Chapter 11 Annabelle
Annabelle
There was a plumbing leak in our office building and we’ve all been sent home. I head to the grocery store and call James at his office to see if he wants me to pick anything up for him. He doesn’t answer his cellphone, so I dial the office.
“Neurological Specialists.”
“Hi, Daisy. It’s Annabelle. Is James with a patient?”
“Hi, Annabelle. Um, no, he canceled his morning appointments. Said something came up and he’d be in later this afternoon.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Thanks.” The last thing I need is to add fuel to the rumor mill. There has been plenty of drama over the years at his practice with some of his partners.
I hang up, perplexed. James didn’t mention anything to me.
Curious, I open my “find me” app and look for his car.
I frown. It looks like he’s parked at the Phoenix Motel, a seedy place in the next town over.
I put the address in my GPS and drive there.
When I arrive, I see his black Range Rover is parked in front of one of the rooms. I park my car on the other side of the stairway so it’s out of sight, but where I can see the room.
What the hell is he doing here? He comes out of the room, stops, and turns back around, the door still open.
He’s talking to someone in the room, his face animated, and his words punctuated by his finger stabbing the air.
I can only hear bits and pieces until his voice rises and a female voice from inside the room shouts.
“You need to stop this. Annabelle can’t find out.”
A woman comes out and grabs him by the shoulders. I can only see the back of her. A towel is wrapped around her head, like she’s come straight out of the shower.
“What the hell. I need to go!” he shouts.
“Quiet! Don’t make a scene!” she says, pulling him back into the room. The door slams shut.
I’m stunned. James is cheating on me? It can’t be. The one thing I’vealways been certain of was his devotion. But what else would he be doing in the middle of the day with a woman in a motel?
“Mommy, Mommy!”
What is Olivia doing here?
A strong push on her arm woke her up. “Mommy, wake up! Parker ate another sock!” Olivia was pulling on her arm. It was James’s day to get the kids ready. Her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet.
“Okay, okay. Coming. Where’s Daddy?”
“He had to leave. His phone rang, and he said to come get you.”
Annabelle grabbed her robe and followed Olivia from the room and downstairs where a disgusting-looking sock lay in the middle of the rug in a pile of vomit.
Of course, Parker wouldn’t throw up on the wood floor instead.
Annabelle fetched some paper towels and got to work.
When she was finished, she called out to Olivia.
“Okay, all cleaned up. Go get dressed. We need to leave in half an hour. Where’s your sister?”
“In her room. Texting, of course.”
Annabelle tried James’s cell, but he didn’t answer.
He must have gotten called into work on an emergency.
She thought about her dream again. This one didn’t worry her.
James would never in a million years cheat on her.
His fidelity was one of the main reasons she’d married him.
Maybe these weird premonition-like dreams were over, and she was back to good old-fashioned regular dreams.
—
Madeline understood Annabelle’s decision. “I get it. This is the right choice for you, and I’m proud of you for making it. I know it wasn’t easy.” Annabelle sat across from the woman who would no longer be her boss in a few weeks.
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Just make sure you hire somebody great for me to report to. I’ve been spoiled.”
Madeline laughed. “I can’t promise that he or she will be as great as me…but Michael had someone in mind, in case you didn’t accept.”
“Oh? Who?”
“He’s from the California office. Looking to relocate to the East Coast, to be closer to family. You probably met him at our corporate retreat last year. Riggs Larson.”
Annabelle made a face. “Really? He’ll be my new boss?
” She had taken an instant dislike to Riggs when they’d been paired for one of the ridiculous bonding exercises that were de rigueur at these corporate team-building conferences.
She loved the company, but, come on, they were adults there to do a job, not live together.
He’d been one of those seemingly nice, polite people who were actually self-serving and pushy.
Plus, that name: Riggs. So pretentious. And now she’d be working for him.
It almost made her want to rethink her decision.
Madeline’s brows went up. “Not a fan?”
“I didn’t spend much time with him. He sort of rubbed me the wrong way, but I really don’t know him.”
“I don’t know him well, either, but Michael thinks highly of him. He’s run the Client Services division for three years, and their client base has gone up each year. Clients seem to like him too.”
Annabelle wondered what his subordinates thought of him, but she didn’t ask.
She’d turned down the job, so she had no right to criticize their choice.
But it would be fine; she knew how to get along with others.
Besides, at her level, there wasn’t much oversight necessary.
She spent all her time either with her clients or doing work for them.
She stood up. “Guess I’ll head back to my office.” She was halfway through the door when she stopped and turned around. “When is he starting?”
“Next week. He’ll shadow me for two weeks, and then take over.”
Annabelle nodded. “Got it.”
When she got back to her office, she noticed that she had two missed calls from Scarlett’s school. Her heart began to race as she listened to the voicemail.
“Mrs. Reynolds. This is Audrey Barlowe. Scarlett’s fine, but there was an incident, and I need you to come to the school. Please call me as soon as you get this message.” She dialed the school’s number from her office phone.
“Front Office.”
“Yes, this is Annabelle Reynolds. May I speak with Vice Principal Barlowe?”
She was put on hold, and a moment later, a woman’s voice spoke.
“Mrs. Reynolds?”
“Yes. What’s going on?”
“Scarlett was caught in the bathroom vaping. We’ve been trying to identify the girls who have been doing this for a month now. She’s been suspended for two days.”
Annabelle gasped. “Scarlett doesn’t vape! This has to be a mistake.” She flashed to her dream, and a chill ran through her.
“It’s no mistake. I saw her myself.”
“I’m on my way.”
“No need. When we didn’t get in touch with you, I called your husband. He’s on his way now.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to Scarlett, and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“I’d like to schedule a meeting with you, your husband, and Scarlett, to discuss this. It’s quite serious. She’s only fifteen, and vaping is illegal at that age. Not to mention the health risks.”
Annabelle was getting irritated. “I’m aware of both the law and the health risks, as is my husband, who’s a doctor. We will be addressing this with her. You said a two-day suspension. Am I to assume that she may return to school on Friday?”
“Yes, you may. But I still think—”
“We’ll call the office and schedule an appointment.”
“Good. Until then.”
What a sanctimonious prig! You would think Scarlett had been caught doing cocaine.
Yes, vaping was bad, and she was way too young to be doing it.
But was it really necessary for the four of them to meet and talk about it?
She and James were capable of parenting their child.
Annabelle was sure that this was something new; something Scarlett had gone along with, trying to fit in with her new friends.
Scarlett was an athlete, concerned about being healthy.
This was an aberration—she’d just been going through a rough time.
James was going to have a fit, though. She could just hear his lecture.
Guilt sliced through her. She should have taken the time to talk to Scarlett about her estrangement from Zoe.
She’d been so distracted trying to decide whether or not to take the promotion that she’d neglected her daughter.
She grabbed her purse and briefcase, then swung by Madeline’s office.
“Scarlett’s not feeling well. I’m going to head out and work from home the rest of the day.”
“Okay. Hope she feels better.”
“Thanks.”
As she drove home, she thought about her dreams again.
She could still see it all in vivid detail, as if it were a movie.
The plane crash that had actually happened—and now this.
In her dream, James had blamed Annabelle for Scarlett’s vaping.
But unlike the dream, she wasn’t out of town on a trip, embracing a strange man on the balcony.
There had to be a logical explanation. She’d noticed how out of sorts Scarlett had been lately, snapping at everyone, and shutting them out.
Had there been a subtle sign about the vaping that Annabelle’s subconscious had picked up on?
Or maybe it was her guilty conscience for hiding her smoking from James.
It had to be something like that because the alternative was terrifying.
If she couldn’t find a reasonable basis for knowing about that plane crash and Scarlett’s vaping, it meant that her dreams were not dreams at all, but rather were actually glimpses of the future.