“I switched shifts with this girl who needed her afternoons free. So now it’s every Monday and Thursday from four till eight. They let me leave a little early tonight because of Thanksgiving.”
“You’re such a good girl. I don’t know how you do it.” Mary stroked her granddaughter’s long brown hair. “It must be so depressing.”
“You’d think it would be,” Michelle said, “but it’s actually not.”
“So, how did everything go?” Peggy asked. “They were serving a turkey dinner for the residents and their families,” she told everyone.
“It went well,” Michelle answered. “Everyone seemed to enjoy it.”
“Enjoy being a relative term,” Steve said, “considering everyone there is at death’s door.”
“Well, you won’t catch me going to one of those places,” Mary said. “I intend to die at home.”
“Who are you kidding?” Steve downed the balance of his wine. “You have no intention of dying. Ever.”
“Oh, darling.” Mary laughed, and Caroline found herself wondering if her mother would have been so amused had she been the one to make that remark.
“Well, thanks for everything you’re doing,” Peggy said to Michelle.
“And thanks for joining us,” Mary added. “I was afraid your father would insist you spend Thanksgiving dinner with him this year.”
“They’re going to Diana’s parents’ house for dinner. Besides, they understand that I always spend Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandma Mary.” She hugged her grandmother and Mary responded by throwing her arm around Michelle’s tiny waist with genuine affection.
Caroline understood that their closeness was the result of the bond that had been forged between them in the months after Samantha’s disappearance, when Caroline had been unavailable, first physically and then emotionally, and she hated herself for being jealous of their obvious connection.
“I’d say such good deeds deserve to be rewarded,” Steve said. “Perhaps a glass of wine…”
“Perhaps not,” Caroline said quickly. “She’s not allowed any alcohol.”
“Oh, come on. It’s Thanksgiving.”
“Yes. And we’re very thankful she’s not in jail.”
“Nice one, Mother,” Michelle said.
“Was it really necessary to bring that up?” Mary asked.
Caroline lifted her own glass of wine. “Well, we all know how I get when I drink.”
—
“Well, that was a nice evening,” Michelle said, following her mother into their house and closing the door behind her.
“Yes. Dinner was lovely.”
“Grandma Mary’s such a good cook.”
“How would you know? You hardly touched a thing.”
Michelle gave her mother a look that Caroline was only too familiar with. “I ate plenty.”
Caroline said nothing. She was too tired to argue.
“You were pretty quiet all night,” Michelle said.
“Sometimes it’s safer that way.” Caroline headed for the stairs.
“You’re not going to bed, are you? It’s not even nine-thirty.”
“I’m tired. Your grandmother takes a lot out of me.”
“Ever think you’re being too hard on her?”
“No,” Caroline answered honestly. “Never.”
“Well, I think you are.”
“Ever think you’re being too hard on me?” Caroline had no wish to continue the conversation. All she wanted to do was climb into a steaming-hot bath and crawl into bed. “Are you staying here tonight?” she asked when she felt Michelle’s footsteps on the stairs behind her.
“Don’t you want me to? I can go to Dad’s if you’d prefer.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you implied.”
Caroline stopped at the top of the stairs. “Michelle,” she said, her patience evaporating. “Please. Do what you want.” She turned and walked down the hall toward her bedroom. Stepping out of her shoes and unzipping her gray slacks, she left them lying on the floor as she crossed into the bathroom, her bare toes burrowing into the plush carpet. She reached into the claw-foot tub and turned on the hot water, watching the steam fill the room, mercifully coating the mirror over the sink and blocking out her reflection. She pulled her white sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor, then unhooked her bra and removed her panties, watching her underwear float toward the small mint-green bath mat. She was climbing into the tub when the phone rang.
Quickly wrapping a large green towel around her torso, she returned to her bedroom and answered it.
“Don’t hang up,” the voice said before she could speak.
Caroline sank down on the bed, her heart pounding. “Lili?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Where were you? I flew to Calgary, waited all day and night…”
“I know. I wanted to come.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was on my way. Then, I don’t know…I just chickened out.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what? That you’d be unmasked as a fraud?”
“I’m not a fraud.”
“What, then? That we’d take the test and you’d find out you were wrong?”
A second’s silence. Then: “That I’d find out I was right.”
“I don’t know what to say. You’re the one who contacted me…”