Unfaithful - Natalie Barelli Page 0,83
should go home. I open the drawer and get my cell and glance at the staff directory. I can’t believe how foolish I was to leave the necklace here. For all I know Geoff and Mila will be rummaging through my things looking for some scrap of evidence that I really have stolen the proof. Won’t they wonder what it’s doing there? They won’t know its significance, but still, not exactly the world’s best hiding place.
Can they really take the prize away from me? That’s what they’re saying, isn’t it? That I have to prove my own proof? Now there’s a laugh. I shove the necklace in my bag, turn my cell back on, and it pings. Then it pings again. I have seven missed calls all from the soccer club.
Matti.
Thirty-Two
I’m running out the door, punching one arm in my jacket and hoisting my bag over my shoulder. I call Luis but he doesn’t pick up. I leave a message, the phone wedged in the crook of my neck.
“Is Matti with you? Can you call me, please? I was supposed to…” I drop the phone and it clatters on the floor. I pick it up, dropping my bag in the process. I scramble to gather my things together and run to my car.
I drive to the sports field on Bainbridge Road like a mad woman. I can’t stop thinking of my poor child, my baby, my Matti, who must be beside himself by now. I can picture him on the bench, wheezing through his panic attack. He has asthma and stressful situations make it worse. Did I pack his Ventolin? I can’t remember. He must be so upset and the thought is making my stomach roil as I speed through at least one red light and almost run over a cat. I keep redialing Luis but it goes to voicemail every time.
When I get there, I park the car in a non-parking zone and run straight to the coaches’ building. It’s locked.
I look around. I’m so late there’s no one here, no one clearing up after the kids, no lingering parents chatting, nobody. I try Luis again as I pull at my hair.
“Seriously, Luis, can you please call me? I’m getting really worried.”
Maybe he went home with one of the other parents. Except he never does that, it’s part of his anxiety. If Luis or I say we’re coming, he’ll wait. He just won’t get into a car with anyone else, no matter how well he knows them.
I call my home number with my heart thumping in my chest. Carla answers.
“Honey, is Matti home?” I have one hand over my eyes as I pray silently.
“Yeah,” she says, nonchalantly, and the relief that spreads through me makes my whole body wobble, like my bones are made of rubber.
“Oh thank god. Did Dad bring him home? Can I speak to him?”
“Dad’s not here.” I can hear her crunch through an apple. “When are you getting home?”
“So how did Matti get home?”
“Your friend brought him.”
“What friend?”
“Um… June, I think that’s her name.”
“June?”
I’ve grown dizzy with relief and black dots dance in front of my eyes. I sit down on the bench, press the heel of my hand between my eyes.
“You want to speak to her?”
I sit up. “She’s there?”
“She’s upstairs with Matti. He was pretty upset, Mom.”
“I know, honey. How is he now?”
“They’re reading a book,” she says.
“What book?”
“I don’t know. Hang on.”
I hear her run up the stairs and call out, “What are you reading? Mom wants to know.”
I’ve returned to my car and I sit down in the driver seat, phone against my ear, feeling my breath return to normal.
“Phantom Tollbooth,” she says finally.
“Oh, right! Well, that’s good.” Phantom Tollbooth is a good choice. One of his favorites, and the copy he has belonged to Luis when he was growing up. Which doesn’t mean that much to Matti, actually. Still, a perfect pick when he’s upset. “So he’s all right?”
“He’s hiccupping but he’s okay. I think he likes June.”
I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. Matti never goes with strangers, ever. I don’t know whether I should scold him or hug him when I get back. And the fact that he’s not freaking out, let alone calmly reading a book… “Can you put June on please?”
“Okay, one sec.”
Seconds later, June comes on. “Hi, we’re all good here, did you get my messages?”
“Messages? No, I mean yes but I didn’t listen, I was trying to reach Luis.”
“I left a couple of messages,