Our chores were long since done. I warmed up the lasagna for our dinner and we ate in relative silence—each of us lost in our thoughts. We three had just tried killing some time playing a board game, but it really wasn’t fun without mom. She would always get us laughing at something and we would get so lost in the fun we wouldn’t even care who won. But tonight, with just the three of us all so competitive and tense, it didn’t feel like the same game. We gave up an hour ago.
I was working on a puzzle, Alik was reading about the Civil War (again) and Evan was calculating triple digit multiplication problems in his head then checking his answer with a calculator. Yeah, he’s scary smart.
Just when I located the last of the “edge” pieces, I noticed the clock. Mom was late. She was supposed to have called to check in by now. Sensing a change in my demeanor, Maze looked up at me with those beautiful yellow eyes. I didn’t want to say anything and worry the boys so I pretended not to notice the time and kept working. But now I couldn’t concentrate. I kept glancing up at the clock—trying to be inconspicuous. Pft. I’m horrible at keeping things from the boys. They can’t keep anything from me either. It’s like we have this sixth-sense about what one another is thinking and feeling. Sometimes it’s helpful. But times like now, it’s irritating.
“Why hasn’t mom called?” Alik asked.
“Maybe her flight was delayed,” Evan responded logically. I promise you, it’s as if that kid is a walking computer. Sometimes I wonder if I got all the emotions and he got all the brains. He rarely got upset; he was too pragmatic for such things.
“She said she’d call us at seven. She’s really running late. It’s nearly eight o’clock now.” I spoke my thoughts as they came to me. “I hope she’s all right.” Now that I had started, it was difficult to control the flood-gate of worry I’d been holding in. “Would someone call us if she was hurt? How would they know where to find us? Oh my goodness, what if mom’s hurt and in the hospital and they know her name, but they don’t know she has children. Mom has no family for them to contact besides us. She would be all alone in that bleached white sterile room shivering cold with tubes sticking out all over her…”
“Meg, you have to stop reading those paperback suspense novels. You’re overreacting just a smidge, don’t you think? Mom’s flight was running late and she had to hurry to her dinner conference. I’m sure that’s all that happened. She’s probably going to call us at 8:30 to make sure we’re all in bed.” Evan was calm and logical. It was maddening.
Alik stayed silent and turned a page in his book.
I tried to shake the mental pictures that blossomed into my mind’s eye. Darn it, I had too vivid of an imagination. It was helpful sometimes, but not tonight. Tonight, I was feeling very on edge, and if the boys were being truthful about it, they were too. Mom was never late. She was meticulous about punctuality, organization and planning. She would have found a way to keep her promise to call at 7pm even if they were circling the city waiting for a storm to pass, or something. She would have found a way. There were phones on planes. It would have taken one swipe of a rarely used credit card into the back of the seat in front of her and punching ten little digits to call us. Something was wrong. Mom would never have allowed her promise to be broken unless something stopped her from keeping it. Something bad happened.
All three of us, suffering with unspoken worries, watched the second hand fly around the wall clock. At 8:25 we headed upstairs to brush our teeth, softly so we could hear the ringing of the phone over the schwish-schwishing of our toothbrushes. But the phone didn’t ring. We all knelt at the side of my bed and prayed together, quietly, listening. But the phone didn’t ring. We gave one another a quick “goodnight” before dragging ourselves to our bedrooms, lying quietly in bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening for a phone that still didn’t ring.
Chapter 5 Check Out Time
He spared no expense. He hired the best. This collection was going to happen perfectly.
She was being followed this very moment. Leaving the airport in a taxi, she was headed directly to the hotel in which she had secured reservations. Everything was unfolding perfectly.
Very soon, she would be right here. She’ll be coming home; full circle. He chuckled to himself at his play on words as the metallic spheres danced in his hand.
Chapter 6 The Phone Call