On Monday morning, Valencia is definitely on edge. I know it’s because she’s anxious about going to work and leaving me home alone, but I’m not sure why. She knows the alarm app will tell her every door and window I open—she doesn’t know Easton showed me how to bypass it. Maybe she’s worried about me snooping?
Which, yes, Miles and I are absolutely going to do that as soon as the house is clear.
“What do you think you’ll do today?” she asks, sipping her coffee as I eat a leftover bagel from Saturday.
“I was thinking about walking to the library,” I say. “I looked it up; it’s only a half mile away.” I have no intention of going to the library today, but I want to test her reaction to me having some autonomy. It might come in useful when Idowant to get out of here.
She sets the coffee mug down a little too hard but tries to play it off. For a moment it seems like she isn’t going to say anything, but then she looks at me. “I’d like you to stay in the house.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m asking you to?” She says it tentatively, like she’s trying to be nice, but also hinting that she’s doing more thanasking.
“I’ll have my phone on me. I’m not going to disappear.”
Finally she snaps, and her voice goes full-on scoldy mom mode. “Well, disappearing isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person, Nate, and a phone won’t protect you from that.”
I flinch, and to her credit, Valencia looks embarrassed. But not enough to apologize or elaborate any further.
Easton enters the kitchen, dressed for the day. “Christ, Mom, cut the cord already.” He goes over to the fridge and takes out a jar of peanut butter.
“I don’t need it from you, too,” she says. She sounds exasperated and turns her attention back to me. “Stay home. Please. I’ll drive you to the library on our way home from your appointment with Dr. Zapata tomorrow. And I promise I will loosen the reins at some point. I’m just not ready to do it right now.”
“Fine,” I say under my breath. I want to understand why she’s acting like this. Sure, she’s anxious that the son she just got back might be taken from her again. But it feels possessive, not overprotective. I can’t help but wonder what she knows about the real Nate’s disappearance. Or maybe what she’s suppressing. Easton gives me a pitying look as he scoops a spoonful of peanut butter.
“I hope you’re eating something else,” Valencia says. “And other people may want peanut butter, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t eat it directly from the jar.”
He shrugs. “Habit. I’m the only one who usually eats it. Nate, if you want peanut butter, you’ll have to deal with my cooties.” He turns back to Valencia. “Which, by the way, are thesamecooties.” He dips his empty spoon back into the Jif jar defiantly.
Marcus enters with his own empty coffee mug. He’s dressed in abrown tweed suit, blue shirt, and navy-and-gold tie. He kisses Valencia on the cheek, then puts the mug in the kitchen sink. Valencia reminds him of the leftovers in the fridge and he grabs a Tupperware and asks Easton if he’s ready to go.
He’s going to the office with Marcus because he needs to have someone monitor him while he’s taking one of his finals online. Easton’s professor said he’d allow him to take the final remotely as long as he had a proctor who wasn’t a family member, so one of Marcus’s assistants is going to sit in a room and barely watch him take a test. Or at least sign a paper saying they did that.
“Did you remember to set the timer on the garden spigot?” Valencia asks Marcus.
He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I forgot. I’ll do it tonight when I get home.”
“Can you do it now? It’s supposed to get up to ninety today and I don’t want all the hydrangeas to burn or get droopy.”
He laughs. “You’re the one who bought the overcomplicated timer. I can’t figure the thing out in five minutes, and if we don’t leave now, I’m going to be late for a meeting. The flowers will be fine fora few hours. I’m calling a car for Easton when he finishes his final, so when you get home, can you water the plants?” He turns to Easton.
“I was going to have you send me to JT’s.”
But before Valencia or Marcus can ask him to come here first, I speak up. “I can water them.” It’s actually perfect, because I can open the back door to let Miles in and Valencia will get the notification on her phone that the alarm is off. “I’m stuck here all day. Let me at least do something boring like watering the flowers.”
“Thank you, Nate,” Marcus says pointedly while looking at Valencia. “See, darling? You don’t even need the timer.”
“You know what, that’s a great point. Maybe I’ll show you how to fertilize them, too, before I leave.”
“Wonderful,” Marcus says. “Now that that’s out of the way, Easton, grab your stuff. We gotta go.”
Marcus gives me a polite goodbye and they head for the garage door. I stand to put my plate in the kitchen sink.
“I’ll show you where the Miracid is for the hydrangeas. You add a scoop—”
“NATE!”
Marcus’s voice booms from the garage, startling me. Even Valencia flinches, spilling her coffee on the counter.
