Page 72 of When Love Is Lost and Found

"I don't."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. But first, I have to talk to Jon. Who's not speaking to me right now."

"Good, Lord, woman. What the heck is going on with you?"

"He's mad because I'm going for a walk at a farmers’ market with Patrick on Saturday. I agreed to go out with Patrick after Jon told me he has feelings for me. He asked me to cancel my date with Patrick and go out with him instead."

"Wow, that sounds so messy and so romantic."

"Betty?"

"Yes."

"Can we not talk about my messy life? Tell me about your engagement and your plans for the wedding. That's what's important right now."

"Your wish is my command!" Betty laughs.

***

When the Linders return home after dinner, Jon isn't with them.

I help Noah with his bath, and after he changes into his pajamas, I lie next to him and read him a bedtime story. By the time I leave his room, it's after nine.

I try to convince myself to call home but there's no guarantee Rick will be the one to answer the phone. I decide to put it off until tomorrow, but I do pick up the phone to make one more phone call before bed.

***

"Shay?"

"Hmm?" I hear myself ask. I open my eyes, but my room is pitch dark. The clock reads three-seventeen.

I close my eyes and settle back into my pillow. The knock on the door is real. I immediately sit up in bed.

"Shay? It's me, Elizabeth."

"Mrs. Linder?"

The door opens. Mrs. Linder, wearing pink silk pajamas, reaches for the light switch before stepping into the room.

"Shay, wake up, Sweetie. You have a phone call."

A sickening feeling shoots up my spine and settles in the pit of my stomach. A sensation I've experienced twice before. Once with Dad and then with Jimmy.

"Who is it?" I ask, jumping out of bed and reaching for my robe. My heart is thundering in my chest now. A phone call in the middle of the night is never, ever good.

"He said his name is Rick. It's about your mom."

Chapter 14

Jon

The clock reads three-forty when the phone's persistent ring wakes me up. Thank God it wasn't a nightmare forcing me out of sleep, but a phone call at this hour can't be good.

"Hello," I say groggily.

"Sorry to wake you, Son," Dad's worried tone peels the cobwebs off my brain and puts me on high alert. "I need you to get out of bed and come over right now."

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