“I’m stuck,” Corabelle said. “He’s going to be down for a little while. I don’t even know where she’d go.”
“Me neither.” Phoenix slipped off the latch, asleep. I shifted her on my arm. “Maybe when it comes down to it, we don’t really know her that well.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Corabelle said. “We hang out with her. We’re friends. But we don’t know anything about her past. Where she’d go.”
“She was doing that painting on that cliff. You think she’d go there?” I asked.
“Darion went there after he checked the hospital. No dice.”
“Where else?” I shifted in the chair in preparation for putting Phoenix down. It was harder to think with her there, as if my jitters couldn’t jitter with her in my arms.
“With Albert gone, I don’t really know who she hangs out with,” Corabelle said.
“What about that girlfriend of Albert’s?”
“Layla hasn’t seen her.”
“Darion would know as much as us,” I said. I pinched the phone between my cheek and shoulder and carried the baby to her swing. I eased her down, holding my breath that she wouldn’t wake.
“I know,” Corabelle said. “He’s all out of ideas.”
I walked swiftly away from Phoenix now that she was down. “Okay, the baby’s asleep, and I can talk better,” I said. “What should we do?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Corabelle said. Her voice was thick. “I’m sick with worry. You know what she did before.”
And I did. I’d seen those scars on Tina’s arms more than once.
I paced my kitchen, closing the cabinet doors Chance had left open before taking off for some meeting. I opened the refrigerator, then closed it again. The sight of food made my stomach turn. “Well, Corabelle, if it were you — where would you go?”
Silence. I sank down into a padded chair by the little breakfast table at the end of the kitchen. My elbow in the pink robe stuck to something sticky, but I ignored it. I had no time or energy to ponder my less-than-glamorous life. We were in full-on crisis mode.
“Corabelle?”
She sighed. Her voice was more distraught than ever when she said, “She’s been talking about her baby a lot. But I don’t really know much about where she’s from or if she’d go back home.”
“No way,” I said. “She hated that place. She tried talking to her parents again after her engagement, but that didn’t go too well.”
“Surely she’ll come back eventually,” Corabelle said. “Shoot, there’s Gavin’s doctor. Gotta run. I’ll call back later.”
The signal cut out.
I set my phone on the table, wincing when I saw the source of the sticky. Something spilled. I didn’t have the energy to get up and clean it right now. Phoenix was getting up twice a night again. Probably a growth spurt or something.
And now Tina was missing.
I made myself stand up again, pulling the furry robe away from whatever had it caught. A bit of pink fuzz stayed behind on the table.
I shrugged the robe off. Into the wash with that. I shivered in the T-shirt with its damp spots in front and my worn yoga pants. They had been stylish at one time, but too many spit-ups and washings had made them nubby and shapeless.
I left the robe on the chair and took my phone to the sofa to lie down. Phoenix was still out cold in the swing. Maybe I could think of something to say to Tina to get her to respond. Surely she was seeing our messages. Just not replying. Too much pain, maybe. She could definitely get into a funk.
“Hey,” I typed.
Profound, Jenny. I backspaced over it.
I tried again.
We’re worried about you. A little shout-out would help us out.
I stared at the words. Self-serving, really. I was already a mother trying to make people feel guilty. I erased them.
Let me know how you’re doing. I care.
That was better. But I didn’t hit send. I needed to get to where Tina was. Losing Albert was just too much. I understood that part.
When Chance’s sister died last year, it really felt piled on. Like there was just too much tragedy getting dumped on us, you know? It can be hard to dig yourself out, but I’ve got a shovel. And even though it might wreck my perfect nails, I know how to use it. Just tell me where to break soil.
That was better. I hit send, then stared dolefully at my wrecked nails. I hadn’t even bothered to do a home manicure in weeks. I glanced around the room. Clothes piled up on the back of the sofa. We mostly didn’t bother changing the baby in the nursery, but had a stack of diapers and a wipe warmer right here on the coffee table.