“That’s my brother, I’m sure,” Uncle Steve said with a chuckle. “He was the good looking one.”

  Katie made a face and handed the photo to Gabriel.

  It was one of hundreds they’d gone through. The photo was of Steve though. Gabriel was getting familiar with which one of the guys was Steve and which was Gabriel’s father. They had loads of photos of each other growing up. His grandparents must have spent quite a bit on cameras.

  “Did you stop taking photos after high school?” Gabriel asked.

  His uncle laughed. “I guess I got too busy. Started having kids. Although I’m sure I’ve got some of my kids here somewhere. The ex took all the good ones.”

  He wanted to ask if there were any of his father and mother together, but he wasn’t sure how to ask this. He kept hoping to find some in the box. “It’s nice you kept all these.”

  Sang eventually sat beside Gabriel during all this, as they continued through the box. She stared at photos Gabriel handed her for a long time. He suspected it was to avoid talking too much or making too much eye contact. Shy Sang.

  Despite what Gabriel had promised wouldn’t take long, Katie and Steve were very talkative, with Katie occasionally leaving to go do something in the kitchen or to fuss at the kids who spent a lot of time alone in the den, near the television. Occasionally one would make an appearance, but it was Katie who shooed them out and planted them back in front of the TV if they didn’t really need anything.

  At one of these intervals, Uncle Steve leaned into Gabriel and whispered, “I wish she wouldn’t use that damn TV like a babysitter, you know? She wanted to get them tablets like other kids but after they broke their last one, I didn’t want to get them another until they were older. Kids need to go outside. She won’t send them out to play. It’s a small town. They’ll be fine, you know?”

  Gabriel felt obliged to agree with him, despite not knowing what Katie was like as a parent from this one short bit of time he’d been here. Outside getting fresh air and exercise and making friends was technically better than spending a lot of time inside watching TV.

  At some point, Gabriel knew he was overstaying and said, “I don’t want to take up your whole day. Samantha and I need to...”

  “Why don’t you stay here?” his uncle said. “Or you have somewhere to be tonight? Where are you staying?”

  Gabriel was surprised at the sudden offer. “Oh, we...” He stumbled, troubled over how to reply to him. He wanted to spend more time here sure but they also had so much to do and...

  “At my grandparents,” Sang said quickly when it was clear Gabriel was struggling. “They’re a town away but Gabriel wanted to come see you.” It was the first time she said anything in a while.

  Gabriel was grateful for that. He would have felt obliged to stay. But he wanted to get away to decompress and think about things.

  Uncle Steve laughed at this. “At the rate you know people around here, you’d think South Carolina and Kentucky were neighboring counties.” He motioned to Gabriel. “But at least stay for dinner. Katie’s making that pot roast and she makes a good one.”

  Gabriel shrugged at Sang. What was the harm in dinner?

  ♥♥♥

  As it was, it was after six o’clock at least before Gabriel and Sang could leave. And not without an armload of leftovers to bring to “Samantha’s” grandparents and promises to come see them again before they left town.

  Gabriel drove the little sedan a short distance away to a nearby convenience store before he parked, turned the engine off and put both palms to his face to rub vigorously. “Hot damn.”

  Sang said nothing, but she put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  He didn’t move, but he appreciated her reaching out. Despite this, though, he was still overwhelmed.

  He’d been welcomed. Like family. Like something he hadn’t experienced... except when he was around his friends.

  His uncle kept talking about fixing up the car, showed him pictures, talked about his life. It was like he was trying to fill in the last several years Gabriel had missed.

  Katie seemed very sweet and treated him kindly, doting on both him and Sang.

  Gabriel finally lifted his face and sat back, turning to look at Sang in the fluorescent light glowing into their faces from the store. “Sorry, I just needed a minute.”

  “It’s a little weird, right?” she whispered.

  He nodded.

  “So what do you think?” she asked. “On your adopted list?”

  “Most likely,” he said. He hesitated though and considered everything that happened today. “I wonder... maybe I should have been better about giving you a name. Maybe I come back for holidays or something? Or visit once a year? And if that’s the case, when we come back, they’ll want to know about those grandparents nearby and...” He was lost in thought, planning the future. Thanksgivings, Christmastime... how many family holidays could he come see them?

  Sang listened intently to him, keeping her lips pressed together. She didn’t give any advice one way or another.

  Encouraging and letting him make the choice. She was so understanding.

  Eventually he turned the key and got the engine going. He sighed heavily as he reversed the car out of the parking spot. “Too bad we don’t live nearby. Wish I could do more for them. And I wonder if his ex-wife is all that bad. I don’t know if I should check on his kids. They’re family, too, but I don’t want to upset Steve by getting in the middle if it was a bad divorce. He didn’t really mention her. The last Christmas card didn’t mention they’d divorced.”

  Sang leaned back in the passenger seat, seeming a little tired. “We’re here for a little while. If they still live around here, it’s just another stop. But... maybe you should ask your uncle first?”

  Gabriel considered what she was saying. “Maybe I can tag along if he goes to visit his kids at some point. I can ask, I guess. Although I did say we were here on spring break.”

  “In February,” Sang said with a small, knowing smile.

  Gabriel realized his mistake the moment she said it. It’s why his uncle kept asking him questions. If he was eloping... About if he was still in school... Gabriel felt like a complete idiot. “Shit. I mean...” He also temporarily forgot he was trying not to curse as much around Sang. He also wanted to cut back since he was visiting family and he didn’t want to be that bad around them.

  So much going on at once. He hadn’t prepared as much as he should have.

  Maybe because he hadn’t expected much to happen.

  Certainly not to be welcomed in like he had been.

  Too bad Kentucky and South Carolina weren’t closer together.

  If Anything Will Save Him, It's Her

  Sang

  We didn’t get back to the camp until maybe just after seven. Trying to follow a map during the light of day was a lot easier. With the sun already setting, despite also watching the roads, we often missed a turn and had to backtrack a little, unable to see road signs until we were right on top of them because the sun was in our eyes.

  Eventually we did find it. The Tahoe was parked out front. How long had they been waiting for them?

  The moment the engine was shut off, Luke opened up the door to the RV, peering out. The campground surrounding them had darkened. The closest light was at an old farmhouse out in the distance. The sun was just now over the far distant hills and it was getting dark fast.

  Gabriel got out of the car and Sang followed. “What happened to the light?” Gabriel pointed up at the lamppost that joined the camping spot they were at.

  Luke shrugged. “Turned off for the season maybe? I don’t know. I don’t miss it. You want it glaring into your eyes all night.”

  He made a good point.

  Suddenly Luke shifted a hand behind him inside the RV and an outside light for the door popped on.

  Luke chuckled. “Oh look, I found it.”

  I carried in the leftover pot roast. Dr. Green, Luke and Nathan, all now wearing thicker clothes that they must have bought locally, took turns sampling the leftovers while Gabriel told them all about the whole day, including what Gabriel and his uncle had talked about in the garage, which I hadn’t heard until now.

  “So what do you think?” Dr. Green asked him gently, having settled into the kitchenette booth and leaned against the table, his head propped up by his arm. He appeared tired, but also intrigued by Gabriel’s story. “Is he like you remember at all?”

  “Actually, nicer,” Gabriel said. “And I think he had every right to be upset with Pam, but he didn’t know her at all. Probably a misunderstanding and given that his brother died, and her husband died, they were butting heads.”

  Dr. Green sat up a bit at this, with a hair’s width of concern in the corner of his eye. I caught this concern and agreed with it. “Do you think there’s a reason he didn’t know her? And continued to not know her for so many years?” he asked gently.

  Gabriel, glassy eyed and staring off into the distance, with his hands smoothly running over the material of the seat, didn’t seem to notice anyone else in the room. “He had a lot of kids of his own to handle. And then a divorce... and the distance...”

  I shared a glance with Nathan then, who had put himself in one of the armchairs next to Gabriel, but from my angle in the kitchen, sat behind him. “At any rate, what do you want to do now? We’re all the way here, do you want a second visit?”

  “They made me promise to, at least once more before we leave. And I think I’d like to go once when he goes to visit his own kids, or check in with my aunt... is it ex-aunt now? I don’t know how that works. Still could be family.”

  “And adoption?” Nathan continued.

  Gabriel reacted emphatically. “Yup. Katie and her kids, too. We’ll find out about the others. And I haven’t...” He clamped a palm over his eye and groaned. “Shi...shhh... Yeah, I forgot about asking where my mom’s family lives. I got too wrapped up in other stuff.”

  This time I exchanged a concerned stare with Nathan, who seemed to notice this sudden change every time Gabriel seemed to not curse lately. I didn’t understand why still, and it wasn’t the time to ask him about it.

  “There’s plenty of time,” Dr. Green said. “Maybe you can stop by tomorrow and get the address. It’ll give you a chance to double-check about his ex-wife and visiting them, too.”

  Gabriel rubbed at his face vigorously with both hands before he stopped and revealed his now slightly reddened face. “Yes.”

  “Might have to wait,” Nathan said. “We have an address for Sang’s grandfather. For her mom’s dad.” He looked over Gabriel, to me this time. “And there’s an opening. His son, your uncle apparently, we actually ran into when we were asking around. He was talking about bringing someone in to watch over your grandfather.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. An uncle? Here? My mother had a brother...

  I said nothing, and in all honesty, I didn’t even see the boys anymore. I didn’t see the camper. I was trying to remember her face from the photo. Somehow, picturing a male version as if that would give me an idea of what he might look like.

  An uncle. That alone threw my expectations out the window, what little I had.

  What about the other grandparents? Could there be more out there that I didn’t even know about?

  It took several moments before I came out of my own head enough to realize that he had been waiting for a response. “He... wants someone to watch over him,” I said quietly. It wasn’t really a question. I had heard what he said, it was just processing.

  Nathan inched forward to the edge of the seat. “Which gives us some opening for sure, but the question is, who do we send? Your uncle made it sound like he wanted someone there long term. It is likely we could bring in some local Academy people, but it’s basically asking someone to move in, which might not work. And if we send in someone else, we’d lose our opportunity to get in ourselves. Maybe we should check it out first.”

  I scratched absently at my wrist. “Sending us in like that, it could mean we’re here for much longer than we planned.”

  “Maybe we can go in a pair?” Dr. Green said. “We could bring someone in locally, and then the local one could stay.”

  “No, I’m with Nathan. We should meet him first,” Luke said. He came around from the kitchen after having dried the last of the dishes and settled himself on the sofa. “I don’t think we should commit anyone to anything without getting more information, especially why he was insistent on someone staying with him sooner than later. He didn’t want to go stay with his own father himself. And where is your grandmother? He didn’t suggest she was dead. I suspect she’s not.”

  “Yeah, he wanted someone there tonight if he could find someone,” Dr. Green said to me. “We wanted to wait until you were here so you can tell us what to do. Apparently, there were burglars who came by recently, beat him up and took stuff. He doesn’t want him living alone any longer than he has to.”

  My mouth fell open.

  Gabriel’s eyes widened. “How recent was it?” He asked what I’d been thinking.

  “Within the last two weeks,” Dr. Green said.

  Luke butted in. “He’s got this big farm out in the middle of nowhere. The neighbors are at least a half mile away, I think. I checked on the map. It’s all farmland. So even if we don’t introduce ourselves tonight, we should go on surveillance.”

  Gabriel stood up now, appearing reinvigorated. “Then let me go.”

  “You?” Dr. Green asked. “I thought you wanted to spend time with your family.”

  “I’m the perfect person,” Gabriel said. “I’m already in town. I have family nearby. If anyone needs to stay for a long time, I can. We shouldn’t let him spend any more time by himself. He’s probably paranoid beyond all shit... I mean shish. If his son wants someone to stay with him, I’ll go.”

  “Why...” I started to say, pausing as I was trying to connect some dots to questions that were left hanging in the air and then continued, “Why is it that his own son isn’t staying with him at the moment?”

  Luke rubbed at his own nose. “He suggested they fight a lot apparently. Your grandfather, from what it sounds like, is as stubborn as they get. But I don’t know why for now he doesn’t just put up with it. Unless it’s really bad.”

  Strange. And if his wife, my grandmother, was still alive and also didn’t live with him...

  “Maybe I should go in,” I said softly. I was concerned, and the more that was said, the more I was sure I needed to try. “Disguised but... I should. I think.”

  Everyone looked at me, but it was Dr. Green who spoke. “Are you sure?”

  “It’s a good opportunity. And it could be completely temporary. Let us go in, but we’ll give him some story as to why we need to leave in a week or two. We’ll get someone else to come in after we’re gone. That’ll give us time to find the right person. If my uncle... if he can give us permission to go in and take care of things until we can get someone else to look in after him, make it sound like we’re just here to help?” I looked to the others for help with this. “We need to know more before we send anyone in, or we’re sending in people whom he might just not get along with anyway and we’d have to start over. At least this way, if he doesn’t want us, we at least poked around and can evaluate from there.”

  This wasn’t meant to be forever. But now that I was here and there was this opening, I wanted to go. I wanted to see the whole place, him, and this uncle I’d never known about, and the grandmother who lived away, I wanted to see what was going on myself. There were so many questions.

  Gabriel motioned to himself and then to me. “Then we’ll go in.” He waved to the other three. “But I want you all nearby in case anything happens. He might not like us. So we’ll have backup in case he doesn’t want us staying with him. And if he doesn’t want any of us, we can at least scope the place out, figure out a next form of security for him. One way or another, we’ll make sure he’s safe.”

  “Look who’s Mr. In Charge now?” Nathan said with a smirk.

  Gabriel looked right at me. “But if you want to see him in person, I agree, this is a good time. And if you’re disguised anyway, we can walk away without anyone knowing. It’s too hard on the outside to make many decisions, so let’s get inside.”

  I agreed with him. Somehow, maybe it was fate, but we came across an opportunity too good to pass up. At the very least, we could talk to him, get to know what was going on, have a way in with my uncle and likely grandmother too for doing this. There was so much we could learn really quickly just going in ourselves.

  I tried not to think too much about what I was about to do. I didn’t want to chicken out.

  Every Minute Matters Now

  SANG

  We went over the plan carefully. Gabriel started the conversation with Sang’s uncle. He told him he’d heard his father needed some support at home. Gabriel mentioned he and his girlfriend were looking for a temporary place to stay while they looked for work in town.

  “It wouldn’t be for too long, but when we heard our friend talking about how you were looking for someone to look out for your dad, I thought to call you.”

  Gabriel kept him on speakerphone, and I heard my uncle’s deep voice, and it got higher pitched when he got excited or sometimes just at the end of sentences. “Well, you should come meet him first. I don’t want to promise one hundred percent he’d actually let anyone stay with him. He’s a stubborn old bastard.”

  His name was London Sorenson, and he went on so long describing the farm and his dad, already apologizing for his odd behavior numerous times, before he finally said he’d meet us at his dad’s farm to go over more details and to talk it over with his dad.

  It was hard to hear my uncle’s voice over the phone, with a heavy Kentucky accent and trusting us to try to help. I kept expecting him to know that I was listening and that he knew who I was, even if I never said a word.

  Feeling guilty before I even showed up.

  It was still surprising to me he agreed to the meeting. We were complete strangers. He must have been desperate.