“Yeah, but I don’t want you to think I forgot. I’ll get you working on a brief next week, okay? One you can really sink your teeth into.”
“Sounds great,” she said, even though it didn’t sound even close to great. It sounded like hell.
* * *
Good lord, why had she ever enjoyed going to the bar? Surely the music wasn’t this loud back in the 90’s when she was dancing away to C+C Music Factory. It couldn’t have been, because this was deafening. And awful. And so far, all the songs completely lacked any discernible beat. Not to mention the fact that her feet were killing her. Her toes were crammed together in these leather high-heel boots like passengers on a Tokyo subway train during rush hour.
As much as she hated to admit it, Jess wanted desperately to be curled up in bed with a good book with her toes wiggling freely under the covers. But she couldn’t leave just yet, because she was hoping that if she stuck it out, they’d play a song she loved, and she’d be immediately transported back to her college days. Maybe if that happened, Fun Jess would reappear and stick around for the next forty years or so.
The next song was a nightmare of auto-tuning, but it was also inexplicably popular with the young crowd. The dance floor was suddenly so packed, there was no room to move without bumping into someone. Having had enough, Jess hobbled to their table to find two of her classmates still exactly where they were when she’d first hit the dance floor. Jacob, who had absolutely no interest in the bar scene, leaned over toward Jess as she sat down. “Someone’s been blowing up your phone.”
She plucked her phone off the table, glad she had heard her kids use that phrase so she didn’t have to seem as old as she actually was. When she unlocked it, she saw she had missed a dozen calls from Mike. There were texts too.
Where are you? Call me now. Noah’s in trouble.
I seriously don’t know why the hell you’re not picking up, but this is not the time to be MIA.
If you bother checking your phone, meet me at the West Precinct. Our little cherub got caught breaking into the Pattersons’ house.
“Oh shit,” she muttered, hopping off the stool and grabbing her purse. “I’ve got to go. It’s my son.”
The police station was a five-minute drive from the bar, but it felt like hours. Jessica’s heart pounded, and enough adrenaline flowed through her veins to cause her limbs to shake. She over-steered, hit both the gas and the brakes too hard, and nearly sideswiped a taxi when she tried to change lanes.
How could her son be involved in something so serious as a break and enter? And why the hell would he be so lazy as to break into a house two blocks from their house? Not that he should be breaking into anyone’s house on any street, but still. Seriously? What could he possibly have been thinking? He must be on drugs. That was the only explanation that made any sense to her because if he were in his right mind, Noah would never do something so stupid. And if her son had started doing drugs, it washerjob to notice. She knew him better than anyone else in the world did. He was her little boy. “Oh my God, heisa sociopath,” she muttered.
A drug-addicted sociopath. “I’ll kill him. I will kill him with my bare hands.”
No, she wouldn’t. What if this was a cry for help? What if he needed his mom more than ever, but she’d been totally missing from his life for months now? Mike’s text about her being MIA popped back into her mind and her stomach churned. Shehadn’tbeen there.Of course she would have missed the signs. He was probably strung out on weed every day and she hadn’t noticed. Guilt blended with her rage, creating a bitter cocktail that she forced herself to drink. When she finally parked, she let out a single sob, sucked in a deep breath, and hurried inside, ready to vomit.
It took her all of two seconds to spot Mike, who was sitting on a bench in the corner, hunched over with his head being held up by his hands.
“Mike, what happened?” she asked as she rushed over to him.
He looked up, dark circles under his eyes even though his skin was red. “They broke into the Pattersons’ house. They’re in Hawaii, so Liam and our brainchild thought they could get away with throwing a party.”
“Oh God. Again, with the party thing?”
Jess looked around, suddenly realizing she knew the other two people in the waiting room. Liam’s mom and dad were staring at her, clearly trying to figure out where she had been, all dressed up without her husband. They exchanged an awkward hello, then Jess flopped down on the bench next to Mike.
She was too upset to care about what Liam’s parents thought of her right now. It would bother her later, but for the moment, thoughts of what would happen to her son’s future occupied every cell in her brain. “Jesus. How could they be so stupid?”
Mike shook his head. “I don’t know.”
She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips and muttered, “Fucking hell.”
“Yup. That pretty much sums it up,” Mike told her. He sighed, then said, “Were you having fun before you got my message?”
“No. It was kind of awful to be honest. I don’t know why I ever enjoyed going out dancing.”
“Hmph.”
Tears filled Jessica’s eyes and she whispered, “I can’t help but feel like this is all my fault. If I’d have been paying attention, I might have been able to stop this.”
She waited for his answer with her heart in her throat. He might have been sitting here this entire time blaming her, and if he had been, she would understand. She would own it, even though she hadn’t been the one who broke into the house.
After a long pause, Mike shook his head. “Nope, you couldn’t have stopped them.”
“You don’t have to try to spare my feelings, not after everything.”
