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The only way to know for sure is to call them yourself.

She far preferred a less risky solution, but Claire pulled out her phone all the same.

Trying not to get her hopes too high, she waved lightly to Melody and Tasha, signaling that she was going to make a call. They smiled at her with understanding, then Claire slipped out of the fragrance shop, drawing in a deep breath of the air that still stunk, but luckily, she could no longer taste.

Alright, so she’d call them. If they picked up, great. If not, she’d leave a message and hope for a call back. If they didn’t call back, that was fine, too. She was easy breezy. Chill. As cool as a cucumber.

And yet, as the other end continued to ring, that cucumber was cut shorter slice by slice.

Maybe they were just out of cell service. Or maybe they were just too busy. They were five or six hours behind in the Caribbean, so they might be—

“Claire Bear?”

Her heart raised, and Claire beamed, her mom’s voice bringing tears to her eyes in an instant. She turned toward the glass display of the shop so no one else could see her emotion.

“Hey, Mom,” she responded with a steady voice she could be proud of.

“Oh, honey! It’s so good to hear from you! Jeremy, it’s Claire Bear! Oh, baby, how are you? How is London?”

Warmth spread in her heart like blazing fire. “I’m good. And London is amazing.”

“Oh, isn’t it? I’m so glad you finally get to see what we saw. There really is no other place like it on earth.”

“Claire Bear! How you doing?” Her Dad’s voice boomed into the phone next, and Claire grinned.

“Hey, Dad. I’m really good.”

“Aw, that’s great, honey. Who would’ve thought you’d be a little world traveler, just like us?”

“Isn’t it amazing?” Mom said.

“So amazing. I never thought—”

“Oh, just a minute, Claire Bear. Jeremy, is that them?” Her mom’s voice sounded as if she’d moved the phone away from her ear. “Oh, it is. Can you get it?”

Claire listened to the one-sided conversation, trying to keep the waning fire alight in her chest. “Mom?”

“Sorry, baby,” her mom said, coming back on the phone. “You actually caught us at a bad time. We were just on our way to brunch with some friends we met on the cruise.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, her hope deflating. “We can talk later then.”

“Would you mind? We’ll call you right after, okay? We can’t wait to hear all about your trip!”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“You’re the best, Claire Bear!” Dad piped in. “Talk to you soon!”

“Okay. Sounds—”

The phone fell silent on the other end, her words ending prematurely.

That was alright. She probably needed to get back to Melody and Tasha anyway, give her perspective on which fragrance to buy. But Claire’s feet refused to move. Instead of entering the shop shrouded in perfume and pleasant memories that would never belong to her, she remained near the escalators, pulling up Facebook to numb the feelings burgeoning in her chest.

When she was met with the sight of at least fifty new photos from her parents, however, posted only minutes ago, a crushing weight pressed against Claire’s chest.

So they’d had time enough to go through all their photos, upload all their photos, and post all their photos…but not enough time to carry on a two-minute conversation with their own daughter?

She tried to spin her thoughts into something more positive, but the truth was as clear as the pictures they’d posted. If they’d wanted to talk to her, they would’ve made time.