Chapter 5
LEAH
Two months later
“Hey, sweetheart. How was your day?”
“Good.”
I get the generic answer as Eliza runs down the school steps into my big hug.
“What did you learn today?”
She wriggles out of my arms and hands me her backpack in exchange for her snack bag. “I don’t remember.”
As usual. Never mind that I know Eliza got to pet a snake and a lizard and see a falcon because her teacher sent an email to all the parents saying the local urban wildlife rescue was coming to give a presentation to the classes today.
Then she sent pictures of my daughter holding the snake with an enormous grin on her face.
At least I know almost every other adult outside the school is having the same conversation with their kid.
“Okay, well, I have one errand to run before—”
The back of my neck prickles, and I snap my head around, looking for the source of the disquiet. But, like every time for the past few weeks, I don’t see anything. The only thing on the sidewalk is a mass of caregivers, teachers, and kids.
“Mom?”
Eliza’s question pulls my attention back, and I rub my neck to dispel the feeling still crawling there. She’s looking up at me with big eyes, one hand paused in her snack bag.
“I just thought I heard someone calling my name,” I answer smoothly, giving her a big smile and hooking my hand into the hanging loop on the top of her backpack. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
“You said we have an errand to run,” Eliza states around a mouthful of organic cheesy puffs.
“Right.”
Except now, I feel like going home and bolting the door behind us. I have no idea what’s been going on lately and what’s behind my feeling of being watched for the past few weeks.
“Can we get croissants for breakfast tomorrow on the way home?” Eliza asks. “Please, Mom?”
“We can see if they have any left. They probably only have plain left if you’re up for that.”
My daughter makes a sound of indecision, telling me she’d rather have a chocolate croissant, or maybe one of the raspberry kind, which are a specialty of the bakery we go to.
“What if we get the regular croissants, and we can add to them? Get our own jam, or go to the farmers’ market and find some fruit?”
“Oooh!” Eliza tugs on my arm and turns up eyes wide with excitement at me. “Can we add frosting and sprinkles?”
“Uh—” I should have known where this would go, and now I have to find a way out of this one.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a black sedan. It’s like any other on the street, save for the windows tinted so dark I can’t even see the driver’s face. The only weird thing about it is that it was parked outside the school. And now it’s going in the same direction we are. A little too slowly.
My gut gives a twist I can’t ignore. I feel ridiculous—why would anyone be following us—but the feeling won’t go away.
And neither does the sedan.
“Hey—let’s cut through the park, okay? I want to see all the colors.”
The neighborhood park is stuck between two old brick apartment buildings, but it’s big enough that I know we can get lost.
“Okay!” Eliza agrees happily, still munching on her puffs.
The park is busy today, a fact for which I’m secretly grateful. It’s a perfect fall day with a brushed blue sky, the temperature crisp, and the trees brilliant with their reds and golds and oranges.
“Look, Mom—a squirrel!”
Eliza shoves her snack into my hand and darts across the grass toward a fat squirrel perched on a tree branch, its tail up as it chitters angrily at us.
I follow Eliza gladly, grateful we’re hidden from the road.
“What do you think it's doing?” Eliza asks, her neck craned as she looks up into the tree.
“I think it's getting ready for winter, sweetheart. It's going around collecting food for when there isn't any.”
“They don't have any food?” Eliza's brow knits, a line forming between her eyes. “Should we come and give the squirrels food this winter?”
“No, sweetheart, they're fine all on their own. That's why they're storing food now, so they have it for when it gets cold and things aren't growing.”
“Oh.” Eliza doesn't look entirely convinced.
“It's in their nature, sweetheart. That's what squirrels are made to do—eat to get fat and collect food for the winter, just like geese are made to fly south and whales migrate to warmer waters, like you learned in school.”
I look up into the tree's canopy, watching the play of sunlight dapple the leaves still left on the tree while those that have fallen crunch under our feet.
“Just like it’s in the nature of trees to turn colors in the fall and sleep until the spring. It's just what they do.”
My daughter is a little more convinced. That, or she's just lost interest. I'm guessing the second one as she runs over to an empty swing and jumps on.
“Push me, please,” she calls.
I dutifully push my daughter on the swings while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious around us. I don't see anything—no one looks out of place here. I recognize most of the parents.
When we're done at the park and exit in the opposite direction that we entered, there is no sedan with blacked-out windows to be seen. I know I'm imagining things. I have to be. There is no earthly reason for someone to follow me.
I manage to convince myself, so much so, that I don't tell Suzie about the weird encounter when she calls later that evening
I'm getting dinner ready when she calls. I put her on speaker as I mix the veggies on the sheet pan, waiting to go into the oven to roast.
“What's up?”
“Did you get your dress yet for Saturday?” Suzie asks without preamble. I hear Benji’s deep bark in the background.
We've been best friends since elementary school. There’s no need for preamble.
“I bought it, but the tailor hasn’t called me yet. They had to take it in in some places and let it out in others.”
“Please tell me you'll have the dress. You're an important member of the firm, so you need to be there.”
“I'm the gofer. You only want me there so you have someone to talk to and someone to hold you back when one of the idiot male partners makes an inappropriate joke. Admit it—I'm your fairy god wingman. Or whatever.”
“Fine, just promise me you're coming. I need you there on Saturday night.”
“Where are you going Saturday night?”
I'm taking the leftover rotisserie chicken out of the fridge when I hear the voice behind me. “Aunt Suzie and I have a party to go to,” I explain to Eliza.
“Hey kiddo,” Suzie calls from the other end of the phone line.
“Hi, Aunt Suzie,” Eliza replies. “Is it a birthday party? Are they gonna have a bounce house like at Genevieve’s party? Can I go?”
“It's an adult party, sweetheart,” I tell her. “There are no bounce houses, no cake, no games, and no presents.”
“Yeah, just a bunch of boring old people wandering around and fake laughing at each other. It's really booorrriiinnngg,” Suzie adds, and Eliza makes a face, her nose screwing up.
“I think Jade has a bunch of fun things for you, though.”
I hold my breath as Eliza watches me, then let it out as she shrugs. “Okay. When's dinner? I'm hungry.”
“The veggies are roasting, and the rice is almost done. I'll call you in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Eliza repeats and takes her stuffy and leaves the way she came.
“Whew,” Suzie sighs. “That was a close one.”
I pull the chicken out of the bag and put it on the cutting board so I can start shredding it. “You're telling me.”
“So, again, please tell me you're coming on Saturday.”
“I'm coming on Saturday.”
“Good, because there's someone I want you to meet.”
I stop pulling chicken off the bone to glare at the phone. “Suzie, are you kidding me?
“Come on, Leah. The last date you had was with Mr. Mysterious, who left a note in the morning. You haven't heard from him since.”
It was the truth—true to his note, Viktor hadn't contacted me once since our night together. I'd even walked Benjamin a few times around that hotel, but I'd never run into him and his Cane Corso, Athos, again.
“When was your last date before that?”
“I don't remember. Can you drop this?” I grit out, wishing she would just change the damn subject.
“That just proves my point,” she argues. “It's time to get out there, Leah. Come on, you're young, you're beautiful—what isn't there to love?”
My gut tightens, creating a vague sense of nausea at the answer to that question. “I'm not interested in dating right now.”
“No, you’re just afraid you’re going to end up with another loser.”
“I can’t necessarily disagree with you there.” I sigh and say, “Suzie, promise me you won’t introduce me to anyone on Saturday. Promise me.”
“Okay, okay. I promise,” Suzie sighs. “Look, I just don't want you to be lonely. You know how much I love you, Leah
“I know you do.” My annoyance drains out of me, and I turn on the water to wash the chicken from my hands.
“But I'm not lonely. I have Eliza, I have you, and I have Benji. What more could I want?” I bite my lip, hoping Suzie can't hear the doubt in my voice.
“Besides, who has time to date? I have a kid in second grade.
Whatever time isn't spent with her is spent working, and if I get accepted to law school—”
“When you get accepted to law school,” Suzie corrects me.
“Okay, when I get into law school, I'm barely going to have time for anything, especially a romantic relationship.”
“Fine, fine. But I'm absolutely going to bring this up again when Eliza is out of the house and you are a brilliant lawyer, and you can't use law school as an excuse.” I can almost see Suzie standing at her counter, a wineglass in one hand, her “girl dinner” plate of cheese and crackers on the kitchen counter, the other hand propped on her hip.
“Okay, you can bring it up then.”
She sighs in mock disgust. “You better be there on Saturday. Okayloveyoubyeee!” comes through the phone before the call ends with a beep at the same time the oven timer goes off.