Page 16 of Question Everything

“Will dinner be ready soon, Sib? I’m starving,” he said.

“Soon, brother, soon.” She turned her attention to Mia and led her over to the couch, sitting down herself and motioning for the Mia to do the same. “How are you feeling? Do you remember anything from before the accident?”

“Not really. I’m just grateful that Kyle has been so generous and has allowed Sarah and I to be his house guests. And Devon was able to retrieve my belongings from the car, so I have my ID now, my driver’s license and passport.”

“But you still don’t know where you were supposed to be going?” Sibby asked.

“No. I know that I drove up from New York but…”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re a Giant fan. That would be a big problem…” Tim said.

“A what?” she asked.

Kyle’s ears perked up.A New Yorker who doesn’t know who the Giants are? Maybe she’s not a sports fan.

“Just ignore him,” Colleen said as she swatted the back of her son’s head. “Leave the woman alone, now, Tim.” She turnedback around. “And this must be Sarah,” she said looking at the baby in her newly purchased car seat, resting at Mia’s feet.

“Yes,” Mia said, bending over to unlatch the harness and lift the little girl onto her lap. “I’m so relieved that she wasn’t hurt in the crash. I don’t know what I would have done if she’d been harmed.”

“Of course,” Colleen replied. “We all do our best to protect our children, don’t we? And she’s such a pretty little girl.”

Kyle looked over at the baby. She was dressed head to toe in pink, her chubby fingers in motion, her feet kicking in excitement. She seemed to know that she was the center of attention and was relishing every moment.

“Thank you,” Mia said.

“Can I get either one of you a beer?” Geoff stepped into the room and asked.

“If you’re here, where are the boys?” Sibby asked.

“In their room on their iPads. I needed a break so I told them they could have fifteen minutes of screen time before dinner.”

“I hear you,” Sibby said nodding in agreement. “And speaking of dinner, let me go check. It should be near ready.” She retreated into the kitchen, their mother trailing behind her.

Kyle slipped into the spot his sister had just vacated on the couch and said to Geoff, “a beer would be great.” Then he turned to Mia. “Or wine, if you’d like a glass.”

“Just a glass of water, thanks,” she replied.

Geoff went off to get the drinks and once he was out of earshot and Kyle saw his brothers turn back to watch the game, he whispered to Mia, “They all mean well. They’re just a loud, crazy group of people. God love ‘em, though. I know that I do.”

“It must be nice to have a large family,” she said.

“Maybe you have one too and they just don’t know how to find you. I know we’ll figure this out.”

“Do you really think so? Then why didn’t they file a missing person’s report? Maybe you can find the answer to where I was meant to be going? Maybe there are clues at my New York address?”

“I’ll ask Devon to check with his contacts at the Manhattan PD. It’s a possibility…” Kyle said.

“I find it hard to believe that your people aren’t looking for you. They must be frantic. If they file a missing person’s report, it will trigger a notification to my email.”

“Maybe,” she said slowly, nodding her head. “Or that’s the hope, anyway. But I’m not sure if there is anyone out there for me. That’s possible, right?”

Just then Geoff returned with a bottle of beer for him and a glass of water for her, ending the conversation. But something about the way she’d asked that last question him gave Kyle pause. To him, the tone of her voice made it sound like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be found.

Dinner wasthe raucous meal it always was, lots of reaching across the table, loud conversation and the one or two glasses of spilled milk. At least no one was arguing tonight; they all seemed to be on their best possible behavior in honor of their guest. Kyle sat back, watching the scene around him. His mother had wrangled Sarah away from Mia and was cooing softly in the little girl’s ear. His nephews were in their seats, squirming, but sitting, nonetheless. Sibby kept running back and forth into the kitchen refilling bowls and platters; his brothers were debating the wisdom of the call of the last play of the Patriot game, happy that their team squeaked out a final minute victory.

In a rare moment of reflection, Kyle thought back to the conversation he’d had with Mia about his suspension from the force. She offered all the right sentiment, said supportive words,and didn’t seem disturbed over the events as he explained them to her. Still, he had to wonder if she trusted him a little less now. For as heroic as he seemed to be surrounding her accident, he knew deep down that he was greatly flawed. He’d fired his gun wrongfully that night. If he got his badge back, he vowed to never make that same mistake again.

He glanced over at Mia. Her blue eyes sparkled in the light from Sibby’s ornate chandelier, which hung over the dining room table casting prisms of light on the linen tablecloth. He’d brought this woman into his house and now she sat in the middle of Sunday dinner with his family, but he still knew nothing about her. It made him begin to question his abilities as a detective.

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