Somebody to Love: Sigh With Contentment, Scream With Frustration. At Time You Will Weep. Read Online Free PDF

didn’t…’
    ‘For Christ’s sake, what were you thinking!?’ Mark struggled to hold on to his temper. ‘He can’t stand crowds, Jody. You know that! The slightest thing sets him off.’
    ‘I know. I do know.’ Jody pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, her hand trembling as she pulled it away. ‘I needed to pick up a prescription for my mum on the way to the respite centre, and Karl seemed okay. I’d promised him a new toy, and we have brought him here before, so I…’
    ‘Out of season, Jody, when the shops are empty and the crowds are gone.’ And that was bad enough. Mark recalled with crystal-clear clarity how Karl had bolted as they’d tried to cross the road, narrowly missing an oncoming car.
    Mark dragged a hand over his neck. He was tense, every muscle in his body taut with frustration and anger, but this wasn’t Jody’s fault. Karl was as unpredictable as he was predictable. If it was anyone’s fault, it was his. Christ, even the boy’s mother hadn’t been able to cope with the day-to-day stress of caring for Karl. How was Jody supposed to cope day-in-day-out if Emma had finally admitted she couldn’t be what Karl needed and quietly disappeared from his life?
    She wouldn’t be back either. She wrote occasionally. Called… less occasionally, now she’d met someone else. No, Emma wouldn’t be back in Karl’s life. Mark had faced that fact head on. He needed to face a more fundamental fact now. As much as he wanted to, and even with a sergeant understanding enough to cut him some slack, he couldn’t cope.
    Karl was growing up, getting bigger, stronger, becoming more demanding. Mark needed to get more help, rather than insist on keeping Karl home and entrusting his day-care to Jody.
    ‘We’ll find him.’ Mark sucked in a breath, gave Jody what he hoped was a reassuring smile, then scanned the street behind her.
    Jody nodded and wiped at a tear on her cheek.
    ‘This toy,’ Mark tempered his tone, knowing he was the cause of her tears and not liking himself for it, ‘what was it going to be?’
    ‘Just another model car to add to his collection.’
    Figures, thought Mark, squinting as he noticed a rocking horse outside a second-hand shop, which would definitely indicate toyshop. An old-fashioned, glorious grey speckled affair on rockers. Similar to the horse depicted in Karl’s Sugar Takes Flight bedtime story, which he insisted on hearing over and over each night.
    ‘Was he using his own money?’
    ‘Yes, his piggy bank…’
    ‘In which case, I have an idea where he might be.’ Mark scrambled around Jody so fast he almost fell over her. Please, God, let him be there.
    Trying to slow his rapid breathing, Mark opened the shop door calmly. He didn’t want to scare Karl. Karl couldn’t relate to emotion on any level, but Mark knew that his son could see anger in his eyes. And he was bloody angry.
    The bell tinkled overhead. The soft murmur of voices slowed and, somehow, Mark could sense his son’s nearness. He glanced at the shopkeeper. ‘There wouldn’t be a young boy?’
    ‘We wondered whose he was.’ She nodded, indicating a room beyond the shop-fronting area they were in. An Aladdin’s cave, stuffed full of toys and magical to a child’s eyes. ‘We were just about to call the police.’
    ‘Mine. My son,’ said Mark, his throat tight as he watched Karl wander through from the back room, his clear blue eyes wide with wonder, before they alighted on Mark. Then, they grew disconcerted, as if Karl knew he was in trouble, and Mark couldn’t bear that. He knew he should talk to him. Try to instil in him through firm repetition, that he should not do this sort of stuff. Instead, he walked over to Karl and bent down to hug him so tight, he could feel his son’s heartbeat next to his own.
    ‘Hiya, mate. Did you get your model car?’ he asked throatily, knowing Karl wouldn’t, couldn’t hug him back. Trying hard not to mind, Mark stood to ruffle