by Kay Shostak
“Let me,” I say and, being Savannah, she can also read minds.
“You’d call her, but you don’t know where your phone is, right? Here use mine.”
“My phone is somewhere,” I mumble as I dial.
“Hey Missus, it’s not Savannah. It’s Carolina. Has Anna stopped in to see you this morning?” When she says no, I shake my head at the kids.
Will takes a deep breath and goes into the kitchen, saying, “Mom, I need your keys. Where’s your purse?”
Missus is shooting questions at me, and I can overhear FM shooting questions at her. I jump into their questions. “There’s no need to get all upset. She’s just not here. But she’s obviously somewhere. We just have to figure out where that is. I’ve got to go. Y’all go to the bookstore and check with Patty.” And I hang up.
Savannah grabs her phone from my hand and runs up the stairs, shouting at her brother. “Don’t leave without me. I’ll be dressed in two minutes.”
Will comes out of the kitchen and hands me my purse. “I can’t find your keys in this. You’ll stay here, in case she comes back?”
“I guess. But aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves. She maybe just went for a drive. Or to get something to eat. Being pregnant is confusing and, well, hard.”
Will’s dark eyes are scared, and he keeps licking his lips and running his hands up and down his arms. “Yeah, I bet that’s it. I’ll get my wallet and phone. I need to call work.”
In the bottom of my purse I find my keys and my dead phone. Maybe she’s tried to text or call me. But when I plug it in on the kitchen counter, nothing comes up. By the time I’ve called Jackson and explained everything to him, the kids are back downstairs and heading out the door. “Wait!” I call after them. “Check Peter’s, too.”
Will has calmed down, and now he’s thinking. “Yep, I thought of that. We’ll get on the way, and I’ll make a few calls. She might’ve gone to school, even.”
Down on the sidewalk, Savannah grabs her brother’s arm. “Wait, is her phone off? What do you get when you call it?”
He walks past her, shrugging off her hand. “She forgot it. It’s upstairs still plugged in.”
Savannah drops her hand and looks back at me. “She didn’t take her phone?”
Now, I often forget to take my phone with me out of sheer forgetfulness. But if someone under twenty doesn’t take their phone, it’s not because they forgot it.
It’s because they don’t want to be found.
All the things I didn’t get done yesterday have all been done in record time today. The kitchen sparkles because I was tied to that area while my phone charged. Now it’s in my pocket as I make trips between the B&B rooms and the washer and dryer downstairs. Usually I hang the sheets on the line, but I don’t get a good signal out in the backyard. So, everything had time to wash, dry, and I’ve made up the final bed with clean sheets. Still no one has heard from or seen Anna.
The police have been notified and are looking for her, too. Of course, the police looking isn’t really official due to the whole 48 hour missing thing. However, one benefit of living in Chancey, a call from Missus makes things official. But there don’t seem to be any leads. She just drove off. We don’t even know when that was. Last anyone saw or heard her was when Will left their room to sleep in Bryan’s around 11:30. Now folks are running out of places to look.
Savannah and Will are at the campus right now. Security has searched for her car there, and they are on the lookout for her, but I think Will just needed something to do. Missus and Peter are doing a good job of rattling cages at the police station, and while the Atlanta media isn’t interested yet, they are wanting to be kept up to date with any developments. Right now everyone is calm; most likely this drama will all be over any minute. Any minute. Yep, any minute. Then the next thought is, But this is how every missing person case starts.
Through the living room window I watch a car pull into our drive, and my heart jumps until I realize its Laney. She pulls several bags from her back seat, so I open the front door and hold it for her. “Figured y’all needed some food. Didn’t really want to bring it because you know we’re going to be a laughing all about this mix-up just any minute now. But, well, food is always good.”
The bags are from a BBQ place out in the country. She puts them on the table and then heads back out again. “I’ve got a gallon of sweet tea, too.”
When I open the door for her to come in, she just hands me the gallon of tea.
“No, I’ve got things I need to get done. Anna will be back soon, I’m sure of it,” she says all this as she’s walking down the sidewalk, and when she gets in her car, she never looks back at me. Just wiggles her fingers from the steering wheel before she turns to cross the tracks.
“Now that was strange,” I say as I move things to make room in the refrigerator for the tea. Making sure my phone is in my jeans pocket, I go upstairs to look in Anna’s room one more time.
There is still nothing there to tell me anything. Her purse is gone as well as her tennis shoes. The clothes she wore last night to FM and Missus’ are gone, so we know what she’s wearing. Her school books are stacked on the dresser, and her backpack is in the corner. She didn’t take her duffel bag or any of our suitcases. Car doors outside make me run out to the hall and down the stairs. At the bottom, I meet my kids, all three of them, along with Jackson, Peter, and FM coming in the front door.
Jackson hugs me, and for the first time I feel like crying. “Hey there. Figured we’d all come back here to put our heads together. I took the rest of the day off. Laney told Savannah she was bringing some lunch by.”
“It’s in the kitchen,” I say and reach out to hug FM.
He mumbles in my ear. “Why would she do this? She has to know she’d scare us all half to death,” he says. “You’ve not heard from her either?”
“No, just been here waiting. I’m sure she’s off thinking, and she’ll be home soon.”
“Yeah,” he agrees with a nod. “You know she plum forgot her phone. I’m gonna strap it to her wrist when she gets home.”
Peter tries to grin at me over his father’s head. “Hey, Carolina.” As FM wanders on into the kitchen, Peter lowers his voice and says to me and Jackson. “It worries me she didn’t take her phone. She’s been upset lately, didn’t you think so? She wouldn’t say much of anything over the weekend, when we were at the house. And I know she was not happy with Mother. What was going on in her head?”
Jackson tightens his lips and shrugs. “No clue. She was awfully quiet last night.”
“Yeah, but I just thought once we got past the wedding, and they got settled back down in your parents’ house everything would be fine.”
Peter nods. “Mother says she loved the renovations.”
I grimace at that. “Well, I don’t know that she ‘loved’ them. Like Jackson said, she didn’t say much of anything all night.” It occurs to me that one Mrs. Shermania Bedwell is not with us. “Where is your mother?”
Peter sighs. “She’s at the house. We kind of got into it. She thinks this is all because she didn’t take a strong enough hand with Anna. To quote her, ‘Let her roam around town and move here and there. Her wedding being turned into a Gertie sideshow.’ She seriously thinks she’s been too laidback.”
Jackson rubs the back of his neck. “She was anything but laidback last night.”
“Really,” I agree. “She was downright dismissive anytime I asked even a simple question. We just have to find Anna and let her know we aren’t going to stand for her grandmother acting like that anymore.”
Peter takes a step toward the kitchen, but turns his head to speak only to me and Jackson. “And I’ll move heaven and earth to get my house ready if they would rather live with me.”
“With the ghost?” I stammer.
Jackson looks exasperatedly from me to Peter. “Please tell me you two haven’t started this ghost thing up again.”
Peter moves on into the kitchen, and all I do i
s shrug. “Are you hungry?” I ask as I move past him. Just as I reach for one of the tubs of barbeque, Will’s phone rings.
He looks at the number, shakes his head and frowns to say he doesn’t recognize it, but still answers. Suddenly he stands up. “Okay. Okay. That’s fine.” He listens for a bit and then adds, “That’s good. Tell her I love her. Thanks.” As he pushes the end button on his phone, the air leaves his body, and he sinks back into his chair.
“She’s fine. That was Miss Linda from the cafeteria at school. Not here. Athens. At UGA. Anna’s with her.”
He takes a long drink of his sweet tea and grins. “She’s fine. Oh wow. I can’t believe how relieved I am.”
Jackson had moved behind him, and now he places his hands on his oldest son’s shoulders. “She went all the way to Athens?”
Peter nods. “She’s mentioned Miss Linda. She went to her church before her mom died. Is she the lady that got her the job in the cafeteria where you met her?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have Miss Linda’s number or anything. I’d called a couple of the girls that were here last fall to keep an eye out for her, but I didn’t really think she’d go there. Not great memories with her mom dying and all.”
Jackson pulls his keys from his pants pocket. “Want me to drive you over, and you can drive back with her?”
Will leans back, lifting the two front legs of his chair off the ground. “No, she’s staying over there a few days, apparently. Miss Linda says she just wants to be by herself and think.” He straightens up, and his chair bangs on the floor. He looks at the table. “Doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”
No one says anything, then Will says what we are all thinking. “But guess that mostly means she doesn’t want to talk to me, huh? Probably means she didn’t just forget her phone, right?”
Savannah bumps her big brother with her shoulder. “She’s tired and confused. Less talking will probably be good for her. Just let her have some space.”
Bryan, mouth full of barbeque and bread, adds his wisdom. “With girls, if they don’t want to talk, best to just not talk.”
As we laugh, we also reach for our phones to spread the good news. Will picks at his plate, then stands up and stepping around his father, opens the back door.
“Let me,” I say as I move to follow him outside.
Blue sky stretches without a cloud to break it up. The green of the grass and leaves attempts to match the sky’s dominance. It’s a two-tone world with the spring colors gone and the dryness of summer not a reality yet. Will stands in the grass at the bottom of the deck’s steps. When I close the door, he turns to see me and smiles, saying, “I’m just so relieved, yet…”
I pat his back and put my arm around his waist.
“When I kept telling people she was missing, I’d say ‘Anna’s missing,’ but then at work or up at the school I’d have to say, ‘My wife is missing.’ I don’t think I’ve said ‘my wife’ so many times in the entire time we’ve been married.”
“Honey, you’ve not been married that long. And you had no time to get used to it before you were married.”
“What if we made a mistake? Anna’s been so sad lately and wondering that. Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten married.”
“It’s a hard choice, but before you found out about the baby, did you think you wanted to get married? I mean, we didn’t even know you were seriously dating.”
He walks away from me and down toward the garden. He stands there looking out to the river. A small breeze ruffles his hair, and I wait. Then as I’m waiting, I realize what I’m really doing. I think I’m praying. And realizing that, I lean into it. Let it happen. Okay, so I’m praying. Me, by myself, no one leading me or making me or any of that. My eyes stay open, and I can feel love pouring in the direction of my son standing ten feet away from me. Then I feel that same kind of love surrounding me. Okay, so this is praying. Peace. A feeling of acceptance. Okay.
Okay.
He turns around to me and he’s grinning. “Yeah, you know what, I think I did want to be with her her before the baby. I did. I knew at Christmas. Watching her with everyone else, all the kids from school and Savannah’s friends and our families all being here. I remember thinking she was the only one I wanted to hang out with when things got crazy.” He walks to me.
“And when I went back to school and she stayed here. She’s who I wanted to talk to. I don’t think I knew I was falling in love, but I couldn’t see anyone else.” He hugs me extra tight. “Thanks, Mom. I’ve got to go call Miss Linda. Whatever Anna needs to do is fine by me. She’s my wife, and I’m here for her.” He jogs up the stairs and yanks open the door, then slams it behind him.
Me? I’m left with all that blue and all that green and that prayer thing.
I’m a pretty lucky woman.
Chapter 42
“So why is Peter hanging out at MoonShots?” Savannah asks as she drops her keys on the kitchen table and ambles over to where I’m mixing a batch of brownies.
“I didn’t know he was. Here, hold the pan for me to pour this in.”
She sticks her finger in the batter and licks it. “Jordan’s still married, right?”
That makes me raise my head from my work. “You think it’s romantic? Jordan and Peter?” Then I remember the blue dress. After scooping the last of the batter into the pan, I pick up the bag of chocolate chips. “I did see them together recently. All dressed up. Sprinkle some of those marshmallows on top, too.”
With the extra chocolate and marshmallows spread out, the pan is ready for the oven. I’m not really a good cook, but I’m a darn good enhancer. Fluffer. Add-to-er. Buttered crackers, potato chips, toasted pecans, or chocolate chips and marshmallows. Throw any of them on top of what you’re making and it looks like you know what you’re doing. Fake it ‘til you make it. And if you’re good enough at faking it, you never actually have to make it. (This is where I’d put a winking smiley face if I was typing.)
Savannah takes a handful of marshmallows out of the bag before putting the wired tie back around its opening. “What’s all this cooking for?”
She’s talking about the big pot of eggs boiling on the back burner, the brownies, of course, and the platter of boiled chicken breasts. I pick up the platter and take it to the kitchen table as I explain. “It’s for Missus’ family reunion after Decoration Sunday. We are officially in the family now, since Will and Anna got married.”
“And this Decoration is the thing out at the cemetery, right?”
I sit down at the table and begin shredding the boiled chicken. “Yep. I’ve been assigned deviled eggs, brownies, and the chicken for Missus’ chicken salad casserole. She doesn’t trust me to make her casserole, just boil the chicken. She probably thought she was insulting me. But I refuse to be insulted with less work.”
Savannah slides into the chair across from me, one leg tucked underneath her. She still has on her deep purple MoonShots shirt, and it brings out the dark area under her eyes. She has an olive undertone in her skin like me and my father. It gives us under-eye circles when we’re tired, but also lets us tan without burning. Nothing is all good or all bad.
“So, Jordan and Peter?” she asks. “They were all dressed up? Where were they going?”
“I don’t know. It was one morning last week. No, wait, it was this week. Monday morning.” I sigh and shake my head. “Anna missing on Tuesday made this week seem like forever, but it’s only Friday.”
We neither one say anything, but we’re not actually silent. Finally I ask, “Have you talked to her? Or has Will said anything?”
She gets up from her seat and pulls a banana off the bunch in a bowl at the other end of the table. “No. I told Will to tell her she could call me, but she hasn’t. Will says she’s fine. You?”
“No. Missus hasn’t talked to her either, but FM has. He said she’ll be home this weekend for Decoration.”
She eats her banana, I shred chicken, and the clock on the wall ticks.
Folding the
banana peel up to throw away, she asks again, “So, about Peter and Jordan?”
“Why are you obsessed with Peter and Jordan?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. He comes in and just kind of sits there and drinks coffee. Jordan comes out and sits with him, but they don’t talk loud enough for us to hear.”
“Us?”
“Well, whoever’s working. It seems odd to all of us.”
“But not in a romantic way?”
“Mom. He’s way older than her. He’s like fifty, right?”
“No, he’s only forty-five.”
“You say only because you’re forty-six.”
“How old is Jordan?”
“She’s almost thirty,” Savannah says, wrinkling her nose.
“Really? I guess I thought she was older than that. Not that she looks older, but she’s had a career and the kids. Have y’all heard anything more from Diego or his mother?”
“I guess he wasn’t too happy about his mother coming down here like that. He was overseas, and she just came down to rub Jordan’s nose in everything, apparently. He’s coming down soon, and Jordan says he’s not leaving without her.”
“I know she’s ready to get home to the kids.”
“Whatever.” Savannah has lost interest and stands up. “This is Ricky’s last weekend before going off to school for the summer semester, so we’re going out tonight, probably out to the lake with some others.” She throws the peel into the garbage and moves toward the door into the living room.
“Is he excited?” I ask.
“Not really. He needs to build up his legs, they’ve told him, and so he needs to work out a lot, and he also has almost a full course load, so he can take a light load in the fall.”
I can feel in the air that I have maybe one more question. Kind of like at a news conference when the President starts moving away from the podium and one more question gets thrown out—and answered.
“Are you going to miss him much?” I don’t turn to face her, acting like it’s thrown off the top of my head. Just sitting here deboning chicken and passing the time. Her not saying anything catches me off guard. She’s really thinking about it. Maybe they’re more serious than I was thinking. “It’s understandable if you miss him. You’ve been dating him almost a year…” I say as I look over my shoulder.