“Not here,” Duke said.
“What do you mean, not here?” I asked.
Duke looked around. “I mean, not… here.”
“He’s always here,” I said.
“Wel he’s not now,” Duke replied.
“Fuck!” I shouted and the customer turned to stare at me.
“Sorry,” I muttered, set my travel mug on the book counter and hauled out my cel .
I cal ed Mom’s cel and got her voicemail.
I left a message, “Cal me the minute you get this.” Then I hung up, scrol ed down my phonebook and cal ed Tex.
He didn’t have an answering machine so it rang about twenty times before I hung up.
Then I cal ed him again.
On the seventh ring, he answered.
“What?” his boom was muted.
“Tex? Where are you?” I asked.
“Hung over,” he answered.
“Mom’s not answering her cel , where is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine.”
Then he disconnected.
I stared at the phone.
“Tex just hung up on me,” I told Duke and Jane.
They just looked at me.
“He says he’s hung over,” I said to them as the second customer walked in.
“Maybe he is,” Jane offered.
I scrol ed down to Eddie’s number and pushed the green button.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Hey, it’s me,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Jet,” I told him, making sure that he knew who he was talking to.
Silence for a beat, then he said, “Chiquita, I know who it is.”
I could hear his smile in his voice which made my bel y curl even though I was in borderline freak out mode.