and yet you can get away with it?” she grumbled.

“Your brothers. Where are your brothers?” The words tumbled out of me.

She blinked for a moment then charged down the stairs, calling her brothers’ names. “They were down here playing video games like an hour ago. Where’d they go?”

“I don’t know! I hoped they said something to you.” I pulled open the downstairs bathroom, the door to the pantry, the hall closet. “Their shoes are gone.” I whirled, facing my daughter, her frantic expression clearly matching my own.

“Did you check the yard?” Her words were breathless as she wrung her hands.

“Empty.” I threw open the front door, checking the patch of front yard and the tiny porch. Both were bare and still and the shaking began to rock my body. “Brooke, grab your cell from the kitchen drawer. Call your aunt, then start calling the boys’ friends, I programmed all their numbers in.” I snatched my own phone from my pocket, dialing the local police number.

The world seemed to grind to a halt as the police peppered me with questions and told me they were sending out cars immediately. I wanted to be out looking for my boys, but the police insisted I stayed where I was. It was only a few short minutes before police cars pulled up, their lights flashing a glaring red and blue. Jenna followed right behind them, lunging onto the porch to grab me into her arms. “We’ll find them, Em. We’ll find them.” She murmured the words as tears tracked down my cheeks. Brooke rubbed her hand up and down my arm, offering quiet comfort of her own.

“Do they know anyone else around here?” The policeman I hadn’t caught the name of crouched in front of me, his concern evident though he tried to maintain an official demeanor. He didn’t look that much older than Brooke. “Any other friends you haven’t listed?” I could only shake my head, shock holding me tightly in its oily grasp. “Were they upset about something?”

“They’d just gotten home from their dad’s in California.” I murmured the words. “They haven’t seen much of their friends this summer.”

“Was anything missing from their room?” The chief had already asked me these questions, but I assumed they were trying to cover all of their bases, seeing if there was something I had forgotten.

“Their backpacks were gone. Some clothes. Jake’s piggy bank.” I didn’t know why they’d run away, what could have motivated them. They’d been so excited before I went upstairs.

“Do they have any places they like to hang out? Anywhere special?”

“Cal does karate. He likes the dojo. They both like the park and the playground.” I looked helplessly to Jenna.

“They like the library and the video game store,” Brooke offered up, tears choking her.

“Good. We’ll find them guys. They’re together, they haven’t been gone that long.” The policeman tried to be encouraging as he stood back up, then he jogged down the stairs to talk with his co-workers. Tires screeched as a car pulled up in the driveway next door.

“Emmie!” Troy, Alex, and Max came pouring from their car, running up the stairs to crouch in front of me. “What’s going on, are you hurt?”

“We were coming back from Troy’s and saw all the police. Were you robbed?” Alex’s voice was soft and gentle as he inspected me for injury.

“Cal and Jake. They’re missing. I was on the phone and they were playing, and now they’re just gone. No one’s seen them for like two hours. None of their friends have heard from them.” The words fell from my mouth as fast as the tears tracked down my teeth. Desperate hands reached out to clutch at Max’s and Alex’s as they squeezed my fingers tight, supporting me without words.

“Are they out looking for them? Do they have any leads?” Troy’s voice was gruff and he pushed the hair out of my eyes.

“They’re asking about the places they like. We said the library and the playground and the park. There’re a lot of places though, and they only have so many people who can look.” My voice was trembling. “They want me to stay here, to stay here in case they show up again or call or something.” I didn’t want to voice the words that were tearing at the back of my head, the possibility that someone else had taken them and that was the call I was waiting for.

“You may not be able to look, but we can.” Alex glanced over at Max and Troy who gave him sharp responding nods. “We know this place backward and forwards. We can add some manpower to the search.” I could only nod.

“Bring my brothers home.” Brooke’s choked voice echoed in my ears. “Please.” Troy gave a sharp nod and Max offered a small smile before they jogged down to talk to the police. I had thought my world was ending before, but I knew that if they didn’t find my sons my world would truly fall apart, and this time, I didn’t think I’d be able to put it back together.