Shane faked a look of surprise back.

Carmen disappeared around the hallway and Shane turned back towards the door.

“Shay come on, please just open up. Carmen is going to get the toolbox to take the hinges off the door. She doesn’t even know what a screwdriver looks like. Please don’t make me suffer through that.”

More silence. Just as Shane was about to give up, she heard a click on the other side of the door.

She looked up in surprise and tried the handle—it opened.

She slowly opened the door as Carmen rounded the corner with the toolbox in hand.

Carmen set the toolbox down and they both entered the little boy’s room.

“Shay?” Shane said.

They couldn’t find him. He wasn’t on his bed or sitting on the floor, where the hell could he have gone?

Just then they heard a muffled noise coming from the closet. They walked over and opened the door. Shay was sitting in the corner of his closet on top of a pile of dirty clothes. He had his head buried in his arms.

Carmen sat down next to him and wrapped her arm around his petite shoulders—he immediately tensed up.

“Shay can you look at me?” She said. “Shay, come here.” She snaked a finger under his chin and lifted it up to look at her. He trained his eyes on a spot on the wall and refused to make eye contact. His face was red and he had tears on his cheeks. Shane grabbed a tissue from his bedroom and gently wiped them away.

Shane took a deep breath and lowered her face to his level. “Shay I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I understand that you’re not ready to stay somewhere else. I get that—I really do. I just didn’t understand it before is all. Can you please look at me?”

Shay didn’t take his eyes off the wall and he was still tense under Carmen’s arm but after a minute or so he responded. “I don’t want to go to Max’s at night.”

Shane exhaled and looked at him. “I know. I get that. You don’t have to do something you don’t want to do. I honestly thought it could be fun—you seem to like him and everything so I thought you’d enjoy getting to hang out with him for a whole night.”