Her mother was a terrible liar. “Are you feeling okay? And Dad? You’re not sick, are you?”
Mati listened to her mother swear nothing was wrong—she was still lying—and ignored David and Reese watching her.
“Mom, tell me what’s going on. I can tell something’s wrong.”
“No, Tilly. I can’t. You’re not—there’s nothing.”
Mati’s father’s voice boomed in the background. “Who is that? Did you say Tilly?”
Mati sighed.Here we go.
“Yes, dear. Do you want to speak with her?”
Mati reined in her impatience as she listened to her father protest that he didn’t need to speak with her—he never did—and her mother explain that Mati was back in town. Her father’s only reaction was, “Good, good. We’ll see her at dinner on Sunday.”
Her mom sighed. Mati waited until she was reasonably certain her father had returned to his chair in the living room, leaving her mother alone in the kitchen. It was an old routine.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” her mother said quickly. “I can’t—just come by when you can, okay? Maybe before Sunday.”
Mati’s unease grew. That wasn’t like her mother. “I’ll come right now if you need me.”
“No! No, it’s not—there’s nothing urgent. It’s…”
Mati’s chest tightened with alarm when her mother’s voice thickened, then choked off entirely.
“Mom.”
“It’s fine. We’re fine. We’re all healthy, and that’s what matters most,” her mother said.
Mati was pretty sure that was code for the arrival of the apocalypse.
“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in a half hour, maybe a little more.”
“No! No, it’s too late for you to come by. You’ll disrupt your father’s supper.”
Mati rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you promise me whatever is wrong won’t get worse between now and then, I’ll come tomorrow morning.”
Her mother sighed. “Okay. Come for coffee after breakfast. Your father will be at the office with the boys.”
Her father was retired. Or he was supposed to be. “The office? Is that why—”
“I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.”
“But—”
Her mother hung up. Mati tossed her phone onto the dash and swore.
“What’s going on?” Reese asked.
“I have no idea. Something is bothering my mother, but she won’t tell me what until I have coffee with her tomorrow morning.”
Only now did Mati realize she’d screwed up the plan for the next day and possibly made things harder for all of them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have talked to you both before agreeing to see her. I know you want to get back to the house.”
“No, it’s fine,” Reese said. “We’ll spend the night in town at your place, even if Hodges gives us the all-clear. Everything can wait if your family needs you.”
