Chương 13
Maya complained about the drive.
Sophie slept through half of it.
Daniel stopped twice because he was convinced the tire pressure light had come on.
It had not.
At the hotel, he handed both girls their room keys and said, “I have something to tell you.”
Maya immediately said, “No.”
Daniel blinked.
“No what?”
“No surprise travel plans.”
“There are no travel plans.”
“No boats.”
“No boats.”
“No helicopters.”
“No.”
Sophie looked suspicious.
“Passport?”
“At home.”
“Mom knows where we are?”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
Daniel held out his phone.
A group text showed Laura’s latest message:
Please make Sophie wear sunscreen. She thinks SPF is a conspiracy.
Sophie frowned.
“That proves nothing.”
Maya laughed.
Daniel handed her the phone.
“Call her.”
Sophie did.
Laura answered.
“Yes, I know where you are.”
“Okay.”
“Put sunscreen on.”
Sophie hung up.
Daniel waited.
“Are we cleared?”
She nodded.
“Provisionally.”
They ordered pizza.
Maya ate the cheese from the top and left the crust.
Daniel told her it was disgusting.
She told him he once transported a minor internationally under secret circumstances and therefore had limited authority on pizza etiquette.
He accepted the point.
That night, after Sophie fell asleep watching television, Daniel and Maya sat on the hotel balcony.
Traffic moved along the highway below.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Maya picked at the label on a bottle of water.
“You still think you saved me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
She glanced sideways.
“That was fast.”
“I think I got you out of danger.”
“That sounds like saved.”
“I think I got you out.”
He paused.
“Then I made being out into another kind of trap.”
Maya looked at the parking lot.
A family below was arguing about a beach towel.
The father kept insisting it was in the trunk.
The mother kept insisting she had watched him carry it upstairs.
Their daughter finally opened a backpack and found it.
Nobody apologized.
Maya smiled faintly.
“I did want you to come get me.”
“I know.”
“I’m glad you did.”
Daniel waited.
“I’m also still mad.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
He sighed.
“Okay.”
Maya laughed.
“You’re learning.”
“Slowly.”
She became serious again.
“When I said I needed Sophie, I didn’t mean bring her to me.”
“I know that now.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“No.”
“You do that.”
“What?”
“Decide what people mean while they’re still talking.”
Daniel leaned back.
“That sounds accurate.”
“It’s incredibly annoying.”
“I’m getting that impression.”
Maya twisted the bottle cap.
“Mom does the opposite.”
“What’s that?”
“She keeps asking what people mean until she gets the answer she wants.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Then stopped.
“That also sounds accurate.”
Maya looked at him.
“You two were terrible married.”
“Yes.”
“Are you better divorced?”
Daniel watched the headlights below.
“Sometimes.”
“That’s bleak.”
“It’s honest.”
She accepted that.
After a while she said, “Do you hate Mom?”
“No.”
“You did.”
“I was angry.”
“You hated her.”
Daniel did not correct her.
“Maybe for a while.”
“She hates you sometimes.”
“I know.”
“She also defended you when Aunt Rachel called you insane.”
Daniel looked over.
“When?”
“Last month.”
“What did she say?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Why bring it up?”
“To bother you.”
“That worked.”
Maya smiled.
They sat there until midnight.
Nothing was resolved.
That mattered too.
Nine months after the airport, prosecutors charged Marcus with offenses related to unlawful recording and possession of images obtained without consent. His attorney entered not-guilty pleas.
The family was warned that the case could take time.
Laura hated the uncertainty.
Maya hated being treated like evidence.
Sophie hated that reporters called twice after a court filing became public.
Daniel hated himself for almost answering one of them.
Naomi took his phone away during the second call.
Public attention lasted four days.
Then another local scandal replaced them.
That offended Laura until she realized anonymity was a gift.
They stopped reading comments.
Most people were wrong anyway.
Some called Daniel a heroic father.
Others called him a kidnapper.
Some blamed Laura.
Others said she was also a victim.
Strangers reduced months of failure, fear, love, ego, denial, and bad judgment into sentences short enough for social media.
Maya read one thread and threw her phone across the room.
The screen cracked.
Daniel looked at the damage.
Maya said, “Don’t.”
He held up both hands.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were going to.”
“I was going to ask if you had insurance.”
“That’s worse.”
Sophie laughed from the couch.
Over time, the family learned the difference between facts and conclusions.
Marcus had placed a recording device in Maya’s room.
Fact.
Laura had ignored Maya’s fear.
Fact.
Daniel had taken Maya abroad.
Fact.
Maya had initially agreed.
Fact.
Daniel had concealed her location from Laura.
Fact.
He had tried to take Sophie to Maya without Laura’s knowledge and without Sophie understanding where she was going.
Fact.
He had used Maya’s existing manifest slot rather than registering Sophie properly.
Fact.
Sophie had stopped him.
Fact.
Everything after that depended on what someone was trying to prove.
The girls became less interested in proofs.
They wanted rides to school.
Money for movies.
Permission to stay out late.
Maya wanted Laura to stop texting after 10:30.
Sophie wanted Daniel to stop correcting her grammar in messages.
Laura started dating no one.
Daniel dated one woman for three weeks and ended it after Sophie asked whether she was “a replacement household adult.”
The phrase frightened him.
Sophie had heard it from a therapist.
Maya told her never to say it again because it made everyone miserable.
The second anniversary of the airport incident passed without anyone mentioning it.
Then, three days later, Sophie found the black watch in her desk drawer.
The battery had died.
She took it to Daniel.
They were sitting in his new apartment, which was smaller than the old house and had terrible water pressure.
He opened the back of the watch with a tiny screwdriver.
Sophie watched.
“You still clean when you’re mad.”
Daniel glanced up.
“What?”
“You cleaned the whole kitchen after Mom called yesterday.”
“I wasn’t mad.”
“You alphabetized the spices.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
“That may be concerning.”
“What did she say?”
“Adult stuff.”
Sophie groaned.
“I hate that.”
“I know.”
He caught himself.
She smiled.
Daniel replaced the battery and turned the watch over.
The second hand began moving.
Sophie slid it onto her wrist.
She had grown enough that it almost fit.
“Do you ever think about that night?”
Daniel did not pretend to misunderstand.
“Yes.”
“Every day?”
“No.”
“Me either.”
He set the screwdriver down.
Sophie looked at the watch.
“I thought you were going to make me disappear.”
Daniel’s face went still.
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked up.
“I never told you that part.”
He waited.
“I thought Maya was gone and you had her name on my ticket and maybe you were going to make me be her somehow.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
Sophie became irritated.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“A little.”
She leaned back in the chair.
“I don’t think that now.”
He nodded.
“But I did.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
Daniel let out a shaky breath.
Sophie frowned.
“You can say it that time.”
“Thanks.”
She checked the watch.
“What time is Mom picking me up?”
“Six.”
“It’s six-oh-seven.”
Daniel looked at his phone.
“She texted.”
“What?”
“Traffic.”
Sophie sighed dramatically.
“She’s always late.”
“Usually.”
“You’re always early.”
“Usually.”
“Maya is never anything.”
“That is also usually true.”
They sat in the quiet apartment.
A neighbor upstairs dragged something heavy across the floor.
Daniel glanced at the ceiling.
Sophie said, “Don’t go complain.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You had the face.”
“What face?”
“The face where you decide everybody else is doing life wrong.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That’s a terrible face.”
“It is.”
“I’m working on it.”
“I know.”
This time neither corrected the phrase.
When Laura arrived, she honked from the parking lot even though Daniel had asked her not to do that.
Sophie grabbed her backpack.
At the door she turned.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“If we ever go on a plane again, I pick where.”
“Deal.”
“And Mom knows.”
“Yes.”
“And my name is on the ticket.”
Daniel’s mouth moved.
“Yes.”
Sophie nodded.
Then she ran downstairs.
Daniel walked to the balcony and watched her cross the parking lot.
Laura leaned across the passenger seat and opened the car door.
Sophie climbed in.
Before closing it, she looked back up.
For a moment Daniel saw the nine-year-old girl in the burgundy velvet dress, terrified beneath gold terminal lights, crushing a silver card with her sister’s name on it.
Then Sophie lifted her wrist.
The cheap black watch caught the evening sun.
Daniel lifted one hand.
Sophie waved once and shut the door.
Laura drove away.
Daniel stayed on the balcony until the car disappeared at the corner.
Then he went back inside, where one cabinet remained open from breakfast.
He reached toward it.
Stopped.
May you like
And left it that way.
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