Page 91 of Missing

“Duh.”

I would have thought five was too young for eye rolling.

“Do you think you can convince your mom to take you out for ice cream after school?”

“What if she says no?”

He had a point, today was her first day back to work since the kidnapping, and more stressfully, Chase’s first day back at daycare.

“Tell her you think it’ll cheer her up.” It might work, today would be stressful and she wouldn’t want to say no to him.

“It’ll cheer me up.” He sounded gleeful at the idea of getting more ice cream.

“Ice cream cheers everyone up.” We agreed he’d ask to go to his favorite ice cream shop right after school, and I’d meet them there.

“Chase?” I pulled him close, so he was standing between my legs, and we were eye to eye. “Can you keep this a secret? I want to surprise your mommy.”

“I can, Mr. Doug.” He crossed his heart.

“Good boy.” I ruffled his hair which made him squirm away.

“I’m a little man.” He put his hands on his hips and tried to make himself taller.

“Yeah, you are. Come here.” The tension in my shoulders relaxed for the first time in days as I pulled him into a hug.

I looked at my watch, two-eleven. Beth would be here to pick up Chase in fifty minutes. I had to hurry. I walked a much happier Chase back to the group before talking to Angela.

“We want to surprise Beth. Please don’t mention I was here,” I said.

Thankfully, she agreed without hesitation.

I waved goodbye to Chase.Please God, don’t let this backfire. If it did, Chase would be devastated.

So will I.

I jogged across the street to my truck and drove directly to the florists where I picked out the biggest bouquet of red roses they had. I asked the florist to wrap it in a ribbon and skipped the card. My plan was to tell her how I felt, not slip her a note.

#

I got to the ice cream shop ten minutes before I expected Beth and Chase to arrive.

Hoping to see them before they walked in, I chose a booth allowing me a view of the door and the big picture windows facing the sidewalk.

Every second I waited felt like an hour in hell. I second-guessed every detail of the plan. Was it wrong to ambush her like this? Was I a bad person for getting Chase involved? Would Chase tell her I’d be here? Would she be so pissed she wouldn’t listen to me?

Fifteen minutes of self-inflicted torture ticked by before I saw Chase dragging Beth to the door.She looks tired.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

Too late now.She’d seen me and was shaking her head back and forth in disbelief.

I stood up, holding the flowers by my hip. The huge bouquet made a statement, but it wasn’t the only statement being made today.

“Look Mommy, it’s Mr. Doug.” Chase’s high-pitched voice drew a lot of attention.

“I can see that.” She sounded exasperated, but not mad.

I took it as a good sign. Her eyes shifted to the bouquet—my version of a grand public gesture.

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