She’d heard.
My mom was practically vibrating with energy, and to be honest, I had some hearing loss from when I was in the SEALs—hence the reason I’d gotten out when I had—and I always had the volume turned up on my phone so I could hear.
I now realized my huge mistake.
Fuck.
“We tracked her as far as the bus station,” Mom continued, unaware that I’d just fucked up. Huge. “She didn’t get a ticket straight to you. She got it to St. Louis, Missouri.” She hesitated. “Do you want us to go after her?”
There was a long moment of silence as I digested her words.
The meaning.
She wanted to know if they should go after her or let Bossy make her way to me.
“I…”
“Let her come here.” Eddy poked me in the chest.
I opened my mouth to deny that, to explain why, but in my hesitation she used it against me and reached for my phone that I’d let fall from my ear.
“I have someone that’ll come pick her up,” she said into my phone.
I couldn’t hear my mother’s response, because again, hearing issues, but Eddy started to explain.
“I’m Weaver’s good friend,” she must’ve answered my mother’s question. “I can have my sister pick her up from the bus station. She’s actually flying into the same airport to play soccer today. I can get her picked up and brought back to Weaver.”
They spoke a little bit more, but my mother must’ve calmed down, because she was no longer raising her voice.
“Okay, okay. Yes, it’s good to meet you, Shirley. I’ll take care of them both.”
Before I could ask her what she was thinking, she placed my phone down on the bed, careful not to wake Jekyll, and picked her own phone up.
She placed it on speaker so that I could hear every word that was said.
When Nettie answered she sounded distracted.
“Hey, Eddy,” Nettie said. “I’m in the middle of warm-ups, what’s up?”
“Weaver’s daughter ran away from home, and she got a bus ticket to St. Louis. Which is where you’re at. Do you think after your game you can go pick her up before you fly back home?” Eddy asked without preamble.
“Um, sure.” She paused. “But I don’t have a ticket for her.”
“I’ll handle that,” Eddy said. “We’ll make sure that we get Boston’s ticket sent to your phone. She’s underage, so she won’t need an ID or anything.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Nettie snickered. “You remember when we ran away at sixteen and our mom met us two bus stops away and lectured us all the way home?”
“Yeah.” Eddy snickered too. “I think it’s a rite of passage.”
“Damn straight.” She paused. “Why is it so hot to think about Weaver having a daughter?”
Eddy’s eyes met mine when she said, “I know, right?”
They hung up, and only when we stayed staring at each other in uncomfortable silence for a little bit too long did Eddy say, “A dad, huh? Nettie’s right. That is kind of hot.”
I snorted.
“Do you know someone that can get her a ticket without notifying the government and the National Guard?”
