Her phone rang while she was dashing on mascara, and she was so certain it was her mother asking if she’d received the gift that she almost didn’t pick it up. But then she happened to look at the screen. It was her dad.Dad!Now what? It was her first family call of the day, and she thought she’d almost made it, had finally gotten through to them toleave her alone, but of course that was like hoping for world peace. With a sigh, she picked up the phone. “Hey, Dad, what’s up?”
“Amy?”
Yes, this was Amy, as evidenced by the fact that he’d called her number and she’d answered. “Yep, it’s me. What’s up?” She applied more mascara.
“Oh good, it’s you,” he said, as if she hadn’t spoken. “Now listen, honey, I know you’re at work, but I need to talk to you.”
“Okay, but I’m—”
“I’m worried about your mother. She has not picked up her phone all day, and that’s not like her.”
Amy paused. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. Her parents lived in the same house. Why was he even calling her? Couldn’t he walk to the kitchen and find her? “You mean she’s not at home?”
“That’s what I mean.”
“Okay. Maybe she’s at pickleball. She keeps that calendar on the side of the fridge.”
“I thought that, too,” he said. “But there is nothing on the calendar and her racket is right here.”
Speaking of rackets, the last time Amy had been over, Duchess had helped herself to one, and Amy had had to replace it. She leaned backward, intending to cast a stink eye to her dog, but Duchess was not there. She put down her mascara and walked to the door of the bathroom. “She’s probably out shopping,” she said to her father.No Duchess. She glanced toward the garden door and noticed it was ajar. Had sheforgotten to close it this morning? Or had the little blind troublemaker figured out a way to open it? It didn’t have the most secure latch.
“That would be a lot of shopping,” her dad said. “We’re talking all day.”
He clearly knew nothing about shopping. “Then she must be at the spa. Or out with friends. She probably told you where she was going and you forgot.” She opened the back door and looked in the garden. No Duchess.
“No, I would remember. And, you know…she won’t talk to me, Amy,” he blurted.
Amy stopped searching for Duchess for a moment. “What?”
“She’s not speaking to me. Not a word.”
That didn’t sound at all like her mother. Amy’s experience was that she never let anything go unsaid. Furthermore, her mother had not mentioned being angry with her father. “Since when?”
“Since…well, recently is all I can tell you.” He sounded so sad.
Amy was confused. She returned to her room and sank onto the foot of her unmade bed and rubbed her forehead. Her parents weren’t speaking to each other? They were best friends. Or at least that was the face they presented to the world. “I’m sorry, Dad, I didn’t know. Maybe you could call Kevin and talk about it?” Who, last time Amy checked, had absolutely nothing to do and could handle this.
“Kevin?” Her dad snorted. “Why would I call Kevin? Wait…do you think he knows something?”
“No, I’m sure he knows nothing. I just thought that maybe you’d want to talk—”
“Amy, you’re a woman. Tell me the truth—do you think something is going on? What does your intuition tell you? Do you think it could be the lack of intimacy?”
“Dad!” Amy surged to her feet. She had a strong urge to stick herfingers in her ears like she used to do when she was a kid. “Please don’t say another word. I don’t want to know anything. Come on, I’m at my art retreat.”
“I know, I know, and I did hesitate to call you. But doesn’t it concern you that I can’t get hold of her?”
She didn’t know why, but Amy was not concerned. Her mother was a very busy person, and she would guess that she probably told Dad where she was and he forgot. Again, why couldn’t he take this concern to Kevin, who could literally spend every minute of the day out looking for her? “I’m not really concerned, Dad. If something had happened to her, the authorities would have been in touch by now.”
“You’re right,” he said morosely. “I know you’re right, but I can’t help but worry about her. Do you know last week she went out with the Bossy Posse and didn’t come home until two in the morning?”
She did not know that, but again, not surprising. The Bossy Posse was a group of women her mother’s age who thought they were hilarious and liked to Do Things. They were essentially a book-pickleball-wine-travel group that rotated between houses and venues. “She’ll turn up, Dad. She lives in the same house you do, so you’ll know the moment she comes home. I’m sorry, I have to go find Duchess.”
“Sure, okay. I’m sorry I bothered you,” he said, and sighed long.
That forlorn thing again! Amy winced. “You didn’t bother me. I just…I’m sort of taking a break from…everything.” She hoped he understood that everything meant her family.
“I’m sorry.” He sniffed and she wondered if he was being sentimental. “But I hope for both our sakes that she’s all right. Because I don’t know what I did,” he continued, clearly not ready to give up the ghost. “What could I have done? I know I haven’t been as frisky as she likes lately, but that medicine I’m taking for my blood pressure is really—”
