He answered distractedly. “Hello?”
For a moment, there was only static and the faint rustle of movement.
Then came a little boy’s voice, thin with fear.
“Dad?”
Rowan was on his feet before his mind fully caught up.
“Micah?” he said. “Why are you calling me from another phone? What happened?”
The boy sniffed hard, trying to hold himself together in the determined, heartbreaking way children do when they’ve already been brave for too long.
“Dad… Elsie won’t wake up right. She keeps sleeping and she feels really hot. Mom isn’t here. We don’t have anything left to eat.”
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