“Sure did,” Peyton said cheerily, pushing my margarita glass closer. I glared at her and she laughed. “Oh, come on, Grace. You can totally fix it. That guy is cu-ruh-azy about you. It’s so obvious.”
I felt a little flicker of hope in my chest. Wasn’t that exactly what I had always wanted from Liam? For him to feel for me the way I felt about him? I cast a glance over at Rosa and she was nodding, a small smile on her face.
“A guy doesn’t go to that much trouble on a date for a girl he’s already sleeping with unless he’s really trying to make her happy.”
You deserve it,he’d told me, when I argued about the fuss he’d made. I could still hear the tender note in his voice. Could still feel the way his arms had tightened around me, holding me close enough to hear the beat of his heart beneath my ear.
I sat up straighter. I needed to talk to Liam, preferably soon. The team didn’t have a game tonight, and they weren’t traveling, so that meant he would probably be home after practice. I pulled out my phone to check the time. Three fifteen. So he might be home any time now. I would just?—
The phone in my hand started ringing, making me jump with surprise. The number on the screen was even more surprising. Helen Church. My principal. I couldn’t remember the last time she had called me on my cell. Most after school communication from her office came through email.
Feeling unsettled without really knowing why, I held the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”
At first listen, Helen’s voice sounded the way it normally did—efficient and professional. But there was something in her tone, a slight breathlessness, that had me sitting up straight, worry creeping in.
“There was an incident with your substitute today that I need to make you aware of.”
I swallowed hard. I had left detailed notes for my sub about the day’s schedule and lessons. I had included my usual welcome letter, pointing out any behavior issues they should be aware of. I rarely took sick or personal days, but when I did, I was sure to cover all my bases. Had I missed something?
“What happened?” I asked, both the girls looking at me with concern at the audible shake in my voice.
That breathlessness increased when she answered me and I realized, with a jolt, that Helen wasscared.
“Josie O’Conner is missing.”
I sat in stunned silence for a long moment, sure I had misunderstood. “What do you mean, missing?” I finally asked.
“According to the substitute, Josie lined up with the students for the bus this afternoon.”
“Josie doesn’t take the bus,” I cut in. “Her grandparents or father pick her up.”
“Apparently, the substitute didn’t realize that.”
“But…” I was finding it difficult to speak. Panic was rushing through me, muddling my thoughts. There had to be some kind of mistake. “I left a note. The substitute is supposed to call the studentsby nameto line up for the bus.”
That was the procedure for the entire school. I still adhered to it, every day, even though by now I fully knew which of my students were bussed and which were picked up. Along with taking attendance in the morning, I considered it the most important safety precaution of my day. And I haddefinitelymentioned it in my note.
Helen sighed. “You know how it can be at the end of the day. There’s a lot of chaos. Apparently, the bus aide came to collect those students before your sub had finished lining them up.” She paused and her voice sounded carefully controlledwhen she continued. “It was your sub’s first day. He said he felt overwhelmed and didn’t think it was a problem to let the kids go.”
Guilt crashed over me. I shouldn’t have taken the day off. I should have been there, taking care of my kids. It was my job. And instead, I was here, whining to my friends about my love life and sipping on margaritas.
If something happened to Josie, I was never going to forgive myself.
“The bus aide didn’t notice they had one of the wrong kids?” My voice was way too loud for the restaurant but I couldn’t seem to control it. I was panicking now, flooded with worry and confusion and guilt. How could this happen?
“The bus aide didn’t even notice Josie was with her group.” I closed my eyes and pictured the scene. Bus line-up was always chaotic. It took place on the same side of the building as parent pick-up, meaning there were kids and adults coming and going. It would be easy to miss one little girl in all of that. It was one of the reasons I was so rigid in sticking to the school’s policy.
“So she got on one of the busses?” Why in the hell would Josie do that? It didn’t make any sense?—
“No,” Helen said, and my insides turned cold. “She didn’t get on any of the busses. We checked the security cameras. It appears that as soon as she got outside, she left the group from your room and got lost in the crowd. One of the cameras showed her walking out of the parking lot.”
“Alone?”
There was a definite catch to Helen’s voice now. “Yes. She left alone. When her grandmother arrived a few minutes later, the substitute realized what had happened and called the office.”
I pictured Evelyn Taylor coming to get Josie the way she always did, her kind face patient while she listened to the littlegirl chatter about her day. What would she have thought when she arrived to find Josie missing?
What did Liam think when she called him to tell him the terrible news?
