One

      “Kevin?” Jolene Campbell whirled and stared at the empty playpen in disbelief. For half a second, the facts failed to register. It couldn’t be. She’d just put him down a minute ago. She’d been talking to a customer and she’d glanced over and he’d been there. He’d been there!

      But he was gone now.

      One side of the soft foam playpen was smashed down and she knew right away her adventurous eighteen-month-old had found a way to escape. He’d been working hard on the project lately, but she’d thought she would notice if he...

      Her heart was beating quickly, like a bird flapping in her chest, but she still wasn’t panicked. He had to be close by. She’d seen him only a minute ago.

      The customer tried to hand her his money to pay for the German Chocolate cake she’d boxed for him, but she didn’t even notice, brushing right past him, leaving her booth along the side of the street unattended without a second thought. She had to find Kevin.

      The Thursday San Rey Farmers’ Market was popular and people filled the closed-off street, milling back and forth in clumps, making it very hard to see a pint-size child wandering between the legs of the adults.

      “Have you seen Kevin?” Jolene called to her friend and roommate Mandy Jensen who ran the soft pretzel machine.

      “Kevin?” Mandy looked up and down the banner-filled streets. Booths selling everything from freshly picked arugula to wildly painted garden elves met her gaze, but no little boy. “No, I thought you had him in the playpen.”

      “I thought so, too,” Jolene called back, but she was already hurrying, rushing, and panic was beginning to lap at the edges of her sense of control. Her long, blond braid hit her back as she went, bouncing off one shoulder and then another as she turned her head to search out every cranny she came upon.

      “Have you seen a little blond boy coming by here?” she asked a complete stranger, not waiting for an answer when the woman looked at her blankly. Turning, she ran to the other side of the street. “Have you seen a little boy?” she called out. “My little boy is missing. Please, please, have you seen him?”

      Someone grabbed her arm and she turned to see that it was Mandy.

      “I’ll take this end of the street,” her friend told her, waving back toward the center of town. “You go the way you’re going. We’ll find him, Jolene. Don’t you worry.”

      “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry.” The words pounded in her head but she couldn’t quite grasp what they meant, because worried was all she was right now. Kevin, his sweet