Page 71 of Filthy Little Midlife Fling

Danny’s perfectly fine.

Across the parking lot, Jace’s mom waves at me from the driver’s seat of her SUV.

I jog over to her as she lowers the window. “Elodie, hi.”

“Remy,” she says with a smile. “Busy day?”

“Something like that,” I answer. “Were you waiting here because of Danny?”

She grins. “Jace refused to leave him on his own, and I figured I could listen to my podcast while we waited for you.”

“Thank you,” I tell her. “That’s really— Thank you. My…” What is Audrey to me? Girlfriend seems juvenile. Partner seems presumptuous. I glance at my phone in my hand, but there’s still no word from Audrey. Something has to be wrong. There’s no other explanation. I clear my throat. “I had a ride lined up for him, but it fell through.”

“I don’t mind,” Elodie tells me, smiling. “The boys love each other.”

I rap my knuckles on the edge of her window frame. “I should get Danny home. Still on for a playdate on Saturday?”

“Of course.” She calls Jace’s name, then waves goodbye to me as her son comes running.

Danny sees me, calls out a goodbye to the counselor across the field, then dashes toward my car. “Remy! We played catch.” He shows me his baseball glove for emphasis. “Jace said we could practice on Saturday at his house.”

“Sounds fun, buddy,” I tell him, ruffling his hair. “You okay? Sorry I’m late.”

“That’s okay. Jace says if we want to turn pro, we have to put in the hours.” He throws the baseball up in the air and bobbles it when he tries to catch it again. “But wasn’t Audrey supposed to come pick me up today?”

“Something came up, and she couldn’t come,” I tell him. It’s not exactly a lie if I don’t know what happened, is it?

Why hasn’t she called?

“Oh. Okay.”

My heart is thumping weirdly. I trusted Audrey to pick my kid up, and she just…didn’t show. That’s not like her. Something must have happened. Audrey wouldn’t let me down like that unless there was a good reason. The only thing I can think about is that she’s hurt—or worse.

Fear and panic and worry go through the meat grinder of my psyche until I’m so keyed up I’m not sure I can drive. My hands shake, and I can’t take a full breath. I need to know Audrey’s okay. I grab my phone and call out to Danny, “Hey, buddy, sit tight for a sec. I’m going to make a phone call.”

Then I face away from him and try Audrey’s number one more time.

TWENTY-SEVEN

AUDREY

I make it to the store before it closes, and I buy every single drawer organizer they have. I also grab some extra wicker baskets and various supplies that we use in Organizing Goddess projects, along with velvet hangers by the truckload. Everything I see that could be remotely useful goes in my cart. I buy enough labels for my label maker to last me two years. I’ll have to do a thorough inventory of my business, but right now I just need to make sure there are no more crises until I can place orders with our usual suppliers. I’m in survival mode, which means I need to pay a premium for these things.

By the time I’ve loaded everything into my van, I’m sweaty and exhausted, and my business’s bank account has shrunk considerably. The sharp edge of my panic has worn down, and for the first time in more than six hours, I feel like I can breathe.

My phone buzzes. I fumble through my things, and my brows jump when I see the dozens of notifications on my screen. Remy’s name flashes on the screen. What in the world…

“Hello?”

“Audrey,” Remy says, sighing. “You’re okay.”

“What? Of course I’m okay.” What is he talking about—

“You were supposed to pick Danny up from camp, and you didn’t show,” he says in a strange voice. “I thought something happened.”

My entire body goes cold. As if my legs suddenly lose all their strength, I stumble into the side of my van and grip the handle to keep myself upright. “Remy—oh my God, Remy. I’m so sorry.”

There’s a short, sharp pause. “Did you… Did you forget?” His voice is colder than I’ve ever heard it.

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