21. Josh

       I was starting to get really worried. I was watching Guinevere at the time of the explosion and ever since then, I hadn't seen Cassidy. I had to leave Guinevere with Cleo while I went to go help out at the city hall and check everyone's injuries and I thought Cassidy would have picked up our daughter by then, but she didn't.

       I had no idea where Cassidy was. I tried calling and texting her, but I wasn't getting a single reply. It was like she completely disappeared, and she left Guinevere behind.

       And that was really making things bad with Guinevere. It had been a few days, and she was wondering where her mom was, and I had no idea what to say to her.

       Most of the time, I tried taking her mind off of things by putting a movie on for her, or taking her for walks around the village and right now, we were walking over to go visit her uncle. Guinevere almost immediately got along with Holden after she found out he was her uncle, so she was really excited to go see him, especially since she hadn't seen him after the explosion occurred.

       As soon as we got to Shaw's house, Guinevere was the one to ring the doorbell. As soon as Shaw opened the door, I said, "We came to visit Holden and see how he's doing."

       "Perfect timing since he just woke up from a nap," Shaw said before gesturing for us to come inside. "Holden, Josh and Guinevere is here."

       "Yeah," I said. "She really wanted to see her uncle Holden."

       Guinevere ran over to Holden, who was laying down on the couch. "Hi, Uncle Holden!" she said happily.

       "Hi, Gwen," Holden said. "How are you?"

       Guinevere's happy state immediately turned sad as she sighed. "I'm sad. I miss my mommy."

       "Where is she?" Holden asked.

       "I don't know," Guinevere said. "I haven't seen her in ages."

       Shaw looked at me and gestured for me to follow him away from Holden and Guinevere, so I did. "Cassidy's her mom, right?" he asked and I nodded. "Where is she?"

       "I honestly have no idea," I said. "I haven't seen her since before the explosion happened."

       "You don't think she was in the city hall, do you?" Shaw asked.

       "No, she wasn't," I said. "The police and paramedics did a full search after the first was out, and nobody was left in there. And I was there checking out people's injuries, and she wasn't one of them. I've tried calling and texting her, but I wasn't getting a single reply. She completely disappeared."

       "What kind of mother would disappear and leave her daughter behind?" Shaw asked.

       "The same one who disappeared five years ago by faking her own death," I said. "Honestly, it doesn't even surprise me. I thought she changed, but I guessed not."

       And I couldn't believe I was conflicted between Cassidy and Cleo. Cassidy hurt me by faking her own death for reasons she still hadn't told me. Not to mention she tried killing Joel. I couldn't believe I was wiling to overlook that just because of my feelings for her in the past.

       Cleo had always been the one for me, and it took Cassidy abandoning her daughter to realize it. And although I want Guinevere to have her mom, I also hoped Cassidy wouldn't show up with out some sort of explanation.

       My cell phone suddenly rang, so I pulled it out of my pocket to answer it since it was my boss. "Hello?"

       "Josh, hi," she said. "I know you're not scheduled to work today, but do you mind coming to the hospital? Not for a shift, but because one of the patients have requested to see you."

       "Yeah, sure," I said. "I'll be there soon." When I hung up, I looked at Shaw. "I have to head to the hospital for a bit. Would it be okay if I leave Guinevere here?"

       "Of course," Shaw said. "My kids are going to be dropped off her any minute, so she'll at least have some people to play with."

       "Thank you," I said before walking over to Guinevere. "Gwen, I have to head out for a bit. Are you okay staying with Uncle Holden and Shaw?"

       Guinevere's bottom lip curled into a pout. "Will you be long?"

       "No, I won't," I said. "I'll be as fast as I can. And Shaw's kids will be here soon, so you can play with them."

       "Okay," Guinevere said before giving me a hug. "Bye, Daddy."

       "Bye," I said.

       However, before I left, Holden stopped me by saying my name. "Do you think you can talk to Mom and Dad sometime soon? I'm still mad at the way they've been treating me, but... I don't know, I kind of wished that would at least see how I'm doing. They haven't talked to me since I moved out."

       "Of course I'll try talking to them for you," I said. "I'll do that after I come back to pick Guinevere up, so she could then see Julian and Noah."

       "Thanks," Holden said.

       "No problem," I said.

       I left the house, then headed to the hospital. I was wondering which patient requested to see me. There wasn't anyone there that I really knew, and I wasn't close enough to any of the patients for them to want to see me.

       I guessed I would see when I got there.

       As soon as I got there, I headed to the receptionist to see if she knew who wanted me to visit them. She did, and gave me the room number. I thanked her before heading over there, and I was even more confused when I saw the patient's name on the door.

      Brody.

      I walked in, but I stood by the door once I caught a glimpse of him. He must have been in the city hall during the explosion because he was in really bad shape with the burns and cuts all over his body, not to mention all the machines he was hooked up to.

       His eyes were closed, so I knocked on the door. As soon as he opened them and looked at me, I walked over and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I'm so confused on why you wanted to see me," I said. "This isn't about Cleo, is it?"

       "No, not that," Brody said, his voice sounding really weak. "Well, not really. I just... I know she's not going to let me back into her life, so I really need you to make sure she and our daughter gets treated well."

       "Yeah, of course," I said. "Where's all this coming from? You didn't seem to care about them before."

       Brody sighed. "That was before the explosion happened. I almost died. People change when they have a near-death experience. Have... have the police found out who cause it yet?"

       "No," I said. "All they know was that it was intentional. But they have no leads whatsoever."

       "I have a lead," Brody said.

       "You do?" I asked. "What is it?"

       "Well, it's not really a lead," Brody said. "I know who caused the explosion and I know the motivation behind it. The person who caused it knew your brothers were going to be in there."

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "So... They wanted my brothers to die? Why? Who has something against my brothers?"

       "Not against your brothers," Brody said. "Against you. She wanted to tear your family apart."

       "What?" I asked. "Who?"

       "Cassidy."

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:O le GaSp ThAt Is QuItE sHoCkInG. :O :O :O :O

lol

and because shaw and holden were mentioned, and because my starry heart is breaking, let's insert a gif:

idk if i used that one yet since i haven't updated this/posted a sholden gif in a while

now i miss starry *sobs in french* At least the creator does like them together. And Ste's actor was rooting for them. SO I HAVE HOPE.