nodded, and prayed that it was true. But he was no longer sure.
* * *
—
Zoe and Austin were both very quiet as they flew back to New York the next day. Jaime sat between them and played on Zoe’s iPad, as Austin watched them, trying not to think about the day before. If he had come on the scene seconds later, they could have been taking her body back to New York in a coffin. Jaime said her chin hurt. She had bumped it hard when she’d split it open and the doctor had warned them it would be bruised and hurt for a few days.
They got back to the apartment at three o’clock. Zoe unpacked and did laundry, and Jaime played in her room. She looked tired after the events of the day before, and some of the shine of their vacation had worn off. Jaime had returned as the walking wounded, and was going back to school the next day with her big bandage on her chin.
Zoe went to buy groceries after she unpacked, and Austin sat down on their bed and called his mother after she left. As she always did, his mother picked up immediately when she saw his number.
“Hi, Mom, how are you and Dad?” he said in a tired voice, trying to sound cheerful.
“Fine. How was Florida?”
“Wonderful. We had a great time.” He could tell her the truth when he saw her. He didn’t want to tell her on the phone. Not again. Listening to him, she thought he sounded sad and subdued, and as though he was lying to her. She had no idea about what, but she could tell something was wrong. “I was thinking on the way back. We haven’t had lunch in ages. Do you have time for a date this week?” He tried to seem casual about it, but the invitation sounded stilted to him too.
“For you, my darling boy, my dance card is always free. When do you have in mind?”
“Does tomorrow work for you?” There was something desperate in his voice that he couldn’t hide.
“Sure. Our usual?” There was a small Italian restaurant near his office that they both liked. Da’Giulio. They had lunch there from time to time.
“Perfect. Noon? I have to be in court in the afternoon.”
“Noon it is. See you then.”
“Thank you,” he said in a soft voice.
“For what? Having lunch with my son?”
“For making time. For being you,” he said gratefully.
They hung up, and she sat looking worried and pensive as George walked by.
“Something wrong?”
“I don’t know. I have a feeling there might be. Austin wants to have lunch with me tomorrow. He hasn’t done that since my birthday.”
“Don’t be so paranoid. He probably feels guilty for not calling more often.”
“I don’t think so,” but she hoped he was right.
She was already at the restaurant, waiting for him, when he walked in the next day, looking tall and handsome in a dark suit, white shirt, and navy tie, since he had to go to court.
“You’re a good-looking man,” she said to him, and smiled as he sat down, and leaned over to kiss her. She could also see that his eyes looked strained, and she thought he didn’t look well despite the tan.
They ordered quickly, and she smiled at him again. “So Florida was fun? Did Jaime love it?”
He didn’t answer for a minute and looked his mother in the eye. “Until the last day. Zoe was watching her at the pool, except she wasn’t. She was talking to some women, while Jaime ran around with some other kids her age, she slipped and fell into the pool at the deep end, without her floaties on, slit her chin open, went straight to the bottom, and nearly drowned. I just happened to come back from tennis then. I saw it, jumped in, and pulled her out. Even the lifeguard didn’t see it. If I hadn’t come back then, she’d be dead. And she has twelve stitches in her chin.” There were tears in his eyes when he said it, and his mother ached for him, as she touched his hand. “I’m not going to clean it up for you, or cover for Zoe this time. Mom, I don’t know what it is, but I’m scared. Something’s wrong. Maybe with her. Jaime only gets injured with Zoe. I don’t understand what’s happening, or maybe even who she is.” Tears slid down his cheeks as he said it, and he wiped them