Chapter 1 - THE CUP SCOUT WOULDN’T LET HIM DRINK
Scout hit the high-chair tray before Noah could lift the cup.
The golden retriever’s shoulder knocked the plastic tumbler sideways.
Juice splashed across the hardwood floor.
Then Scout began barking.
Not his excited doorbell bark.
Not the ridiculous bark he used when squirrels crossed the backyard.
Short.
Hard.
Repeated.
All aimed at the puddle.
Diane grabbed his collar.
“That dog nearly knocked him over!”
Noah was perfectly secure in the high chair, staring wide-eyed at the commotion.
Megan moved between Diane and Scout.
“He was trying to stop Noah from drinking it.”
“Oh, please.”
Diane gave the collar another irritated tug.
“You've turned that dog into a nervous wreck.”
Around the kitchen island, Eric’s brother and his wife stopped talking.
Nobody intervened.
Eric stared at the juice.
Scout did too.
Then the dog abruptly turned.
Diane’s handbag sat open on a dining chair.
Scout lunged toward it as far as Diane’s grip allowed and barked again.
Megan saw something protruding from an inside pocket.
A small medicine dropper.
She looked down.
Another dropper lay beside Noah’s spilled cup.
Her stomach tightened.
She picked it up.
“Why is this here?”
Diane released Scout.
“That could be anybody’s.”
“No.”
Megan held up the second dropper from the handbag.
“Why do you have the same one?”
Diane’s expression changed.
Only briefly.
But Megan saw it.
So did Eric.
Megan looked toward Noah.
He was rubbing one eye.
Something inside her went cold.
“Why was this in Noah’s juice?”
Diane reached for the dropper.
“Give me that.”
Megan stepped backward.
Scout planted himself beside her and barked once.
Diane’s hand froze.
Eric finally spoke.
“Mom?”
Diane looked at her son instead of Megan.
“He gets worked up in crowded rooms.”
Megan stared at her.
“What does that have to do with his juice?”
Diane did not answer.
Megan scooped Noah out of the high chair.
He immediately rested his head against her shoulder.
Too easily.
She remembered Christmas.
Noah sleeping through dessert.
The barbecue in July.
Noah barely awake on the drive home.
Thanksgiving at Diane’s sister’s house.
Diane saying, He always relaxes for me.
Megan looked at her mother-in-law again.
“How many times?”
Diane’s face hardened.
“You're overreacting.”
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That was when Megan stopped wondering whether this had happened before.
She began wondering how long.
