“I just ran all the way home.”
My hands began to tremble. “What happened to him?”
“I didn’t know for years. The search started the next day,” Barry continued. “Police everywhere. Helicopters. People asking questions.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Karen cried.
Barry looked at her with guilt written all over his face.
“I was scared,” he said. “I thought they’d blame me. I kept telling myself maybe he’d make it home. But deep down, I knew something had gone wrong.”
“What happened to him?”
“When I turned 19, I ran into one of the older boys, now a man, at a gas station. He tried pretending he didn’t remember anything. But I shoved him against a wall and told him I wanted the truth. That’s when he finally admitted it.”
My heart pounded.
“He said your son slipped. The rocks gave out under his feet.”
Karen let out a broken cry.
“They panicked and ran,” Barry finished.
My chest felt hollow.
“That’s when he finally admitted it.”
Barry continued speaking.
“I lost control after that. All those years of guilt hit me at once. I started swinging at him. It was so bad that the police showed up. I got arrested. I spent the next several years in and out of prison.”
He exhaled slowly.
“While I was locked up, I met another inmate,” he continued. “It turned out he’d been one of the older boys at the quarry that day. He’d been carrying the same guilt for years. He started studying spirituality inside. Said he’d finally forgiven himself.”
My head snapped up.
“I lost control after that.”
Barry sighed. “Before he was released, he helped me face everything I’d been running from. When I got out, I started looking for work. That’s when I saw the name of your store.”
He glanced at me carefully.
“You knew it was mine?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I applied because I wanted to tell you the truth. I just didn’t know how.”
Karen looked at him through red eyes.
“You knew it was mine?”
“So you lied instead?” she accused.
“I tried to say it many times,” Barry said. “But when I got close, I froze. I’m sorry.”
No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, I pushed back from the table.
“I need some air.”
