Forging New Paths

Luca wasn't very anxious about the trip, uncertain about what buying a phone entailed besides just paying for it and eager to get to do detective-like things with Garrett and Anthony. Evelyn was with them, so there was nothing to worry about. He tried not to think about what things he could be worrying about, especially things that weren't related to what was happening right then.

When the car stopped at the store, Luca looked at it for a moment, then glanced at Anthony and managed a little nod. "Is it hard?" He hoped it wasn't. Evelyn had made it seem easy.

She gave him a little smile from the front seat even as she opened her door to get out. "I'll be answering some questions for the nice salespeople, but it won't be too hard. You just have to pick a color, that's all. I'll help you get it all set up afterwards. Garrett, you two can wait in the car with Watson if you'd like, or you can come in, up to you. It shouldn't take too long, I hope." She was adding a line to her phone plan and buying a phone, and the card the purchase would be put on was good for it despite the expense. There shouldn't be any big problems to stop them.
 
Anthony scoffed and waved a hand. "Pffft, nah! Buying a phone is easy. I think you're really gonna like having one."

Garrett stretched and arched his back with a yawn. "You know, I think I just might wait in the car for this one. Watson's making a nap look really, really comfortable right around now. And I could go for a few minutes of rest before we get to all the exciting detective work."

"Suit yourself!" Anthony said. He hopped out of the car and grinned at Luca and Evelyn. "I'll come with! I think it'd be a fun time." Plus, in the event Luca had another panic attack, he wanted to be close at hand to help. He hid his mild concern well with his eyes, but Evelyn's insight might be able to pick up on his intentions. Anthony wasn't going for fun. He was going to protect Luca.
 
Luca only made a soft, thoughtful sound at Anthony's response, but was reassured to hear someone else say it would be easy, too. He got out when the others did, overly careful about not touching the car they'd parked next to with the door, and followed Evelyn up to the sidewalk in front of the row of buildings, eyes roving over the posters plastered over the windows.

"All right, grandpa," Evelyn teased lightly before she'd closed her door, "have a nice nap."

When Anthony had joined them, she looked briefly back at him, as if considering for a moment if she should reassure him. His worry for Luca was clear, but she didn't think it was because he thought she wasn't going to take care of their troubled friend. Anthony had a good heart. She didn't need Insight to tell her that part.

"Let's go, boys," she said instead with a little wave to get them trailing along behind her like ducklings, "the faster we get this over with, the faster we get to the lake."

There weren't very many people inside the store, and while they waited for a salesperson to be free for a few minutes she got Luca to poke around one of the display phones as if he hadn't been using hers regularly for the past few weeks. It was easy enough to distract him with it, though she didn't see anything around so far that would quite bother him. The small shop was open and empty enough for that.

"I can help you over here, ma'am," a young man called politely from the counter when her turn had come, raising a hand to indicate he was ready for her with a friendly enough smile. "What can we do for you today?"

"I'd like to add a new phone line to my plan, please," she explained, idly handing an add to Luca while he started to pull up a screen to input her information. "Here, Luca. You and Anthony choose a color from this picture and we'll see if they have it." She would just get him the same model that she had, so they were sure to have all the same accessories and operating systems. Once she'd gotten it set up later, she was sure he would have no problems figuring it out.

Luca, distracted easily enough by the choice, held the ad where he and Anthony could both look at it and tilted his head in thought. ". . . The blue one?" He asked, looking to Anthony as if to see if that was a good choice. He wasn't sure how much he would get to see the color, once it had a protective case on it like Evelyn's, but he liked blue.
 
Garett snorted and stuck his tongue out at her. "I will, thank you very much! Watson and I will have a wonderful nap in the sun. Hmpfh." He reached out to ruffle Anthony and Luca's hair, and then settled back in before locking the doors, putting his seat back, and putting his hat over his face.

Anthony stayed close to Luca the whole time they were in the store. It didn't seem dangerous, but he had to make sure Luca didn't seem uncomfortable or scared. So far, so good.

He smiled when Luca held the ad out to him and nodded. "Looks good to me! I know you like blue, so that'll be a good color for you. Oh! Maybe you could get a blue phone case, too!" he added. He glanced at Evelyn and nodded. Luca seemed interested in getting a phone, at least, so hopefully the event would go well.
 
Evelyn turned her attention back to the boys while the salesman worked at his computer changing around part of her account, a small smile on her face at their interaction. "The blue one?" She questioned, giving Luca a gentle nudge to have him finish making the decision. "I have a purple case you can use to keep it safe for now, but we'll order you a new one once we have it."

Luca considered for a moment longer, but finally nodded and pointed to the picture of the blue phone, sure at least that he liked the color. "That one. And a blue case." Anthony had good ideas. If the phone and the case were blue, it wouldn't matter if he couldn't see it all the time.

"A good choice." Evelyn assured, and turned back to tell the man exactly which phone they wanted. It was in stock, thankfully, so once she had them put a screen protector on it and got it activated they would be good to go.
 
While the group waited for the phone to be ready, Anthony showed Luca how things worked on his phone, since it was the same model. He showed him how to turn it off, turn it back on, send a text, make a call, and search YouTube videos. ". . . And this is an app I just got I'm gonna try tonight. It's called Rain Rain. You pick quiet, gentle sounds you like, and the app plays them at night so it's easier to sleep," he explained.

He made sure to pause plenty of times in case Luca wanted to interrupt with a question or comment. But for the most part, it seemed like he got the gist of things well - probably because he already knew how to use Evelyn's phone, but Anthony didn't know that yet.
 
Luca leaned curiously against Anthony's shoulder as he showed things on his phone, at ease since he didn't have to talk to any strangers or make any more decisions. "Ooh. Like the videos. . ." Evelyn had shown him a lot of things she called background noise on YouTube. He did like listening to them, though they didn't always make it easier to sleep. "Rain is nice."

He poked at a few things when Anthony let him, pressing play on a couple of samples to see what they were like and only cringing a little at the actual white noise. That was bad; he didn't like that one, like a radio was broken and no one had fixed it. Rain and forest sounds were better.

"All right, boys," Evelyn said not long later, after she'd finished with the salesperson and sent the phone off to get its screen protector. "Almost done. Once the phone comes back out, we'll be all ready to go. I'll get it set up for you while you explore the lake." She knew well enough what Luca did or did not like in terms of visuals, at least. She would download a few apps he liked and make sure he had access to her accounts so he could keep reading the books he had started reading on her phone. Once the function of it was ready she would ask him if he wanted any aesthetics changed.
 
It didn't take long for the phone to come out a few minutes later. And after purchasing it and making their way to the car, the group was off to the lake.

Garrett stopped them when they arrived and had them wait in the car for a few extra minutes, telling them not to peek. It took everything in Anthony's willpower not to spy on him through the window from time to time. But eventually he came back, opened the door, and beamed. "All right, everyone! I went out and hid a few fake clues for you all. Seven of them, to be exact. Whoever's interested can go around the lake and try to figure out which clues I've planted, and then we'll go over the signs you used to figure it out."

"Like an Easter egg hunt!" Anthony chirped happily. "I'm in! Luca, want to look together, or work on your own?"

Watson purred and jumped lightly out of the car, leash in his mouth. He padded over to Evelyn and set the leash gently at her feet. At the moment, relaxing in a sun patch on a blanket sounded the best, and Evelyn often had a blanket while outside.
 
Luca was obedient enough, looking at Watson in the car when Garrett told them not to watch him outside. Evelyn, having not intended to take part in the hunt herself so the boys could have all the fun, watched the detective hurry to hide things with a little smile on her face. Even if she hadn't, she was sure it would have been cheating for her to help search for them anyway, given her ability to accidentally intuit their location.

"Easter egg hunt?" Luca asked thoughtfully as he followed Anthony out, thinking he knew what that meant. But did it count of the things were clues and not eggs? He frowned a little, thinking and fidgeting with his hands before finally shaking his head and stepping closer to Anthony. "Together." That wasn't cheating, was it? He liked doing things with Anthony, and it was good to have someone else with him in case he got distracted and missed things.

Evelyn laughed softly when Watson came to get her even as she pulled a bag from the trunk with towels, swim clothes and sunscreen in it, as well as a blanket to sit on and a white parasol to protect herself from the sun. "What a good boy." She praised, crouching to give him a few pets before picking up the leash and carrying the other things in her free arm, used to multitasking. "Let's go be comfy while they run around in the dirt, hm?"
 
Anthony beamed and nodded, reaching out a hand to gently pat Luca's shoulder. "Together. Don't worry, this is meant to be fun and a way to grow our detective skills! Detectives work together all the time."

"That's right," Garrett agreed with a chuckle, strolling over to help Evelyn unpack and so he could join her on the blanket while the boys searched for clues. ". . . Well, the smart ones do. Sorry to say it took me a while before I was willing to try it. But boy, am I glad I did!"

He settled back on the blanket once it was ready and leaned in to whisper to Evelyn. "So I put seven clues out there. Some fresh footprints, freshly buried rocks in the dirt, cracked twigs leading through a bush, a candy wrapper, a muddy handprint on a large rock, a notebook, and some broken and rubbed off tree bark."

Then he blinked, glanced down, and laughed. ". . . Make that eight clues. I'm afraid I've lost my shoe."
 
Luca nodded a little, soothed by both Anthony and Garrett's reassurance and glad to be allowed to have a partner. "What are we looking for?" He asked, a little worried but keeping his voice down like he didn't want Garrett to know he was confused. He wasn't sure what sort of 'clues' were supposed to be outside. Was figuring that out part of the test too?

Evelyn could have prodded at Garrett for being so unsafe for so long, but it wasn't as if she hadn't also worked alone. She still did, technically, though she let Luca tag along on her trips to glean information so he wouldn't be left alone. Her work, at least, was far less openly dangerous than Garrett's.

Once the blanket was all set up and they had settled in with Watson, her parasol propped on a shoulder in a way that shielded most of her from harsh sunlight, she stayed quiet to listen to Garrett's explanation. She might have suggested a clearer end goal for the next time, if there wasn't some big solution they were trying to find already, but was so caught off guard by his sudden realization that she started to laugh instead. The look on his face and the surprise at finding his shoe missing was so unexpected she found herself laughing hard enough she covered her mouth with a hand and turned away from him to try and stop.

"How did that happen?" She asked when she could, shoulders shaking a little still as she tried not to let herself dissolve into laughter all over again. "Why didn't you notice?"

Only you. It had been a long time since she'd laughed like that.
 
"No idea!" Anthony said cheerfully, strolling off through the grass. "Buuuut I do have a few thoughts. One - Garrett wouldn't want us to go far. Whatever we're looking for, it's close by. And two - clues are usually things that are unusual to the surroundings, or things that have changed."

He grinned and ran to a tree. "Like this! Last time we were here, the bark on the tree wasn't torn off like that. I bet this is one of the clues!" He held his phone out and nodded. "You want to take a picture of it?"

Garrett couldn't remember the last time Evelyn had ever laughed like that. Or if she had. It was a beautiful sound, and he smiled widely and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, uh . . . I guess I just got so excited setting the clues up for the boys, I sort of just . . . didn't notice. Anyway, I'm sure it'll turn up. They'll find it."

He chuckled and leaned back against a tree behind them. "And I know they'll figure the clues out. They're smart. Eh, Watson?" he added, scratching the cat behind the ears.

Watson purred loudly and stretched, flexing his little paws.
 
Luca listened intently to Anthony's insight, nodding along and murmuring quietly to himself as his friend started to look around. "Fish out of water. . ." Things that didn't belong. What didn't belong in the woods? Machines?

"Ooh," he said softly when Anthony found a 'clue' trying to retrain his brain to look for less obvious things. He blinked when Anthony held out his phone, but after a brief hesitation did take it and spent a moment finding out where the camera was. When he had it, he took a very careful picture of the missing bark and gave the phone back for Anthony to see. "Is that good?" he asked, though he was distracted a second later by something else on the ground nearby. ". . . Footprints?" Was that a clue, or had someone else just been walking around the lake?

Evelyn shook her head at him, carefully dabbing away a bit of moisture at the corner of her eye, his foolishness almost enough to have made her eyes water. "A little scavenger hunt and your used shoe is the grand prize. How exhilarating."

With a soft, amused sigh, she settled her weight back on a hand, enjoying the gentle breeze and warm sunshine. "I think they'll work well together." Anthony gave Luca a little more confidence, and Luca gave Anthony a reason to slow down. She was glad, now, that they had come upon each other what felt like so long ago. They would be good for each other.
 
Anthony held his hand out to take the phone and smiled. "Here, let me see." He looked the photo over a moment, nodded, and slid the phone back in his pocket. "Yup! Looks good to me. Now, where should we check next?"

He blinked and smiled when Luca mentioned footprints. "Oh! Oh, I see them! Good call, man," he announced. "Those are definitely a clue." He held his phone out again and giggled. "Hey, you wanna be the official clue photographer? You're really good at taking pictures."

Garrett snorted. "My lost shoe wasn't meant to be part of it, but I suppose it's just as well they have something a bit more exciting to find than a candy wrapper." He smiled and nodded when Evelyn decided the pair made a good team. "They're an excellent match. That's for sure." Then his eyes twinkled. "A bit like us, in a way. We bring out the best in each other. You know, not a day goes by where I don't think about how glad I am I met you."
 
Luca smiled a little, pleased, when Anthony praised his finding the footsteps, and a little bit more when he said the pictures were good. He hadn't taken that many, but Evelyn let him play around with the camera on her phone. He didn't really know how to explain what a 'good' picture was lIke, but he did usually know when he'd changed the angle around until he was happy with however the light fell or the shadows stretched.

"Okay," he agreed quietly, accepting Anthony's phone and sure to hold it very carefully so he wouldn't drop it when he got the camera ready to take a picture of the footprints. ". . . Do they go somewhere?" Maybe the way the footsteps pointed were where the next clue was.


Evelyn was ready to agree, proud of the way their boys had found they could work together, but Garrett was always surprising her. She was glad that she had already been looking away from him so as not to be so suspicious turning away too quickly. It was a bad habit, tucking her hair out of the way when she felt shy, but she couldn't help herself. How did he make her feel so warm and yet so uneasy all at once, so easily?

"You . . ." She shook her head a little, a faint dusting of pink rising to her cheeks. "How do you say things like that so easily?" He was so earnest, so honest. She didn't understand how he could wear his heart so firmly on his sleeve.
 
"Oooh! Probably," Anthony agreed. He knelt down to study the footprints, making a note of which way the toe was pointing. "Let's see. These are Garrett's shoes. Looks like he went that direction, and then - oh! Look at that rock, Luca! There's a handprint!" he announced.

He ran over, almost skidding on the mud at one point, and laughed and pointed at the muddy handprint on the rock. "This is Garrett's handprint! It's still fresh. You can see the water dropping off of it."


Garrett ran a hand down the sides of his face, clicking his tongue. ". . . I didn't used to," he admitted softly. "It was very difficult to open up to anyone. My job was always to keep things to myself, to make others open up so I could learn what they knew."

He rolled his hand gently down Watson's side. "But then, when we teamed up to rescue Luca, we had to communicate. I had to open up. Both to help him feel more comfortable, and to talk with you about what was going on so we could work together. And I suppose, over time, it just got easier and easier." Then he chuckled. "Now my problem is learning when to stop talking. But I think it's a better problem than the one I had before. By a long shot."
 
Luca was more careful than Anthony had been, wincing a little when his friend slipped and picking his way carefully over the soft mud on the ground. He took a careful picture of the handprint, smiling a little at the thought of Garrett getting messy, like the time he'd let him touch dirt and sand, and make a mess on the wreck room's carpet.

"New handprints, and footprints. . ." He followed the direction the footsteps had pointed, past the handprint, and looked around for more clues. With a little frown, he walked over to the broken branches and poked at one, wondering how they'd gotten damaged. "Lots of these are broken. . ." Was that a clue, or had something fallen out of the trees? He hoped the birds weren't hurt.


Somehow, it felt like she was standing still. Garrett was moving and growing, and she felt as if she was only watching from a distance rather than walking along at his side. Of all the things she had tried to protect herself from, getting left behind had never been one of them. She'd been so determined to survive on her own, she'd forgotten what it felt like to have others around that cared, or that she cared for.

". . . I used to be afraid of strings." She said quietly, her parasol tipped down carefully down as if she couldn't bear to let him see her, knowing how silly it would sound out loud, knowing how looking him in the eye might make her voice shake. "I had to stand up on my own - if I reached for someone's hand, there would always be strings attached, more and more until there were so many I couldn't move on my own anymore." Too many and she would become tangled, waiting for someone else to pull the strings that would bring her forward, or set her free. Somewhere, buried in sketchbooks she kept hidden even from herself, she'd drawn it once or twice, and couldn't stand to look at it afterwards.

"Until I found him," she pressed on before he could stop her and tell her how foolish it was, before she could lose the nerve she'd finally found to make herself speak, "until I met you, I'd forgotten the real problem. Not avoiding them entirely, but finding the right kind of people, with the right kind of strings. . ."

It was painfully childish out loud, she thought with not some little amount of shame at having spoken at all, but it was the only way she had ever been able to describe it to herself. She'd had just enough of the wrong kind of strings, she'd become afraid to ever reach her hand out to someone again.
 
Anthony hopped back to his feet and followed after Luca, where he knelt down by the broken branches and nodded. "Oooh! I woulda walked right by these. Good eye. See how they're all kinda in a pile, though, and not even close to the tree they came from? This has Garrett written all over it. I think it's a clue! Go ahead and take a pic, Luca!"


The detective blinked in shock. At first, without context, it sounded like Evelyn was afraid of strings like those made with yarn or twine, and he found himself supremely confused and couldn't hide the expression crossing his face. But then she carried on and explained what the real difficulty was.

Getting ensnared by people, and used for her gifts. He thought he understood, at least a little bit, and his gaze softened before he scooted closer to Evelyn and smiled. "I think the right kind of strings are the ones that connect people, instead of entangling them," he said at last. "Strings like caring for Luca, sharing cocoa, visiting the aquarium." He paused thoughtfully for a moment, and then gazed out at the lake. His hair whisped across his face, and he set his hat aside next to Watson, who had fallen asleep and was purring. ". . . I want to make it clear that our relationship, whatever it becomes, won't be a string. Whether we're just friends, dating, or anything else, I will still be here for you and Luca. You have my promise."
 
Luca was careful to angle the phone so that he could get the whole trail of sticks in the picture, and only once he was crouched down doing it noticed something colorful at the edge of his vision. Curious, he wandered over to look at it and considered it with a frown. ". . . Trash?" He asked Anthony, looking bewildered. It was a wrapper from candy he'd seen Garrett eat before, but he wasn't sure if that meant it was important or if it was just there. Other people ate that candy too.


She wasn't so good with words. Garrett was so free, saying whatever it was that was on his heart and hardly batting an eye. When she tried to do the same she only felt strangled. She could never say what she meant, and she felt weak for not being able to force herself to do it. It was good, she thought, that Garrett was practiced at figuring out puzzles.

When he moved closer to her she had to bite down on the instinct to run. Carefully, with tense and almost shaking hands, she changed her grip on her parasol until she could use the hand closest to Garrett to take hold of his, briefly squeezing a little too tight before simply hanging on. "I know," she said softly, unable to look at him still. ". . . I know."

Somewhere in her head she knew he was too good to her, that he would never turn into the things that haunted her - but some days she couldn't kick the instinctive fear, felt a familiar urge to isolate herself swelling in her chest when he looked at her with something like adoration in his eyes. It was unfair to him. She had to be better.

". . . I promised Luca I would get his phone ready for him," she said softly after a pause, taking a slow breath for calm and briefly freeing her hand from his to get the new phone out and set it in her lap where she could manipulate it without touching it, then a bit more hesitantly clinging to him again. She didn't need him, a traitorous part of her wanted to insist. But wasn't it part of life, to need someone? She hadn't felt the urge for it in so long, she'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
 
"Hey! One of Garrett's favorite candy bars!" Anthony replied cheerfully. ". . . Well, it was one of his favorite candy bars. Looks like he ate it and left the wrapper. But that's definitely a clue!"

The pair quickly found the rest of the clues as well. On the way back, Anthony paused and squinted at a bush, raising an eyebrow. ". . . Hey. Does that - that looks like a shoe! Is that a shoe?!" He glanced briefly at Garrett. Then he burst out laughing. "Luca! Garrett put his entire shoe in the bushes! Look, his is missing!"


Garrett smiled gently. And when Evelyn gave his hand a tight squeeze, he squeezed back, just enough so she felt he was returning the gesture. He wasn't sure what might happen between them. He was hopeful, but he didn't want to get too ahead of himself.

Eventually she changed the subject to Luca's phone. Garrett nodded and was just about to move his hand away as well - but suddenly Evelyn reached for it again. His heart fluttered, and he smiled and gently twined his fingers with hers. "Right. Phones can be a bit tricky while getting set up, in my experience. Let me know if you need any assistance."
 
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