Chương 7
“Did you knock?”
“Yes.”
“Did you call?”
“I don’t have a phone.”
Claire crossed the hall.
Henry’s door opened with the spare key card Claire still had from check-in because the hotel had accidentally placed all three room cards in one envelope.
The room was empty.
His coat was gone.
So was the Pine Hollow envelope.
Claire called him.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Her irritation rose fast enough to feel like fear.
She called Daniel.
“Have you seen Dad?”
“No.”
“Margaret?”
“No. Why?”
“He’s not in his room.”
“Maybe he went downstairs.”
Claire hated the ease in his voice.
“I called.”
“So?”
“He didn’t answer.”
Daniel paused.
“He’s allowed not to answer.”
“I know.”
The words came out through clenched teeth.
Lily stood beside the window.
“Did the mirror—”
“No.”
Claire answered too fast.
Lily flinched.
Claire closed her eyes.
“Sorry. No, sweetheart. He didn’t go near the mirror.”
“You don’t know.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Because I need to.
She did not say that.
Claire called the front desk.
A staff member had seen Henry leave through the lobby fifteen minutes earlier.
Alone.
Claire’s pulse rose.
“Did he take a car?”
The employee could not tell.
She looked out the window.
The parking lot was half hidden by falling snow.
Henry’s SUV was gone.
She swore under her breath.
Lily heard.
“Where did Grandpa go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find him.”
“I’m trying.”
Claire called again.
Voicemail.
Daniel arrived two minutes later, still carrying a paper cup of coffee.
“What’s happening?”
“He drove somewhere.”
“Okay.”
“It’s snowing.”
“He has driven in snow before.”
“He bruised his hip eleven days ago.”
“He drives with his hands.”
Claire glared.
Daniel lifted one palm.
“Bad joke.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
“I can tell.”
Lily stood between them.
“Grandpa disappeared.”
Daniel crouched.
“He didn’t disappear.”
“Mom doesn’t know where he is.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“It is if mirrors are around.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
Claire shook her head.
“Not now.”
Her phone rang.
Henry.
She answered before the first full ring.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Hello to you too.”
“Dad.”
“I’m in town.”
“What town?”
“The one five miles down the road. There’s only one.”
“Why?”
“I needed toothpaste.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“There is toothpaste in the hotel store.”
“For eleven dollars.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Claire turned away from him.
“You drove five miles in snow because hotel toothpaste is expensive?”
“I drove five miles because I wanted to leave the hotel.”
There was the truth.
Claire’s anger paused.
Henry continued.
“I needed half an hour.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“So why didn’t you?”
Silence.
Claire almost laughed at the answer contained in it.
“Right.”
“I’ll be back.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“What does soon mean?”
“Claire.”
“What does it mean?”
“Twenty minutes.”
She looked at the window.
“Drive carefully.”
“I always do.”
“No, you don’t.”
He hung up.
Claire stared at the phone.
Daniel sipped coffee.
“Good conversation?”
She pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
He left.
Lily remained.
“Grandpa went for toothpaste?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because adults are ridiculous.”
Lily accepted this more easily than most explanations.
Henry returned thirty-five minutes later.
He carried toothpaste, a newspaper, and a small brown paper bag.
Claire waited near the lobby windows.
Lily sat on a sofa coloring a hotel map with crayons.
When Henry came through the revolving door, Claire stood.
He saw her.
His expression became defensive before she spoke.
That irritated her enough to produce calm.
“You said twenty minutes.”
“The roads are slow.”
“I know.”
“I drove slow.”
“Good.”
He seemed surprised.
Lily ran over.
“Grandpa!”
Henry barely had time to set down the bag before she wrapped both arms around him.
He looked at Claire over Lily’s head.
Claire saw embarrassment in his face.
Not because Lily hugged him.
Because he knew what his disappearance had done.
Lily pulled back.
“You have to tell me when you go.”
Henry’s eyebrows lifted.
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“What if I go to the bathroom?”
Lily considered.
“You can just say bathroom.”
Henry looked at Claire.
She did not rescue him.
He crouched.
“What if I forget?”
Lily put both hands on his shoulders.
“Then remember.”
Henry laughed quietly.
Not at her.
At himself.
“I’ll try.”
Lily looked at the brown bag.
“What’s that?”
“A cookie.”
“For me?”
“No.”
Her face collapsed.
Henry handed it to her.
“Obviously for you.”
She opened the bag.
Inside was a frosted sugar cookie shaped like a moose.
One antler had broken off.
Lily examined it.
“He’s hurt.”
“He had a difficult drive.”
Claire turned away before Henry saw her smile.
That afternoon the family gathered in the lounge for cards.
Lily played on the carpet with two cousins.
Henry sat near the fireplace reading the newspaper he had purchased in town. Claire tried not to watch him.
She failed.
At four, Margaret dropped into the chair beside her.
“You’re exhausting.”
Claire did not look up from her phone.
“Thanks.”
“I mean emotionally.”
“Even better.”
Margaret stole an almond from the bowl on the table.
“Your father is also exhausting.”
Claire looked at her aunt.
Margaret chewed.
“He’s my brother. I’m allowed.”
Claire lowered her phone.
“Did he tell you about Pine Hollow?”
“He told me he toured it.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Claire stared.
Margaret stopped chewing.
“Oh.”
“Last month?”
“I may have misunderstood.”
“You didn’t.”
Margaret looked toward Henry.
He continued reading.
Claire felt heat rise into her face.
“He told you before he told me.”
“Possibly because I don’t interrogate him.”
“Fantastic.”
“Claire.”
“No, really. Everybody gets to be very reasonable because I’m the one who gets called when something happens.”
Margaret’s expression changed.
“I called Daniel.”
“Daniel called me.”
“Yes.”
“Because Dad told him not to.”
Margaret looked down at the almond in her fingers.
Claire stared.
“What?”
“He didn’t want you worried.”
“That sentence is going to kill me.”
Margaret sighed.
“He knew you would react.”
“He was on a garage floor.”
May you like
“He bruised his hip.”
“He could have broken it.”
