And in my mind's eye, I saw myself sitting quietly high upon a faraway mountain and watching the sun rise for the first time in nearly seven years.
At the next red light, I buried my face in my hands and wept until the light turned green.
* * *
Damn.
I was a little late picking up the kids, which netted me a scowling look from the principal, whom I'm sure didn't like me much. I knew he saw me as an unfit mother, especially after the bogus ideas Danny had planted last year.
Bastard.
Bogus or not, I was now on the principal's radar. I hate being on anyone's radar, let alone a principal's. Sigh.
On the way home, we stopped for some burgers at Burger King. Anthony had branched out a little and discovered that he now liked mayonnaise. But just a little mayonnaise. My little boy was growing up.
At home, while the kids ate and I made yet another excuse for why I wasn't hungry, I found myself in my office and working when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the faceplate, saw that it was a local number.
"Moon Investigations," I said cheerily enough, although I was hearing the grumblings of a fight brewing in the living room.
"Ms. Moon?" said an oddly familiar voice.
"Go for Moon," I said. I've always wanted to say that.
"Ms. Moon, my name's Robert Mason. I own the Fullerton Playhouse."
"And starred in One Life to Live."
"I wouldn't say 'starred,' but, yes, I had a recurring role until a few years ago."
"When they killed you off with a brain tumor."
"It saddens the heart. Were you a fan?"
"It happened to come on after Judge Judy."
He laughed a little. A deep, rich laugh. A deep, rich, fake laugh. "Judge Judy was a great lead-in."
It was at that moment that a full-fledged fight broke out in the next room. I even heard something break. Something glass. Shit.
"Hang on, Rob," I said.
I left the phone on the desk, dashed into the living room and saw Anthony sitting on Tammy. Now that was a first. Tammy was always the bigger and stronger one. Granted, she was still bigger, but clearly not stronger. Her struggling seemed to be in vain. Indeed, she was looking at her brother oddly. No doubt marveling at what I was seeing, too.
I plucked him off his sister and deposited him on the new couch. I spent the next thirty-three seconds listening to "He said and she said and did that she started," and decided I'd heard enough. I turned the TV off and banished them both to their bedrooms. As they moped off, I couldn't help but notice the red mark around Tammy's arms where Anthony had pinned her to the floor.
Jesus.
Back in my office, I wasn't very surprised that Robert Mason hadn't hung up. After all, I suspected there was a very good reason why Robert Mason had called me.
After I apologized for the disruption, he said that was quite all right and that he wanted to meet me ASAP.
Yeah, that was the reason.
Chapter Eighteen
I was waiting at Starbucks.
It was evening and the sun still had not set. By my internal vampire clock, I knew it was about twenty minutes away. My internal vampire clock also told me that I should be asleep, to awaken just as the sun set. I think, maybe, that's happened only two or three times. And that was when the whole family was sick.