She squeezed her eyes shut right there in the store, trembling with the effort. It was right on the tip of her tongue. Something with aB.Why couldn’t sheremember?
It came to her all at once.Barbie.Of course. They’d even made a movie.
She let go a shaky breath. Stress could do this, right? She was under a lot of stress. The divorce. Her dad. And now Andrew.
But Jesus.Barbie.
She had a way to deal with this. This raw terror of forgetting.
She felt for her purse. She knew exactly where the paper was—zipped into a side compartment of her wallet. The name of the genetic counselor Shelly had found. Her sister had located someone in New York and insisted Cassie write it down. But every time Cassie thought about making the call her heart balled up into a tiny fist.
What if the news was bad? How would she go on with her life?
She’d almost tossed the paper a couple of times, but at the last minute something always stopped her. A grim insurance policy of sorts. If she wanted to know, all she had to do was make an appointment.
She was paying for the puzzle, still rattled by the Barbie incident, when her phone lit up.
“What’s going on there?” Phil said without preamble. “How’s your dad?”
“You want the long version or the short one?” She still found it easy to talk to Phil, but it often left her with a lingering senseof loss. Not so much for him, but for her former life, when she had a partner to share things with. Maybe that was why she’d missed the signs he was checking out, because they’d always been cordial. Touching base about their day, conferring about Andrew. Their emotional connection fraying so gradually she never noticed until it was gone. Now, she was left trying to figure out what was next. Friends urged her to try one of those dating sites, but she couldn’t imagine posting her picture online and hoping somebody swiped. What was she supposed to say about herself?Almost fifty. Might forget my name in a few years.
“There’s a long version?” Phil said. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“Shelly was right, he’s slipping. And crankier than ever. I’m trying to get him help with those bees, but you know my dad. I’ve got a beekeeper coming over today.” She felt a sudden, surprising warmth at the thought of seeing Marsden, which she quickly tamped down. This was no time for a silly crush. “Anyway, I’m going to have to stay a week or two to get things sorted out. I’ll work from here and go in if I have a meeting.”
“Have you talked to Andrew?”
Her stomach immediately cinched with worry. “Not since Saturday. I tried a couple of times yesterday but couldn’t get him. Have you?”
“Yes, and it’s not good. He called me earlier. I wish you’d told me about this over the weekend. I thought we were going to stay connected about anything to do with Andrew.” His irritated voice.
“I thought you should hear it from him. He said he was going to call as soon as he got off the phone with me.”
“Well he didn’t, not until this morning. But it doesn’t matter now. What matters is that the university is convening a review board to look into what happened.”
“Oh God.” She stepped onto the sidewalk with her package. In the time she’d been inside, it had become cloudy and the raw morning crept through her clothes. “How’s the boy, do you know?”
“Apparently still in the hospital.”
“How did Andrew sound?”
“Scared, as he should be. This is serious, Cassie.”
“I realize it’s serious.” Phil could be so condescending; she didn’t miss that. Big Law hubris. She took a fortifying breath. No point arguing with him. “So what’s happening?”
“The frat is on probation, and this review board is going to be looking for someone to blame.”
“When’s the hearing, should one of us be there?”
“The twenty-third. I already called, and they won’t allow parents to attend. He has to appear alone.”
She thought with dismay of Andrew trying to hold it together. “He’s going to be a wreck. You know how he is. Maybe I should fly down for moral support. I hate him dealing with this all alone.” Yes, Andrew had told her not to come, but what did a nineteen-year-old know? He was in trouble and she was his mother.
“Don’t go. It’ll make him feel like we think he can’t handle it.”
“Hecan’thandle it. Where was his judgment the other night? You wink at all this drinking, but now look what’s happened.”
“For God’s sake, Cassie. You make it sound like I condone this. I’m as concerned as you are.”
