Chapter 27
June 2009
Gabriel’s mom took him and Justin to the beach for the first time on their ninth birthday. She’d told them it was their special day and had borrowed a car from a friend so that she could bring them to Old Orchard Beach in Maine.
At first, it had been the best birthday that Gabriel could remember ever having. She’d sprung for them to play at a nearby arcade and ride the Ferris wheel. They’d gotten pizza for lunch. And they’d even gone for a swim in the freezing water.
Then they went to a boisterous, festive Mexican restaurant called Tequila Frogs near the pier for dinner. That’s when things started to go downhill with each margarita that their mother ordered. Soon she’d been dancing with one of the other men at the bar and had given them a twenty-dollar bill to go p
