“She’s elderly,” said Hadley, practically spitting into the phone. “Believe me, I looked this up. You’re supposed to be helping us.”
Piper was leaning against the bookshelves and gnawing on a cuticle. She grimaced at me, then whispered, “She’s been arguing with this guy for ten minutes now.”
“That’s not like her,” I whispered back. Hadley didn’t argue; she moved forward with her plan and expected everyone else to follow suit. Maybe because of that, they did.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like Mom to pull a Gone Girl,” said Piper.
“Thank you!” huffed Hadley. “That’s only exactly what I’ve been asking all along. Good. Okay. Please call the minute you know anything.” She sighed and tossed the phone on the sofa. “They’re going to send a patrol car out to look for her.”
“They don’t even know what Mom looks like, do they?” I said.
Hadley plopped down beside her phone. “I dropped off a picture earlier, right after I got done pumping.”
Now that was more like Hadley. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d already posted “Have You Seen This Woman?” fliers all over the city. Meanwhile, I’d taken the better part of the day to get back to where I was supposed to be all along. Daughter of the year over here. “Thanks. Hey—I need to tell you both something. Josh already knows,” I said, and he nodded. “Mom and I got in an argument.”
“We know,” said Piper. “That’s why you took off for Ann Arbor.”
“No, there was another one.”
“What happened?” asked Piper.
“Well, we argued about the first argument.” My voice was quavering.
“Which was about . . . ?” asked Hadley. I still hadn’t told them about Reggie, nor did I intend to; it wasn’t my place.
“About something that happened long ago,” I said. “Like I told you, you’ll have to ask Mom if you want more detail.” Assuming we can find her, I added mentally.
“That’s super weird, Laine,” said Piper.
“Maybe you should tell us,” said Hadley. “What if your argument has something to do with where she went?”
I shook my head. She hadn’t wandered off to New Jersey to look for Reggie—not when it seemed like she didn’t consistently remember that he’d moved. That had nothing to do with it. This was about me implying I didn’t want to take care of her.
“Why did you leave, Laine?” said Piper, looking at me suspiciously.
I sighed. “Without getting into the whole thing, when I saw Ben last week, I learned some things that I had to bring up with her. Which led to our argument.”
“So it wasn’t about you and Josh?” said Piper, looking back and forth between us.
“No,” I said.
Josh cleared his throat. “There’s probably no good time to tell you both that Laine and I are really getting divorced.”
Piper looked like she was on the verge of tears. “You are?”
“Yes, but Josh will always be a part of this family,” I said, looking at him.
“Which is why I’m here.” When he turned to me, he didn’t need to say a word for me to know what he was asking. I nodded.
“Laine wants to have a baby, and I . . . I wasn’t ready,” he told them. “I’m still not sure if I am.” It hurt to hear him say this out loud, but it was a relief, too.
“Laine!” yelped Piper. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I didn’t want you both to try to convince me to make it work with Josh,” I explained. “I’ve decided I’m going to do this on my own.” It was a shame that I wouldn’t be in stirrups in another day or so, finding out whether or not my body was up for the job.
“Laine deserves to have what she wants,” said Josh.
Why did he have to go and say that? Getting what I wanted was what got us into this mess in the first place. “Listen,” I said, “we really need to split up and look for Mom more, before it gets dark.” It was close to dinnertime, and the sun would stay high in the sky for several more hours. I wasn’t sure those several hours would be enough, though. “I just wanted you both to know that I’m the reason she went missing.”
“Oh, Laine,” said Hadley with a heavy sigh. “I love that you’re always thinking about everyone else. But believe me when I say that Mom disappearing has everything to do with her and nothing to do with you. It’s time to let that idea go.”
I met her eye. “With all due respect, Hadley, it’s time for me to start taking responsibility for how my actions impact others.” My mother hadn’t done that when she’d told me not to get involved with Ben. If anything, that was a lesson for me. Maybe she’d made the wrong choices—but I still had time to make the right ones.
We were just about to head out when Ben rang the doorbell. I’d been texting back and forth with him on the drive to Michigan, even though it was a little weird to do so with Josh right next to me, and he knew she was still missing. All the same, I was surprised to see him standing there, holding two coffees. My head was pounding, and I felt the most terrible combination of tired and wired. But seeing him standing there made me feel a little better.
“Hey,” he said. He looked kind of bashful. “Thought you might want a little fuel,” he said, passing me one of the coffees. “And maybe some help finding your mom?”
“I’d love that,” I said. “Thank you. Let me check with—”
Just then, Hadley, Piper, and Josh came barreling out the front door.
“Hey,” said Ben.
“Ben,” said Piper, hugging him. “It’s been way too long. How are you?”
“Hey, Piper,” he said with a smile. “Good—thanks. It’s great to see you, though I wish it were for a different reason. Hey, Hadley,” he added. Then his eyes landed on Josh, and he quickly extended his hand. “You must be Josh.”
Josh shook it. “And you must be Ben.”
My eyes flitted back and forth between them, wondering what their first impressions were, and whether this was as weird for them as it was for me. I still hadn’t told Josh that Ben and I had stopped being friends because we’d nearly become more. After all, it was irrelevant to our divorce. And yet, in spite of my family’s predicament, just having Ben close to me was making me feel warmer than the weather warranted. And I knew that sooner or later, I owed Josh the longer version of the story.
Ben smiled generously. “I am indeed. I was just telling Laine I’d be happy to help you all search for Sally. If you want, of course,” he said, but now he was looking at me.
“The more people, the better,” said Hadley. “Why don’t we divide and conquer?”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. I looked at Piper and Josh, who were standing side by side. They were both subtly leaning toward each other. I couldn’t help but think that meant something, even if they didn’t realize what they were doing. I was surprised to find out that it didn’t bother me all that much. “Why don’t you two take the car? Had, you can make the rounds at all the places Mom might have gone. Ben and I will walk through the streets, see if we can spot her.”
“Smart,” said Hadley. This was the ultimate compliment from my Ivy-educated sister, and admittedly, I felt so pleased that you’d think she’d just handed me the Nobel Peace Prize. “She’s on foot, so she couldn’t have gone far.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Great. Everyone have phones?” said Hadley.
We all nodded.
“Let’s do this,” said Hadley.
The three of them scattered immediately, leaving me and Ben standing on the stoop. He put an arm around my shoulder and squeezed me. “You going to be all right?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “Definitely not until my mom’s home safe. But I’m glad you’re here.”
He wasn’t tall like Josh, so when he turned to look at me, we were already face-to-face. And as I looked into his warm brown eyes, I felt almost exactly like I had three decades earlier when he’d ambled over to my stoop. Seen.
“Me, too, Laine,” he said. “In times like this, you really need a friend.”
TWENTY-SEVEN