She watched him disappear down the hallway, then locked the classroom door behind her, trying to shake off unwelcome stirrings of guilt. Clearly, something was bothering the boy. Just as clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it. What was she supposed to do? Sit on him? Force the truth out of him? Still, maybe with a little more prodding, a little more patience…She’d try again tomorrow, she decided, proceeding briskly to the parking lot.
Within minutes she was on the San Diego Freeway headed toward Mission Bay. At ten minutes to four, fully twenty minutes after she was supposed to arrive, she pulled up in front of Michelle’s school to find her daughter, in the company of an older student, sitting on the school’s outside steps, one knee sock up, the other curled around her ankle like a sleeping snake. Only ten years old and already she’d perfected her grandmother’s look of world-weary disappointment. Caroline reached across the front seat of her black Camry and pushed open the passenger door.
Michelle waved goodbye to the other girl and sauntered down the steps. She climbed inside the car and pulled her seat belt into place without so much as a glance at her mother. “You’re late,” she said.
—
“You’re late,” the receptionist echoed as Caroline approached the counter. Caroline felt a roomful of disapproving eyes fall squarely on her back. The waiting room, a large, pleasant space shared by three dentists, was crowded, the red plastic seats lining its white walls almost all filled.
“Sorry. The traffic was really bad.”
“Dr. Saunders took another patient ahead of you. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.”
Caroline nodded and retreated to a corner of the room where there was one empty chair. She sat down and Michelle promptly jumped into her lap. “Whoa, easy there,” Caroline said.
“What’s the matter?” Michelle asked.
“Nothing. You’re just getting pretty heavy.”
“Am I fat?”
“No, of course you’re not fat. Who said you were fat?” Although there was no denying Michelle’s propensity for junk food and sweets. It was a taste she’d developed in the aftermath of Samantha’s disappearance, one indulged by her grandmother, who was always plying her with high-calorie treats. Caroline had been reluctant to say anything to either of them, reasoning that Michelle was just a child and her mother was, well, her mother. She knew this was a convenient rationalization, but she lacked the stamina to take on either one of them. A loud chewing sound suddenly reached her ears. “Is that gum in your mouth?”
Michelle’s shoulders slumped as her eyes rolled toward the ceiling.
“Spit that out. You’re at the dentist, for heaven’s sake.”
Michelle released a huge wad of pink bubble gum into the palm of her hand. “What do I do with it?”
Caroline looked around the room for a wastepaper basket but found none. “There’s a bathroom down the hall.” She gently pushed Michelle from her lap and rose from her seat. “Come on.”
“I can go by myself.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“It’s so embarrassing. You never let me do anything,” Michelle said, loud enough to attract the attention of everyone within earshot, which was pretty much everyone in the room. “I’m not a baby. I’m a big girl.”
“Just give me the gum and sit down,” Caroline said, her face flushing, as if a brush fire were racing through her veins. She wrapped the gum in a tissue and approached the receptionist. “I’m sorry. Do you have somewhere I can put this?”
The receptionist held up the wastepaper basket at her feet without speaking and Caroline dropped the tissue inside, sure that all eyes were upon her. But when she glanced around the room, she was relieved to see that most of the people were either engrossed in books they’d brought with them or browsing through the office’s collection of out-of-date magazines.
A blond woman in a pale pink uniform entered the waiting room from one of the inner offices. “Mrs. Pearlman?” she called toward a middle-aged woman sitting next to the door. “Dr. Wang will see you now.” Mrs. Pearlman promptly dropped the magazine she’d been reading onto the small table beside her and followed the pink uniform toward the inner offices.
Caroline immediately sat down in the freshly vacated chair, its seat still warm. Just as quickly, Michelle got up from her chair on the opposite wall and plopped down on her mother’s lap.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
Caroline reached to the table beside her for a fashion magazine and handed it to Michelle. “Here. Read this.”
“Mommy, look!” Michelle exclaimed, pointing at the table, her eyes as round as circles.
Caroline stared at the stack of old magazines with mounting horror. There she was on the very top of the pile, standing ramrod straight at Hunter’s side, the familiar picture having been taken during the course of their press conference in Rosarito. FIVE YEARS LATER, blared the headline of the magazine dated last November. WHERE IS SAMANTHA SHIPLEY?