One More Last Chance

by Cathleen Armstrong

  For Chris, who towered head and shoulders over the motel-owning mayor, it was more of a medium-five, but he accepted her congratulations with a wide smile.

  “I mean it,” Rita continued. “There hasn’t been anything this big in Last Chance for I don’t know how long. Not since I’ve been mayor, anyway.” She turned to the band, who had come in behind her. “And you gentlemen were a big, big part of it. I know people out there tonight who don’t even think ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is done right unless Waylon Jennings or somebody sings it, and you just had them eating out of your hands.”

  “Yeah, you guys were great. I can’t thank you enough for taking your weekend and coming down for this.” Chris shook hands with each of them.

  “There’s something I haven’t told you.” Rita looked from Chris to Carlos, pausing to build suspense. “I contacted the food editor for Western Home and Garden magazine, and he came. He was out there, and he was having a good time too. I could tell.”

  “Why didn’t you say something? I would have stopped to talk to him.”

  “You did talk to him. You made him feel as welcome as you made everyone else feel. He had to leave, but he said he’d call you in a few days if he had any questions.”

  “What did he eat?” Carlos had joined the conversation.

  “Sorry, Carlos, but I think he had the chicken.”

  “Aw, man.” Carlos turned back to the kitchen. “Now Western Home and Garden’s gonna think we don’t even know what color mole’s supposed to be.”

  “Chris? Sorry to interrupt.” Sarah stuck her head in the door. “We’re getting ready to leave, and Gran wonders if you’d like her to take Olivia home with her. It’s getting late, and you could pick her up on your way home.”

  “No, I appreciate the offer, but you all have done way more than your bit today.” Chris smiled his thanks. “I won’t be much longer. Just send her on in.”

  “She’s not in here?”

  Chris looked around. “No. The last time I saw her was when I stopped by your table.”

  Sarah looked over her shoulder into the nearly deserted dining area under the canopy and back at Chris. Her face was twisted with apprehension. “She got antsy about half an hour ago and said she was going to come inside and color. You haven’t seen her?”

  Chris stood stone still a moment, trying to make sense of what she was saying, then pushed past her as he ran out the front door. “Livvy? Olivia?” His voice grew more frantic as only silence answered him. “Olivia! Olivia!”

  His shouts caught the attention of a few diners walking to their cars, and they turned back to see what the problem was. Carlos went out the back door, Sarah checked the restrooms, and soon everyone had fanned out calling for Olivia.

  Finally Elizabeth stated the obvious. “She’s not here. I’m calling the sheriff.”

  A few minutes later, she turned from the phone. “Ben wants to talk to you.”

  Ben Apodaca’s questions were terse and few. When was the last time anyone had seen Olivia? What was her exact height and weight? And most gut-wrenching of all: Had Chris, or anyone, noticed anyone watching Olivia or talking to her? Finally, he told Chris to just sit tight. He’d get this information out there and be right over.

  “You know, nine times out of ten in cases like this we find the kid has just found a good spot and gone to sleep,” Ben said. “You check every inch of the diner, and I’ll swing by your place to make sure she hasn’t got herself home somehow. I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes.”

  Nine times out of ten, Ben had said. But what about that tenth time? Chris headed for the door.

  “Chris, wait, I’m coming with you.” Sarah ran to catch up with him. She put her hand on his arm and looked up into his face. “We’re going to find her, and she’s going to be all right. Have faith.”

  Someone had come up with flashlights and he could see their beams sweeping over the vacant lots and reflecting off the darkened windows of closed stores. Ever so often, he heard Olivia’s name called off in the distance, but there was never an indication of any answer.

  Ben pulled up in his patrol car about ten minutes later, and Chris met him when he opened his door. Ben just shook his head. “Let’s go inside.”

  Once they did, he continued. “Okay, we need to know who was here tonight. Do you have a list or something?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a reservation list. I’ll go get it.” While Chris went into the kitchen for his list, he could hear Rita talking to Ben.

  “I made a point of talking to every single guest. I wanted to find out how they heard about us and why they decided to come. I bet I can come up with their names too, if I see that reservation list.”

  Chris handed her the list, and while she and Ben went over it, he went and stood in the doorway and looked out into the night. It was so dark. And Olivia was so little. Where was she?

  As if she could read his mind, Elizabeth stood beside him. “You know, Chris, wherever Olivia is right this minute, God has his eye and his hand on her. She’s not lost. We just need to pray for her protection.” Chris nodded soundlessly, and Elizabeth prayed.

  Time just seemed to stop. Chris could not have said whether minutes or hours had passed. Ben left, saying he’d stay in touch. One by one the flashlights went out as it became painfully clear that wherever Olivia was, it wasn’t here. Lainie prepared a big pot of coffee and made sandwiches as if she had never left the Dip ’n’ Dine. And Chris paced. Then he sat on the edge of a chair and bent his head over fists clasped so tightly his knuckles were white. Sarah sat next to him, hand lightly rubbing his back, praying with him.

  The phone rang just before midnight. Chris, pacing by the front door again, froze. Carlos, who was closest to the phone, answered it. He listened for a few minutes, said a word or two, and then hung up. He smiled at Chris and gave a big thumbs-up. “They found her. She’s okay. She hid in the backseat of some folks who came over from Deming. They didn’t even know she was there till they got home. She about gave ’em a heart attack when she sat up. Ben has gone to get her. He’ll bring her to your place, so I guess we can all go home now.”

  Without realizing he was even doing so, Chris looked for Sarah, and when his eyes found hers, he opened his arms and she walked into them. She all but disappeared in his embrace, and while he struggled to control his tears, Sarah didn’t even try, and he could feel her sobbing in his arms.

  19

  Chris was waiting on the porch of his mobile home with his hands in his pockets when Ben stopped his patrol car in the drive. He ran down the steps as Ben got out and opened the back door for Olivia. As soon as her feet touched the gravel, Chris snatched her up in his arms, holding her head against his shoulder with one hand and inhaling the sweet, soapy, sweaty fragrance that was Olivia.

  “Don’t you ever, ever do that again,” he murmured into her hair. “Never. Do you hear me? Never.”

  “She’s in pretty good shape for a stowaway.” Ben slammed the back door of his car and leaned against it. “By the time she’d gotten herself to Deming, she was rethinking the whole operation and was ready to come home. We had us a good talk on the way back, didn’t we, girl?”

  Olivia nodded against Chris’s shoulder and sniffed. She had grabbed his neck in a vice-like grip and had yet to let go.

  Shifting Olivia’s weight to his left arm, Chris reached past her to grip Ben’s hand. “Thanks. I just . . . Thanks.”

  He stopped to clear his throat, and Ben just waved as he walked around the car and got back in. “Glad it worked out like it did. You stick close to home from now on. You hear me, Olivia?”

  She nodded again without looking around, and Chris stood in the drive until Ben’s taillights faded into the distance before carrying Olivia inside. He sat down on the sofa with Olivia in his lap and tenderly pried her hands from around his neck. When she still would not meet his eyes, he gently raised her face until she was looking at him.

  “What were you thinking about, running off like that?�
�

  She just shrugged and looked away.

  “Where were you going?”

  “Florida.”

  “Oh, Livvy.” He held her close and gently rocked her in silence for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke. “You know, I think that the moment that I knew you were gone was absolutely the worst moment of my life. I was so afraid.”

  She leaned back so she could look up at him. “You were afraid?”

  “Honey, I’ve never been so scared. All of the bad things that could have happened to you just filled my head all at once. I couldn’t think. I could hardly talk. All I knew was that you were gone, and I didn’t know where you were.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice was tiny.

  “Just promise me that you’ll never, never do that again, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Were you going to Florida so you wouldn’t have to go back to school Tuesday?”

  She nodded against his chest.

  “Well, it’s not going to be easy, I’ll give you that. But I have a message from Miss Juanita for you.”

  “I know. She said I needed to be good, like Emma A.”

  “No, that’s not what she said at all. First she said to give you a big hug, so here’s a hug from her. Then she said, I think, that you should just go in there with your head held high, and not let anybody get you down, and decide you’re just going to be good like Olivia.”

  She looked up at him again. “Really?”

  “Really. At least I think that’s what she said. It’s kind of hard to know just what she means sometimes.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She leaned against his chest again.

  He rocked her in his arms, feeling her body gradually relax against him, and listened as her breath slowed to a measured rhythm. When he was sure she was asleep, he carried her back to her room and laid her on her bed. She didn’t wake up when he took off her shoes, and for a long time he sat next to her watching her sleep. In repose, she had no anger in her face, no defiance, no suspicion. She was just a seven-year-old, like any other. He ran a finger over her cheek and kissed her forehead before quietly stepping out and closing the door behind him. If only there were a way to see that expression of childish innocence and vulnerability when Olivia was awake—but he was afraid it was gone for good.

  Chris leaned against the counter in his kitchen cradling a mug of coffee in his hands and watching the sun crest the mountains in the distance and flood the desert around his mobile home with light. Last night, when Olivia was still gone, he had given himself until dawn to find her before he called her mom in Florida. He hadn’t even been able to articulate the unthinkable to himself. What in the world would he have said to his sister? But it was dawn now. And Olivia was asleep in her own room. Thank you, God.

  “I’m still dressed.” Olivia wandered down the hall, frowning down at her jeans and T-shirt as if she’d never seen them before.

  “Well, you fell asleep before you got your pajamas on. Want some orange juice?”

  She shook her head, curled up in a corner of the sofa, and closed her eyes again.

  “Come on, Livvy.” Chris poured the juice anyway and set it on the counter. “You need to wake up. You have to shower and have breakfast and get ready for church.”

  She gave a whimper of protest and flipped so her face was buried in the back of the sofa.

  “Liv, come on.” He walked over and gave her a light swat on the seat of her jeans. “Get up.”

  She sat up and brushed her hair from her face. “Is everybody going to be mad at me?”

  “Nobody’s going to be mad. In fact, I’m pretty sure everyone’s going to be very glad to see you. We were all really worried.”

  She didn’t say anything, and he sat in a chair across from her and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Why’d you do it, Livvy?

  She wouldn’t look at him. “I was trying to find my mom.”

  “Florida’s a pretty big place. Finding her might have been hard. Do you think we should talk to her and tell her you want to come live with her?” Sending Olivia to live with her mom and that Jase guy under who knows what circumstances would all but kill him, but keeping a little girl from her mom might be even worse. What did he know, anyway?

  Olivia looked up and met his eyes. “But I don’t want to live in Florida. I want her to live here with us. I was going to go get her. But not Jase.”

  Chris nodded. Maybe Olivia had something there. Although if Last Chance wasn’t ready for a simple menu change, he was pretty sure it wasn’t ready for Kaitlyn Reed. “Well, you can ask her about that when you talk to her next time.” He reached for her hand and tugged her to her feet. “You know we’re going to have to tell her about your little trip to Deming, don’t you?”

  “Why?” Olivia slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.

  “Because she’s your mom. And she cares what happens to you.”

  Olivia didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. The cynicism in her face said it all. Chris opened his mouth to contradict her but closed it again. What would be the point?

  He set a skillet on the stove. “So, scrambled eggs sound okay for breakfast?”

  They ran into Elizabeth Cooley and her family in the church parking lot, and Olivia was passed from one to the other for gentle scoldings and hugs. Olivia bore it all with the slightly jaded expression Chris had learned she used to cover the discomfort of too much attention. But when Elizabeth held her at arm’s length and just looked at her, Olivia’s face crumpled, and Elizabeth enveloped her in a big hug and whispered something in her ear. Olivia stood with arms at her side until Elizabeth let her go, then slipped her arm around Elizabeth’s waist.

  As they walked toward the front door of the church with their arms around each other’s waists, Sarah and Chris fell in behind them.

  Sarah let Elizabeth and Olivia get far enough ahead to be out of earshot. “So, did you find out what this was all about?”

  “Yeah. She was going to find her mom.”

  “Poor kid. Was she running away because of the suspension?”

  “Well, actually, she was going to get her mom to come back with her and yell at everybody.”

  “What?” Sarah laughed.

  “I heard the whole story over breakfast. It seems no matter what trouble Olivia ever got into, her mom took her side. Teachers, neighbors, other kids’ moms, Kaitlyn took them all on. And knowing Kaitlyn like I do, I can see her doing it.”

  “You know, that does explain a lot.”

  “Yeah, well, the plan was for Kaitlyn to come yell at Emma and Sue Anderson, Mrs. Martinez, and even you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, for taking her to the principal’s office in the first place, but since you had been so nice to her, Olivia was planning on sticking up for you.”

  “Good, I guess.”

  Elizabeth and Olivia as well as Lainie and Ray had already gone inside by the time Sarah and Chris reached the church steps. He stopped and looked down at her. “I am so out of my league here. Did I let Olivia down by not standing up for her more? I mean, my feeling was that she had broken the rules and had to suffer the consequences. Should I have done something different?”

  “Nope, I can’t think of a thing. You don’t need to stick up for someone to stand by them. And as far as I can see, you are right there with her—no shame, no blame.” She took his arm as they mounted the steps. “And for my part, Tuesday I’m starting a unit on verbal bullying called ‘Words Can Hurt.’ Think that will get me off the hook with Kaitlyn? I really hate getting yelled at.”

  The pianist had just begun the introduction to the first hymn when Sarah and Chris entered the sanctuary. Down front, in the third pew on the left, Olivia sat between Elizabeth and Lainie. Sarah slipped into a spot near the back and Chris followed her. He found he liked standing next to her in church, and when she found the page in the hymnbook, he found he liked holding one side while she held the other. He really liked the fragrance of the curly dark hair at his shoulder, and wh
en they sat down, he found he even liked her absorbed expression as she listened to Brother Parker.

  Even those who had arrived at church not knowing about Olivia’s midnight trip had learned of it by the time the service started, and a small group gathered around Elizabeth and Olivia after the benediction had been pronounced. Chris could see the top of Elizabeth’s head, and before she was blocked from his view, he could see Olivia standing next to her, Elizabeth’s arm around her shoulders.

  “Makes me think of my first Sunday.” Lainie and Ray had worked their way though the crowd and had joined them in the back.

  “Yeah, as I heard it, you had quite a little crowd gathered around you too.” Ray grinned.

  “Why?” Sarah stepped out of the aisle so people could get by.

  “Well, I hadn’t been to church in, like, ever, and I was mad that Elizabeth was making me go, so I thought if I put on some really short shorts, she’d let me stay home.”

  Sarah laughed. “Wrong.”

  “Yes, well, I found that out the hard way. But Elizabeth did just what she’s doing now. She stood beside me, just as pleasant and sweet as she could be, introducing me to people. She didn’t say a word about what I was wearing and almost dared anyone else to. She is one amazing lady.”

  “See?” Sarah turned to Chris. “That’s what I mean about standing by someone without excusing conduct. Gran has made it an art form.”

  “Here you all are. I wondered where you had gone.” Elizabeth, her arm still around Olivia’s shoulders, joined them. “Chris, why don’t you and Olivia come have dinner with us? We have plenty, and we’d love to have you.”

  Chris looked down at Olivia, who had left Elizabeth’s side and come to lean on him. Her eyes drooped. He smiled and shook his head. “I’m afraid I need to get Livvy home. I think a nice quiet afternoon, with maybe a nap, is what we both need. I thank you, though.”

  “Another time, then.” Elizabeth patted Olivia’s back. “But you’re probably right. It doesn’t cure everything, but there’s not a whole lot that doesn’t look better after a Sunday nap.”