Page 64 of Too Old for This
“You’re considering Oak Manor?” Bonnie says.
“Depends on what I get for the house. Serenity Village is closer to my budget. But there are some others I’d like to check out. I’m also considering moving down to California, to be closer to Archie and the grandkids.”
“Moving?” Sheila says.
Bonnie gives me a sad face. “That would be terrible for us, but I understand if you want to be close to the kids. Especially with the new baby.”
“I don’t believe it,” Sheila says. “You don’t want to be around babies.”
Yes and no. I do want to be around my grandchildren, but I don’t want to raise them or be the built-in babysitter. Stephanie always loved it when I was around and available to watch the kids, but I don’t know what Morgan will be like. Yes, I want to spend more time with Archie and the grandkids. Olive and Noah don’t need a babysitter anymore, but the newborn will.
Before any of that can happen, I need to find out if Archiewantsme in California. He hasn’t asked me to move down, and I’ve never brought it up.
“And you’re sure this is what you want?” Sheila says.
What I don’t want is to have this conversation right here and now. I’ve got a dozen other things on my mind, starting with a phone call from Tula a few hours ago.
—
It wasn’t a complete surprise, given what I had been up to. Tula wanted to know if I had heard from Norma again.
“It’s so funny you ask that,” I said. “Norma called me lastnight. And I have to admit, I didn’t really understand what she was talking about.”
“Did she mention something about finding the right questions?”
“She did. And I think there’s a note involved? I didn’t really understand it all.”
He exhaled hard, blowing into the phone. I was happy to hear that. Tula sounded as frustrated as I felt—though for very different reasons. I sat down at the kitchen table, wrapped my hand around my hot cup of coffee, and waited for him to continue.
“She said she thinks someone is trying to stop her from finding Plum,” he said. “But then five minutes later, she said someone was helping her.”
“That sounds like a strange way to help.”
“Can you do me a favor and let me know if you hear from her again? She seems to be running her own…investigation.”
“Absolutely.”
I hung up feeling pretty good about my progress so far. Norma was probably trying to figure out which “he” the caller was referring to—Cole or Tula or both. She also received my note, which had been left at the front desk. I paid a stranger twenty dollars to deliver it.
Then I called Norma again. With the prepaid.
It was late last night, around eleven o’clock, and she was in her room instead of the bar. Norma answered the phone on the first ring, her voice thicker and heavier than usual.
I imagined her sitting on the bed, her hand clasped around the phone. Today’s landlines are so boring. The old ones hadthe curly wires attaching the receiver to the base. I thought about strangling her with one of those.
But I had a job to do. I pressedPlayon the voice-changing program. No male voice this time.
I used a little girl.
“Mommy?”
“Plum? Oh my God!”
“Mommy, why did you leave me?”
“Baby, I—”
Click.
