I groaned. “Not even a little bit. I’m hoping it’ll hold off for a bit.”
“Good luck with that.”
The bus pulled up, and the rest of the parents milled closer as their children got off. I frowned when six kids down, Felix wasn’t among them, because he was usually first or second off. When it looked like the last kid was off, I peeked in through the doors. “Where’s Felix?”
The bus driver frowned. “He wasn’t on the bus today.”
“What?”
“He was this morning, but he’s not here now, honey.”
“Hmm, maybe my mom picked him up.”
“Do you want me to call back to the school?” the driver asked.
“No, I’m going to call my mom and see if she picked him up.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll see you on Monday.”
I was no longer listening, having dialed my mother and settled my phone to my ear.
“Hey, honey.”
“Mom, do you have Felix?” I asked.
“What? No, shouldn’t he be getting off the bus now?”
“He didn’t get on the bus,” I snapped. “Oh my god! I have to call the school.”
“I’ll call Luca.”
“Wait until I call the school,” I countered.
“Okay, honey.”
But she didn’t wait to call the school and ten minutes after I got off the phone with the principal, Luca was storming into my house with my mother following.
“I’ve issued an Amber Alert,” he said. “What did the school say?”
“He walked out of school with his teacher in a line with the other students, but that was where the story got fuzzy. No one could tell me where he went. The teacherthoughtshe saw him get on the bus, but she couldn’t be sure.”
“Incompetent assholes,” my brother hissed.
“Luca,” Mom warned.
He ignored her and focused on me again. “I need to know what he was wearing this morning.”
“Um...” God, I couldn’t think.
“Dark blue jeans, his Garfield T-shirt, and black hoodie, under his black puffer jacket,” Mom said.
I nodded. “Right. Yes. Exactly. And a grey beanie and gloves.”
“You got a recent picture? One I probably don’t have?” Luca asked.
I nodded, scrolling through my phone, finding three and forwarding to him. “I just sent them to your phone.”
“Okay, I’m gonna get started on this. If you hear anything, you let me know,” he said, and walked out the door.
