Page 87 of Shameless

She interrupts herself when a waiter comes to clear the plates of the main course.

“Is your granddaughter done with her meal, ma’am?” the guy asks.

Jenna’s chair is empty. How long has she been gone?

I was so distracted by the conversation at the table, that I didn’t see her get up.

“Jenna?” I call, looking around. “Jenna, where are you?”

Mom turns around to check, if by any chance, she went to the table where Jasmine and Evan are having dinner.

Where the fuck is my daughter? “Jenna?” I call again, rising from my chair.

Crew stands up too, lifting the tablecloth. “She had Napoleon on her lap. He loves to look for crumbs under the table, maybe they’re hiding. Ok, no. They aren’t there.”

Tom tries to be the voice of reason. “She was here a minute ago. She can’t have gone far, right? Maybe she’s at another table, she was playing with some other kids in the bouncy castle.”

We all leave the table to see if Tom is right—except for Tiffany, who keeps sipping on her vodka soda without a care in the world—but my daughter is nowhere to be found.

“Maybe she’s gone to the restroom? Earlier on she was so proud of showing me how she can go on her own.” Mom suggests.

After a quick check however, we establish that Jenna didn’t go to the toilet.

“Where can she be?”

A horrible realization hits me and Lula at the same time.

“She kept crying that she wanted to go swimming. What if?—”

Terror grips my insides. “She doesn’t know how to swim without a flotation device or a life jacket.”

Crew clasps my shoulder. “Napoleon can swim, but he hates the water. If he’s with her, hopefully he’ll do what he’s always doneevery time I took him to the beach with me. He usually barks up a storm because he doesn’t want to go in the water.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Fuck, I hope so. The sea was still choppy when we were changing for dinner. If she went into the water…” I can’t even finish that sentence.

Crew nods, his expression as tense as mine. “Let’s go look for her.”

“We should split up to cover more ground,” Lula suggests. “There are a few places she could be at if she’s trying to go into the water.”

Tom takes control of the situation. “I’ll alert the staff. There should be people setting up chairs and loungers for the fireworks. Maybe one of them has seen her. Hopefully someone stopped her.”

Stefan agrees. “True. She could have gone to the pool too. We should check there just in case.”

My relationship with Jasmine didn’t work for many reasons. Finding her in bed with another guy was just the tip of the iceberg.

“I can’t believe you fucking lost our daughter. You had one job?—”

I feel guilty enough without my ex’s accusations. The fact that she isn’t exactly “Mother of the Year” material does nothing to make me feel better. “You were one table away and you didn’t notice that she slipped away.” I argue. “We can hash this out later, Jaz. Rather than wasting your breath to blame me, help me find Jenna.”

Lula

“Jenna, Jenna!”

We all run in every direction, looking for Jules’s daughter and Napoleon.

Stefan is right that they should check the pool and the bouncy castle and all the places that could attract an almost three-year-old. I haven’t been around a lot of small kids, but I noticed today how fickle their attention span can be, so it’s better not to leave any stone unturned.

“Jenna, Napoleon!” Crew isn’t far behind me. “We should check around the changing huts too. I’ve seen a lot of kids playing hide and seek around here.”

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