“That’s not the only reason I called, Gift,” he sounded irritated, perhaps because she’d just interrupted him. “I have a case I need you and Rivers on.”
“A case? Sir, I’m dealing with a lot here, and I’m not even home right now. I’m visiting my grandmother in South Carolina.”
“Well come back. Listen, I considered just sending Rivers by himself, but I think this is a case the two if you could wrap quickly. It seems to fit nicely with the last few you’ve worked on.”
“Sir, I…”
But she stopped here, as her heart seemed to communicate something to her brain. It was what she supposed some people might refer to as an a-ha moment. She knew right away that she would not outright refuse the case. Over the last three days, she’d felt lost. Coming to visit with Grandma Tate had helped that but there were still secrets she was keeping, still worries and fears about her future that had gone uncommunicated with everyone. It had her feeling lost and useless. And she knew the only thing that had ever truly made her feel fully in control, and as if she had a sense of purpose, was her work.
Besides, if she was being selfishly honest, a simple case would be a welcome distraction. “Where’s the case?”
“Roanoke. We’ve got two bodies already. There will be more information during the debrief.”
“Yes, sir. But, as I said, I’m in South Carolina. So, it might be a while.” Another obstacle which she didn’t mention to Anderson was that she wasn’t so sure Peter would be very accepting of needing to watch Paige while he was apparently living out of a hotel.
He sighed, and even without the vocal expression of a word, it was clear that he was still irritated. “Well, how soon can you get here?”
Rachel looked to the bowl she’d been filling with strawberries and heard Paige and Grandma Tate talking outside, Paige letting out one of her telltale giggling fits. She knew deep down in her heart that it should be a harder decision to make, but everything in her told her to take the case. In a perfect world, she could just leave Page here with Grandma Tate for a few days but knowing that her grandmother could fall ill any day and that she and Peter were having issues made that an impossibility.
“Gift?”
“I don’t know, sir. It’s a seven-hour drive back home and I’ll need to figure out something to do about my daughter.”
“Fine. Just…I’m going to set up a conference for six o’ clock tomorrow morning. I need you and Rivers here. If we don’t get agents on the scene by lunchtime tomorrow, it’s going to be messier than it needs to be.”
“Yes, sir.”
She ended the call, grateful that Anderson had essentially given her the rest of the afternoon and even a few hours of sleep tonight. Now came the hard part: telling Paige they were going to have to end the visit to Grandma Tate’s a day short.
CHAPTER FOUR
“You’ve got to be kidding, Rachel!”
Peter’s voice through the phone sounded almost like a snake, a hissing sort of anger that was somehow pinched as it came through the phone. Also, she was so accustomed to him calling her Rach—a living little nickname between them—that her entire name coming out of his mouth sounded strange.
She and Paige were currently in North Carolina, about half an hour from the Virginia state line. Paige was sitting in the back, preoccupied with a diner dash-style game on Rachel’s iPad, while Rachel was speaking to Peter. Paige had her little earbuds in, listening to the orders being placed by a cartoon panda and his duck sidekick. This was a relief, as it meant she would not hear the conversation that was to come. Rachel had just told him about the call from Anderson and he was not taking it well.
“I’m not kidding. Besides, when things got hard, you ran off to focus on your job, right? I’m doing the same.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I agree, and I’m sorry for that. But your job is there, near home. I can call the sitter and set all of that up for you. But as of five o’ clock tomorrow morning, I’m going to be unavailable for a few days.”
“So, in other words, nothing new.”
“Nothing new,” she parroted, snapping at him. It hurt because she knew there was a bitter core of truth to it.
“Then go ahead and call the sitter,” he said. Rachel could not be sure, but she thought she heard a slight tremor of emotion in his voice. “Maybe this is for the best. If we don’t want to dump this on Paige right away, things need to seem as if they’re the same. Mommy and Daddy both drowning themselves in work. That’s about the norm, right?”
She didn’t necessarily see this as a slight against her, but of their style of parenting. Because he was right. Yes, Rachel had often wondered if Paige would grow up feeling as if she, Rachel, had never been there for her because she was always working. But to hear Peter come out and admit to the same thing in such a roundabout way was a bit more shocking than she expected.
“So how do you want to do it?” Rachel asked. She looked up into her rearview and saw that Paige was still caught up in her game, the earbuds still in. Still, if a quiet moment happened on the game, she may hear bits and pieces of the conversation. As of right now, though, she seemed fully distracted.
“I’ll be home by seven,” he said. “I’ll bring pizza—the kind from Al’s Pizza that she likes so much.”
“You might get there before we do, but we won’t be far behind you.” A thought came to her, one that cut out her heart and nearly made her gasp in shock and surprise, but it made perfect sense. She chose her words carefully, not wanting to inadvertently fill Paige in on all that was going on between her mother and father if a quiet part came up on the game. “Peter, I think you need to stay there. I should be the one to…well, to go somewhere else.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, You can—”
“No. It just makes sense. You’re right. I have this case and I’m always on the go anyway. So for things to seem stable…yeah. You be the one to stay there.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“And what happens if you get sick, Rachel? What happens when that tumor decides it’s time for you to go?”
“We’ve still got a while.”
“And you know this means you’ll see less of Paige, right? You know you—”
“Yes, I know. And that’s okay for now.” She felt herself on the verge of totally breaking down, and she knew she had to get him off of the phone in order to prevent it. “We’ll talk more about it later. Bye for now.”
And with that, she ended the call. Rachel knew that Paige wasn’t listening in, but Rachel felt that she had to save appearances anyway. She spoke to the dead line, stating: “Sounds good. Love you, too.”
She then set the phone down in the center console and spent the next ten minutes staring ahead at the road in front of her, trying to keep more tears from falling.
***
Peter was still asleep on the couch when Rachel slipped out the next morning. She’d made a big production out of bedtime with Paige the night before, knowing she would not see her daughter before she left to meet with Anderson and Jack. Rachel slipped into her thin coat before leaving the house, looking back to Peter once more. She thought about going over to him and telling him goodbye, to maybe even suggest they try to talk things through when she returned.