Page 99 of Sycamore Circle

He slid in the booth across from her and grinned before clicking on Bo’s name. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” Watching Finn press Send, Chloe prayed that Bo would pick up. If he didn’t answer either, she was going to go crazy with worry.

“Hiya Bo. It’s Finn. Oh. Jah, I guess you would know it was me.” He paused. “Um, actually, I’ve got Chloe here. She wants to talk to you. It’s important.” After another second, he handed the phone to her.

Putting the cell phone up to her ear, she said, “Hi Bo. I’m so glad you answered.”

“Me, too. Girl, are you okay? What’s going on?”

His voice was a little rough but sounded kind too. “Um, have you talked to my mom today?”

“I did this morning.”

“But not since?”

“No, but I don’t usually call her in the middle of the day. I texted her a while ago, but she didn’t respond.” Sounding more concerned, he added, “Is everything okay?”

“Mom was supposed to pick me up from school and didn’t. She didn’t answer when I called, either.”

“Do you think she lost track of time or something?”

“My mom doesn’t lose track of time. Or if she does, she lets me know that she’s going to be late.” Trying to get Bo to understand, she rushed on. “Mom has my dance bag in her car too. If she couldn’t have picked me up, she would’ve dropped it off at school or something. Mom doesn’t forget things like that.” Chloe took a deep breath. She was starting to panic. “I’m kind of worried.”

“I’m glad you called, girl. That was the right thing to do. Now, where are you now? You aren’t home alone, are you?”

“My dad’s out of town, so I walked to the diner from school. Finn said I should call you.” Feeling even more anxious, her voice hitched. “Bo, what if she got in a car accident?”

“If she did, we’ll find out and then we’ll deal with it, right?”

“Yes.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m freaking out for no reason.”

“No, you did the right thing and Finn did good for calling me. There’s no reason to worry by yourself when you’ve got people who can help out, too.” His voice softened. “Now, it’s likely nothing has happened to your momma, but we care about her, so we want to be sure, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, even I’ve seen that fancy, complicated calendar your momma’s got going on. Do you remember what she was planning to do today?”

“No. Maybe tutor?”

“Hmm. Okay, you sit tight at that diner. Or do you want to go to dance class? I can find you there if you’d rather be there.”

“No way. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to swing by your house to see if your mother’s car’s there. Is there a hide-a-key around or something?”

“Yep. It’s under the grill.”

“If I don’t see her, I’m going to go to that calendar and see where she was today and try and see if I can find her. I’ll call you if I find out anything and you do the same. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s see. No matter what, I’ll come over to get you within the hour. I’m not going to leave you to sit in that diner all night.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, Chloe, I know it’s hard, but try not to worry. We don’t know that anything’s the matter, right?”

She drew a deep breath. “Right.”

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