Lost Things by Ann Dominguez

Author:Ann Dominguez [Dominguez, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Ann Dominguez
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Going to Marvin’s Towing was not how I wanted to spend my day off. Had it been up to me, I would have crawled back into bed with Dan before he’d had a chance to slip into the shower—or maybe join him there—and then make French toast for everyone for breakfast, and then I would have read a book. When was the last time I’d read a book? I used to read books. Lots of books.

“Can you take the girls to school?” I asked, toweling my hair dry. A brown blur flashed by, racing through the hallway behind Dan.

He kissed the back of my neck. “Today’s my presentation.” He consulted his watch. “I’m scheduled at nine-forty.”

“How are you getting there?”

“Cab.”

“How much is that going to cost?” We were bleeding cash.

“About sixty, depending on traffic.”

Seeing the strain on his face, I shut up about the money. “You’re going to do great.”

In two hours, I’d have our car back and could drive home with the heat on full blast. And take a nap. It wouldn’t matter then how I’d gotten to Marvin’s, whether it was by cab or Jack’s Jeep or Santa’s sleigh. I dug my Michigan sweatshirt out of the closet and added it to my turtleneck and jeans.

“Look at the flowers on the windows, Mommy!” Molly said. Her fingernail, its purple nail polish half peeled-off, tapped a frost fern on the glass.

“It’s beautiful,” I agreed, though I would have sacrificed such beauty for a double-paned window. My phone rang, but the caller was blocked, so I let it go to voicemail.

We left our departure for the last possible minute. Genie, complaining that “nobody wears hats,” wrapped her head in her hood and two scarves, and I dragged Molly away from the window art. The three of us practically ran to school. No one was playing on the equipment in the yard. Instead, they all huddled by the door like a swarm of bees. Molly spared me a moist kiss, and the bell rang. I turned around and pulled up right before I ran into Jack.

“Hey,” he said. His knit watchman’s cap and Patagonia parka were two different shades of gray, and he looked warm. “How was your shift yesterday?”

“Busy.” Short staffed because he and Lorraine weren’t there.

“Have they fixed the panic button yet?”

“Not to my knowledge,” I said between clenched teeth. There was only so much I could do to keep them from chattering.

“Did you walk? Here, hop in my car—the heat was on. Are you working today?” he asked.

A jumble of discordant thoughts, like the first sounds of an orchestra’s tuning, crashed together in my head. “N-n-o, I’m off.” I wondered what he’d done with yesterday’s conversation about him and Lorraine. Had he stuffed it in a small, mental compartment, never to look at again? That sounded more like Dr. Smith than Jack. Had he dissected my ill-prepared argument and discarded it in pieces, chalking it up to my ignorance, or was he unpacking it in secret? I knew I could have done a better job in explaining if I’d had the time and energy to prepare.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.