“What?” I asked. I came to stand next to her on the landing, then looked where she was staring, and understood. The door to the apartment must have slammed behind us when we ran out—because the door was closed.
Which meant the door was locked.
Which meant that we were screwed.
Meanwhile, back in Connecticut…
TERI’S NIGHT WAS NOT OFF to a great start.
She’d been all set to Netflix and chill with Ryan Camper—she had thought the phrase was self-explanatory, and didn’t know why Kat had been confused about what that meant. She had the movies queued, the snacks out, her phone charged. But just as she was about to call Ryan in Maine, Kat’s phone beeped with a text. And then another. And then another still.
They were all from a woman named Bobbie Stone. She was texting Kat because she needed a babysitter. Right away.
Teri had stared, frozen, as more messages had come in. With each beep, her panic increased. Bobbie Stone apologized for the late notice, but said that it was an emergency and she needed to hear back from Kat as soon as possible.
Teri called Stevie immediately.
No answer.
This sent her heart racing. She did not like to be the one in charge, the one deciding things. It always made her nervous. She was always sure she was making the wrong choice. But with nobody telling her what to do, it seemed she had no option—she would agree to babysit. Because what if she said no, and then Bobbie Stone reached out to Kat’s mom? And then Kat’s mom called Kat’s phone?
It was too risky.
So Teri had texted Bobbie Stone back, pretending to be Kat. She told her that she could come a little later, but for the moment, she would send her friend Teri to the house ASAP.
Teri had called Ryan Camper on the drive over, to cancel their Netflix-and-chill date. She explained the situation, but Ryan had not been understanding. He’d accused her of lying, then hung up on her—which was not the Camp Ogilvie Way! Had they just broken up? She called him back, but the call went to voice mail. So typical of him. Teri was honestly exhausted by the games Ryan Camper played. He never just said how he felt.
But she tried to put these thoughts behind her as she drove. It seemed like the only benefit to this was that it would distract her both from wondering if Ryan was going to call back and thinking about the cast list. She was hoping to be cast as one of Lear’s daughters, but all she truly wanted was not to see the dreaded words at the bottom of the cast list: Teri, please see me about assistant directing.
As she drove, she tried Stevie again. No answer.
There was a dented yellow car in the driveway of the Stone house, with a Hertz sticker on the back. This seemed out of place—it was a big house, all glass and (ironically) wood with a three-car garage. Teri was ushered inside by Mr. Stone, who wore a tuxedo and looked about her dad’s age.
“Sorry for the late notice.” He led Teri down the hall. “We completely forgot about this event. I had to fly back from DC early and didn’t even wait for a ride at the airport, just grabbed a rental car. I told them not to even bother cleaning it, just took the first one they had.…”
They reached the kitchen and Bobbie Stone, dressed in a long gown, introduced herself, keeping an eye on the clock in the kitchen as she pointed out the list of emergency numbers and allergies. Teri told her, lying through her teeth, that Kat would be along shortly, and that they babysat together a lot. She figured the Stones didn’t need to know this wasn’t true. After all, she’d been a camp counselor. It wasn’t like she had no experience with kids.
“Here they are,” Bobbie Stone said, and Teri turned to see three children standing in front of her. She blinked. She’d been expecting one, maybe two. What were the Stones thinking, having three kids? In this economy?
“This is Chris, Daryl, and Parker,” Bobbie Stone said, resting her hands in turn on the heads of a girl who looked around eleven, a boy who looked seven or eight, and a toddler who was maybe three.
“Who are you?” Chris asked. “Where’s Kat?”
“She’s coming any minute now,” Teri lied. The girl narrowed her eyes at Teri.