how could this be

Noah expected his mom to be more mad at him than she was at Jonah.

"You know, what you expect of him." Noah reminded her. "Its me you should be furious with." He watched her make breakfast. She flipped the fried egg with ease. He missed her cooking.

"No, actually, just be mad at me. It is all my fault. Everything." Josie wanted to take the blame.

"Really, we were only trying to do the right thing." Noah felt helpless. He didn't even know what to do in his own kitchen. At the moment he looked far to young to be a father of anyone. No make-up. No hair dye. His emo days were in the trash, so to speak. He might of looked all of 12.

"Its that brother of yours." She gave Noah a sharp look. "I can't wait to get my hands on him. He is as reckless as he ever was.' She snapped.

"Mom," Noah squinted, trying to bed. "He's not that bad. Really, he's not."

"He's such a foolish bastard." She was in a huff.

Noah couldn't believe she said that. His Mom said bastard. What other bad words did she know? In the next breath she said the word fuck when she burned herself.

Noah's eyes lit. He couldn't believe it. His mom said the F word. What had they done to her? What was going on with her?

Josie went to the bathroom to get something for the burn.

"Mom, is something else going on?" Noah wanted to know.

"No, I've been trying to find you two for months. I have no idea what's going on. I go to the cops about you two. I do everything but hire my own detective, which I almost did. I almost hired one." She was practically in tears.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry." Noah thought he might cry to, but she served him breakfast instead.

"I wonder if I'll ever see your brother again." She was in tears this time. He could see. And Noah felt awful that Jonah had done this to her. If only his brother knew what he'd done. Noah was getting on his cell now and making Jonah come over.