Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
CARLIE
Chad’s late-night call blended into another one that lasted through the day, so when he got back late in the afternoon, I sent him to bed and stayed with the girls. I’ll have the whole day off in a couple days anyway, and besides, this is what he pays me for. Still, the girls are happy to see their grandma, Shelby’s mom, when she stops by that evening.
“Hi,” she says, smiling carefully at me, even though the girls are hanging off her arms. The genes in this family are strong. She has the same light blond hair as the picture I saw of Shelby and of the girls, though this woman’s has the faded look that comes with age.
I recognize her from a few of the pictures on Shelby’s phone, which is about all I gleaned from it. The girls knew the very basic password, so they probably played on it a lot. No state secrets on that thing. No texts explaining where she was going, and way too few photos. It’s alarming how few pictures of her and Chad there are on that phone. I’ve already taken more with Law in the short weeks we’ve known each other. It strengthens my theory that Shelby had another phone.
“You must be Mimi.” I give the woman a genuine, welcoming smile. Law says she’s been hesitant to overstep with Chad, given what Shelby did. “I mean, I know that’s not your actual name …”
She laughs, some nerves falling away in the few seconds it lasts. “No. I’m Liz, but you can call me that or Mimi, whichever you think is best. You don’t mind that I just stopped by?”
“Of course not. Chad’s upstairs sleeping. He had a long night and day, so the girls haven’t seen him much. They’ll be glad to spend time with you.”
She relaxes even more. “I brought dinner. I left it in the car just in case you’d already started something.”
I reach out and squeeze her arm. “That’s so great. We were just going to do boxed mac and cheese tonight. I’ll go grab it for you.”
She beams and nods, and I hurry down the steps toward her car. When I glance back, she’s already bending over, smiling and laughing with the girls. They’re ecstatic.
There’s a casserole dish in an insulated bag sitting on the passenger seat. I grin. When she’d said she’d brought dinner, I’d expected takeout, but she actually brought real dinner.
I basically chill while Liz takes care of dinner and the girls. Her face is alight with joy with them, and I can see that she hasn’t gotten to be with them near enough. Should I talk to Chad about that? I still haven’t even found a way to bring up if he’s talking about Shelby with the girls. But the girls are happy, and so is Liz. I’ll just have to force myself to ask Chad if it’s okay if I invite Liz over more.
The opportunity comes sooner than I think. As Liz is reading with the girls after dinner and getting them ready for bed, Chad comes down in his scrubs. Liz stiffens as she looks up, then looks to me.
“Liz brought over dinner, and the girls seemed really happy to see her,” I say in explanation.
He nods, forcing a smile. “That’s great. Thanks, Liz,” he says.
She relaxes a little and gives him her own forced smile. She goes back to reading with the girls, but she keeps glancing up as she reads.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask Chad, walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
“Is it quick? I’m sorry, I just got called back in.” He put his hands in his pockets, tilting his head as he watches Liz and the girls through the opening of the hallway. He smiles, and I take that as a good sign.
“Yeah, I can be quick. I just want to ask if you’re okay with the girls spending more time with Liz. They were really happy to see her, and they’ve been in heaven all night, but I didn’t want to push boundaries if you’re not okay with that.” I speak quickly and quietly.
Chad takes a deep breath, rubs his forehead, and then nods. “Of course. Liz wants to help. I just didn’t want her to feel obligated because of—” He clamps his mouth shut and looks at the ground.
“I don’t think she does.” I breeze past the way he cuts off before he says anything about Shelby. “She seemed happy to be able to spend time with them. She even brought a homemade casserole with her.” I laugh a little, wanting to lighten the mood.
He chuckles. “That sounds like Liz. Are you okay staying again?”
“Of course. That’s the job. Besides, they’ll just be sleeping anyway.”
He nods and heads into the living room to say goodbye to the girls. The last few times they’ve seen him this little, they usually break into sobs and cling to him, but tonight they hug him, get a little teary, but let him go with ease and find comfort in their grandma’s lap. Chad’s even smiling when he waves and heads down the hall to the garage. Lightness spreads in my chest. I’m doing something right. This job has been hard and different from what I was used to, but the accomplishment tonight—even if I didn’t really do anything—makes up for the crazy hours.
Liz puts the girls to bed and joins me in the kitchen, where I’m cleaning up. “Let me get that,” she says, taking the casserole dish from me and buzzing around the kitchen to find containers. “I’m sure you could use the leftovers here. They’ll go to waste at my house.”
“Thank you. It was so good for the girls to see you tonight.” I put my hand on her shoulder as she scoops out the chicken-and-rice casserole from the dish.
“Thank you for letting me come in and take over.” She gives a nervous chuckle, avoiding my eyes.
I round the island and take a seat facing her. “Gladly. Besides, it made the girls so happy. That’s my goal.”
Liz takes the now-empty casserole dish over to the sink, adding some soap and water to wash it out. Her staying a bit longer means I can ask her about the phone.
“Did you know that Shelby left her phone here?” I ask softly.
Liz nods, turning to look at me with a half-hearted smile. “She told Chad she didn’t want anything tying her here.”
She told Chad . “So you didn’t talk to her before she left?” Surprise colors my voice. Liz is so nurturing and loving. I can’t imagine her not being close to her daughter.
Liz lets out a harsh laugh. “Of course not.” She doesn’t say anything more as she scrubs at the pan.
“Let that soak. You can come pick it up later,” I say meaningfully. “Rice is a beast to get out of those glass dishes.”
Liz stops and turns to me. She offers a sad smile and then fills the dish with water. “Yeah, I can come get it later.”
I rest my elbow on the island and lean into my hand. “It’s just so weird to me that she left her phone. I can’t imagine going anywhere without my phone.”
“I’m the same.” Liz dries her hands on a towel and leans back against the counter. “I think I took about a hundred pictures just tonight.” She arches an eyebrow at me. “I can see the wheels turning in your head, trying to figure out what happened here.”
My cheeks heat. I have been digging into Shelby since I got here. It’s kind of my thing and it’s right in front of me, but being called out like this feels like I am pushing past boundaries, even if that’s not how I meant this. “I don’t mean to?—”
“We all have,” Liz says. “To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to get grandchildren. Shelby told me all her life she didn’t want to do the family thing. She didn’t want to be tied down to anything. She never really understood that being tied to a person isn’t a prison. I don’t know where I went wrong there.” She shrugs, but she twists her lips together like that can hide the emotion. “I worried when she married Chad, and then when they had Scarlett, and even more when they had Zoey. I worried he pushed her, and I worried she’d do exactly this.” She adds, smiling in a sad way, “If he did, I know I should be mad about that, but … I’m not sorry. Those girls are my heaven.”
“Have you heard from her?” I ask quietly, and surprisingly, it’s not about trying to untangle the mystery of Shelby just up and leaving. It’s about the sadness weighing Liz down. I want Shelby to be better than the woman Liz is describing, for Liz’s sake.
Liz shakes her head. She runs her hands down the front of her pants and then straightens. “I’m going to get out of your hair. If … if it’s okay, call me for anything.”
I slide off my seat and come to stand by her. “I will.” I take her hands and then lean in to hug her. She wraps her arms around me quickly and then pulls away with a look of gratitude.
Once she’s left, I settle down with a book, but my thoughts turn back to Shelby and her phone and the fact that she hasn’t even contacted her mother. But then I think about it—Liz never really answered when I asked her that, and why would she confide in me? I’m new to this family. Maybe they have talked. Maybe she’s explained everything to Liz.
I try to shake my thoughts away from this, loosen the hold of my curiosity. This is not some random story on a podcast. This is a family I’m beginning to care deeply about, and letting my nosiness make this into something more than it is isn’t fair.
But I’m still bothered. Shelby seems to have disappeared right off the face of the earth, especially from this house. Could something have happened to her? No one here would even suspect.
I swallow hard as a thought hits me. Could Chad have done something to her?
I shake my head, but he’s so sure about her leaving and not coming back. And Liz said that Chad was the one to tell her that Shelby left. Chad’s been the one to tell everyone that she’s gone.
My phone dings, and I screech in surprise, jumping and landing on the edge of the couch cushion so that I slide right off. I clap a hand over my mouth to keep another cry of pain from escaping and roll my eyes at myself.
Maybe the fact that I’m even considering that Chad might have done something is a sign that it’s time to lay off the true crime podcasts. I shake myself and check my phone. It’s from my brother, Caleb.
Caleb
Are you coming home soon?
I cringe as I get up from the floor. I landed on one of Scarlett’s Barbies. Surgeon Barbie, possibly? She’s holding something that looks like a scalpel, and I think it stuck right in my back.
Caleb must be at my house. He loves hanging out with Grandma—says she’s a lot less demanding than Mom—but she’s a chatterer. He comes over to see me at least once a day if I’m around. He’s probably been working at my house most of the afternoon.
Carlie
No. Chad just got called out again.
Caleb
Do you mind if Ivy comes over so we can hang out?
Carlie
Of course not.
I chew on my lip. Caleb’s texts about Ivy have been excited, and I want him to be happy. Law thinks the world of Ivy, so I can’t put a finger on why I’m cautious about her. Because they’re moving so fast?
Because I have issues? Sigh. First Chad, and now my brother.
Caleb
And …
Carlie
And what?
Caleb
I know there’s something more you want to say. Twin ESP.
I laugh. He reads the tone of my texts better than anyone I know, and twin ESP is really the only thing I can think of to explain it.
Carlie
Just wondering why you guys aren’t going to Ivy’s so you can be alone.
Caleb
She doesn’t have a TV, smh. We want to watch a movie, and your TV is actually nice considering how tiny this house is. Better chance at staying alone here than at Law’s or Jenna’s. Here’s hoping Chad’s out for a while.
Carlie
May the odds be ever in your favor.
I love seeing my brother happy, but something still gnaws at me. Probably jealousy. They’ve been together every day since they met here in Houston, and I just haven’t been able to see Law as much. That’s probably it.
I’m exhausted, so I text Law for a little while but then go to bed early. When I wake up around seven, I have a text from Chad.
Chad
Got in at about midnight. I’ve got the girls this morning.
Knowing that my sleep is disjointed enough if I have to be called over for him, this has become our routine so he doesn’t have to wake me up when he gets home in the middle of the night. I quietly grab my bag, make my bed, and slip out of the house, eager for some time in my own space. Maybe I’ll invite Law over for breakfast later. We have a date set for tomorrow night, and it is nice to know that our time tomorrow will be uninterrupted, but that doesn’t mean I have to wait to see him.
The morning is perfect, sunny but not too hot yet, and I enjoy the walk through the yard to my house. As I’m stepping out of the trees, I stop suddenly and take several steps backward.
Caleb and Ivy are kissing on my front porch. Caleb’s in a pair of sweats, no shirt, and Ivy looks … disheveled—messy bun on her head and wearing one of Caleb’s shirts over her denim shorts. She pulls away, waving at him as she hurries down the steps and through the gate that separates my yard from the path between my house and Law’s, where she must have parked her car. The path leads to the common area of the neighborhood with a park and a pavilion. It’s the reason Chad had a gate put in back here, so the guesthouse has easier access without having to walk into the main backyard to get to it.
Caleb goes back into my house once the gate is closed, and I step out of my hiding place, hurrying the rest of the way so I make sure to catch Caleb before he sneaks away too.
“Hey,” I say when I come in, startling him from where he stands at the tiny kitchen counter, making coffee.
“Carlie.” He turns toward me, his expression sheepish. “Did you see …”
“Yep. I definitely did.” I put my bag down next to the door and eye my brother. He barely knows her, and this is just too fast. Too much commitment for someone he met just five days ago.
He turns back to the coffee. “I moved out of Mom’s house to escape this kind of disapproval.”
I sigh. “I’m just worried. You barely know Ivy.”
He pours himself a cup and moves to the table. “I’m a big boy, Car.”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay.” I pick my bag back up and head for my room. “I’m going to take a shower,” I call.
“I’ll have breakfast ready,” Caleb calls back. So he clearly feels a little bit bad.
I can’t help but wonder what Law thinks of this, so I grab my phone as I head into the bathroom.
Carlie
So I just caught Ivy leaving my house …
Law
Awkward. I can’t unsee this.
If anything convinces me that Ivy is more like a sister than anything else, it’s that text. I chuckle and turn on the shower.