Page 65 of The Plus One Professional
I’d been away from home for a day, but it felt like a year. It wasn’t just Bailey on my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking of the kids and Sara. I hadn’t had any updates from them today, and I knew I wouldn’t sleep until I knew they were okay.
I grabbed my phone and prayed my sister wasn’t already asleep. She answered on the first ring, so I knew I hadn’t woken her up.
“Hey, how’s it going?” my sister asked.
“It’s going well. How are you guys doing?”
“It’s quiet here. Carly is at Michelle’s, and the twins wore themselves out at sports day today at school. They crashed out half an hour ago.”
“Carly isn’t home?” My chest tightened, seized with alarm, as I considered going home. It’s not like Carly was an adult, but she was old enough that if something happened, she could handle an emergency. The twins weren’t.
“It’s Michelle’s birthday sleepover. It’s been planned for months.”
I didn’t care how long it had been planned for. If I had known Carly was going to spend the night with her friends, I wouldn’t have left for the weekend. Which was probably why my niece and sister had kept it from me.
“We’re fine. I’m fine. I have my alert bracelet on, and Arthur has been checking in,” Sara assured me.
My mind was still weighing my options. It was nine. If I left now, I could be home by eleven, eleven thirty. The wedding wasn’t until tomorrow evening, so I could definitely be back in time for it.
“Do not make me regret telling you the truth. If you do, I will start lying to you,” my sister threatened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have totrustme when I say I’m fine. It means you better not come back here. It means you need to stay there and enjoy yourself. You deserve it.” Sara sighed. “And, actually, it’s nice to have a little alone time here.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. As much as I wished I had privacy, Sara must want it too. I needed to find us a bigger place—something with more than one bathroom where we weren’t right on top of each other.
She was quiet for a beat before asking, “Are you? Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Bailey’s working, and I’m…I don’t really know what to do with myself.”
“Can’t you just relax?”
“Apparently not.” I’d been in survival mode, always having someone, or multiple someones, depending on me and demanding my time. Without those pressures, I was at loose ends with nothing to tether myself to. Maybe that was part of the anxiety I was feeling. Maybe it wasn’t the thought of Bailey being with Simon that was making me feel like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. “Tell me about your day. Did you get much rest?”
Sara was quiet, which was not like her, and I knew something was wrong.
“What? What happened?!” My mind was already flipping through everything that might have occurred and how much it would cost me. Had she used the Cadillac, and it broke down? Had the boys been destructive and flushed more toys down the toilet, and she’d had to call in a plumber because I wasn’t home? Had Carly left the fridge door open again last night, and we’d lost hundreds of dollars worth of groceries?
“I wasn’t going to tell you until you got home, but?—”
“What? What is it? Do I need to come?—”
“No, no, it’s nothing bad! It’s just that, I was picking up the boys today from school, and we stopped by Dino’s to get a pizza for dinner and…”
I knew what she was going to say before she said it. She’d seen Lindsay. Dino’s pizza had always been Lindsay’s favorite.
She continued, “…I saw Lindsay. She moved back home.”
“I know.”
“Youknow?!” she exclaimed.
“Eric told me a couple weeks ago that Danny ran into her.”
“That’s who she was with! Danny.”
That didn’t surprise me.
