Page 73 of Love in Tandem
“Aw, well, would you look at this,” a raspy voice cut in. A short elderly woman with long gray hair scooted her walker closer, then lifted a hand to play with the baby’s fingers. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing. And the spitting image of your papa, aren’t you? Yes, you are. My my, he looks just like you,” she said to Zach.
Zach sent Charlotte a look and it took everything in her not to laugh. A bald man with giant ears joined them. “Well, what do we have here, Margie?”
“Isn’t he just the sweetest little guy, Ralph? Look at that handsome face.”
Ralph ran a palm over his smooth scalp. “My wife always did have a thing for bald guys. Uh-oh.” He pointed to the stain spreading up the baby’s onesie. “Looks like this little fella done filled his britches and then some. Oh yeah. He sure did. Oh my, I remember those days.”
“How old is he?” Margie asked Charlotte. “He looks about five months. Am I right?”
“Oh, I don’t actually—”
“I’m betting she’s right,” Ralph cut in. “You know why? Her dad used to work down at the carnival. He guessed ages and weights. And he was good, too. Margie takes after him.”
She blushed and batted a palm. “Not as good as my father, of course.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You knew exactly how much that watermelon at the grocery store weighed last week.”
“Yeah, but I was two ounces off on the cantaloupe.”
Now Ralph batted his palm in the air. “It was a funny-shaped cantaloupe. Anybody would have had trouble with that one.” Ralph tugged on his wife’s elbow. “We better let these two young’uns take care of business.”
Margie reluctantly unlatched herself from the baby’s fingers and gripped her walker. After several singsongy goodbyes to the baby, they disappeared into the sub shop. Soon as the door closed behind them, Zach hit Charlotte with a serious look. “Why do we attract every strange person on this planet like bees to honey?”
Charlotte giggled and pointed at the baby’s leaky diaper. “Don’t you mean flies to poo?”
“Will you please take this baby back now? I’m not going into a woman’s restroom.”
“Fine.” Charlotte settled the diaper bag on her shoulder and retrieved the infant back into her arms. She was actually a bit surprised the mom hadn’t come out to see what the holdup was. “I’ll grab the sandwiches once I’m done. We’ve delayed long enough as it is, so be prepared to eat fast.” Zach started to follow her. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be guarding the bike.”
“I need to wash my hands first. The bike will be fine.”
“It better be. We can’t handle any more delays.”
They both entered the gas station and headed quicky for the bathrooms. Charlotte pushed open the women’s door, ready to apologize for taking so long.
But she didn’t have to apologize at all. The mother had disappeared. And there on the toilet, still crying, sat the toddler.
Zach had never held a baby this long in all his life. He had to admit, it felt kind of nice—once the diaper situation had been resolved. He lifted the baby above his head, spinning and swerving while making airplane noises. It was the only trick he knew, but so far it seemed to be the only trick he needed. The baby drooled in delight.
Unlike Charlotte, who had been ranting and foaming at the mouth for the past fifteen minutes as she clung to the toddler’s hand. “Where would she go? Do you think she was kidnapped? She had to have been, right? She didn’t seem like the type of mother to abandon her children. Granted, she was sobbing on a dirty bathroom floor. Maybe she snapped. Do you think she snapped? Oh no, I bet she snapped. We need to alert the authorities.”
“We did alert the authorities,” Zach reminded her, afraid Charlotte was two seconds away from snapping. “It’s going to be okay. They’re on their way now.”
“You know they’re going to have tons of questions for us. I don’t even remember what the mother looked like. What if they suspect us? What if they book us? What if we can’t post bail? What if we can’t finish the race because we’ve got to flee the country since we’re now on America’s Most Wanted list?”
Oh, she’d snapped, all right. “Charlotte, look at me. We are going to get arrested if you continue acting like a lunatic. Calm down. The police are pulling into the parking lot now. It’s all going to be straightened out in no time. We don’t have a thousand miles to bike. We have less than eighty. We’ll make up those miles in no time. We’ve got this.”
He hoped. Because yeah, this delay could definitely cause problems. Best-case scenario—they’d have to bike a little past dark. Worst-case scenario—everything Charlotte said.
A squad car parked in front of the gas station. Two uniformed officers climbed out, both eyeing Charlotte and Zach with frowns. “We got a call about a missing woman,” the first officer said.
“Yes.” Charlotte immediately started flailing her arms and babbling worse than the baby. “She was in the bathroom crying when I took the baby, and now she’s gone. Just gone.”
The first officer glanced at his partner, a woman with a reddish ponytail, who returned his glance with a meaningful look of her own. As if they were already communicating in silent cop-partner talk.
“You took her baby?” the female officer said.
“Yes.” Charlotte pointed to the baby in Zach’s arms. “He’d pooped all over. The baby, not Zach. So I took him while I went in search of the diaper bag. Well, I found the diaper bag, but then a couple of people started talking to us about cantaloupes, so I didn’t get back right away. Then by the time I did get back, she was gone. And that’s all I know. Honest.”
