“I think you’d like all the Austrian castles and music and mountain lakes.”
I sip my tea. “Perhaps one day I’ll go.”
“You should fly over with our team,” he says. “Maybe you can help search for Annika while we dive.”
I blink, shocked at first at this suggestion; then I mull over his words. He might as well have suggested I visit the moon. What would it be like to visit a place like Austria, reunite golden watches and other heirlooms with their owners?
“I don’t know...”
“Why not?”
A reasonable question, but I don’t have a reasonable answer, at least not one he would understand. I have the money to travel now, thanks to Brie and Charlotte, but the truth is, I’m afraid. Dr. Nemeth probably travels all the time. I can’t very well tell him that I’ve dropped the anchor of my life right here and don’t want to leave.
“Hate flying?” he asks, breaking the silence that has grown awkward between us.
“I’ve never actually been on an airplane before.”
“Really?”
“Scout’s honor,” I say, holding up three fingers.
He studies me as if I’m a relic in a museum. “You’ve never left Ohio?”
“Yes, I’ve left Ohio, but I can drive just fine to almost anyplace I want to go.”
He nods, quick and businesslike. Not understanding but acknowledging my words. I could tell him that I travel plenty, that the books in the shop and in my flat overhead are my transportation to exotic locations, traveling across time even, but I suspect he won’t understand that either.
“Grammy and I are going to Austria soon,” Ella says as she lowers her drink. “Dad’s taking me to the ice caves, and Grammy wants to see the music stuff.”
Dr. Nemeth smiles. “All the places around Salzburg whereThe Sound of Musicwas filmed.”
Ella’s not smiling, though. When tears puddle in the corners of her eyes, her dad reaches for her hand. “You’ll hardly blink, and we’ll be in Austria together.”
Ella studies him skeptically.
“Okay,” he concurs. “Several blinks.”
“A hundred million of them,” she says. “Maybe more.”
“What if we count the days, not the blinks?”
She straightens in her chair. “Twenty-one days.”
“Team Nemeth,” he says, holding out his fist.
She bumps it. “Team Nemeth.” But after she says this, her smile fades again. “Except Mom—”
“We have to head out.” Dr. Nemeth glances at his watch, interrupting her.
The pretty woman pictured in his office flashes through my mind, and I’m curious to know what Ella was going to say about her mother. But she’s sufficiently distracted now as she hops out of her chair. Her dad slides his tablet back into his bag before reaching for the album.
I nod down at the photograph. “Do you mind if I take a picture of this?”
“Not at all.”
After snapping it, I stand up beside him. “Please let me know what you find about Annika.”
“Of course.”
