Page 13 of The Kidnapped

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“No problem,” Raleigh replied.

“No, it’s not… My mom–” Hollis stopped. “I already feel guilty about coming here and getting a job because it means I’m away from her.”

“You missed so much time.”

“That, and… she has stage-four cancer,” the woman revealed. “I don’t know how much time she has left. She insisted I come here, though. She said she’d only be sleeping anyway. But I don’t want to miss any time with her.”

“I understand,” Raleigh said. “I’m sorry, Hollis. I don’t really know what else to say.”

“It’s okay. Thank you,” she replied. Then, she looked down at her coffee in the Styrofoam cup and added, “Maybe one cup?”

“Coffee?”

“After this,” Hollis said. “I think I could use it, and she’s sleeping right now. I can get home right after.”

“Yeah, okay. One cup. And I’ll consider sharing my pie with you,” Raleigh teased.

Hollis smiled, and for the first time in a very long time, Raleigh thought of another woman as beautiful.

CHAPTER 6

“I’m glad you’ve made a friend, Hollis. Just because I’m sick, doesn’t mean you have to spend every moment of the day and night with me.”

“I want to spend time with you. We lost so much,” she replied, patting her mother’s thigh. “Can I get you more tea?”

“No, it’s my bedtime, I’m afraid. And tell her yes,” her mother suggested.

“It’s just coffee. And I’ll see her at group later this week,” she replied.

“Hollis, she reached out to you. That’s not an easy thing to do when you’re spending every moment of your life thinking about your little girl being out there without you. I’d know.”

“When we went to the diner after the last group meeting, we hardly talked about what happened to me or to her daughter. It was honestly kind of awkward.”

She and Raleigh had gone to the diner down the street from the community center. Hollis had ordered awful black tea, not wanting another coffee, and Raleigh had gotten coffee and a slice of apple pie. She’d offered Hollis a bite, but Hollis hadn’t been hungry. Then, they’d just sat in silence for a few minutes before Raleigh asked her what it was like being a librarian these days, with everyone reading on their phones and tablets. The small talk had continued like that for about thirty minutes. Then, Hollis had finished her tea and said she needed to get home. They’d exchanged numbers as they’d walked back to the community center for their cars in case either of them wanted to grab coffee again sometime.

Raleigh had messaged her the day before, asking if she wanted to get that coffee, but Hollis had declined because her mom had been having a bad day. She’d also declined because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go to coffee with Raleigh again. There wasn’t anything wrong with her, but their first attempt had been so awkward that Hollis wasn’t sure it was worth repeating.

“She might not have been ready to share just with you, one-on-one like that. And you weren’t ready to share with her. That’s okay.”

“What if I don’t want a friend who would just remind me of what happened?”

“You don’t have to be friends, I guess. You can be there to support her, and she can support you, but you can call it something else.”

“Like a sponsor in AA? Does it work like that when you were kidnapped by your own father?”

“I don’t know,” her mom said, standing up slowly from the sofa. “But I do know that I need to get some sleep. And I think you could use someone, Hollis. It can be this Raleigh. It could be a doctor or someone else entirely. You’ve been so focused on me and finding a job here.”

“I went to group. I shared,” Hollis said.

“And that’s great, honey. If that’s all you think you need, skip the coffee. But if you think you could use someone else to talk to, maybe consider giving it a chance.”

After Hollis put her mom to bed, she went into her old childhood bedroom and sat on the bed. She’d done this a few times since she’d arrived, and she usually just stared at the wall across from the bed. This time, she noticed an old, framed photo on top of the white dresser with pink and purple flowers painted on it. She hadn’t really noticed it before, but it looked off somehow. Hollis stood up and walked over. After removing it from the frame, she realized the picture had been folded back. It was of her with both of her parents, except her mother had folded back her father in the image, so it was just Hollis and Olivia. Hollis stared at the smiling family and wondered what had gone so wrong in their marriage that he’d felt the need to steal his own daughter from her mother.

She put the photo back as she found it and went to the guest room, her new room, to try to get some sleep, but hours later, she knew it wouldn’t come. She kept thinking of that smiling family and how her mother was sick and dying while her father was in that orange jumpsuit. She reached for her phone then and sent a quick text. It wasn’t exactly appropriate. It was after midnight. She shouldn’t be disturbing Raleigh this late. But almost immediately, there was a response. So, Hollis dressed in a worn pair of jeans and a sweater, checked on her mother, who was still asleep, and headed out in her rental car.

“Hi,” Raleigh greeted as Hollis entered the diner. “I hope you don’t mind… I ordered you coffee since it was pretty clear you hated the tea last time.”

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