by Cate Remy
Dahlia ran after him. As soon as she had her seatbelt fastened, he put the car in reverse and hurried to back out of the parking lot. Less than two minutes later, they were racing down the highway.
Cy passed a driver who was in the slow lane. “We should be there in about twenty minutes. They live on the other side of Atlanta.” He shook his head. “I hope my brother doesn’t get far in that time, but knowing Jeff...” His voice trailed as he motioned his head right and left again.
“Has Jeff tried to run away before?”
“Once. He stayed at a friend’s house overnight the last time. My mother was worried sick.”
She knew he had been worried too, even if he didn’t say anything. “I can imagine how frightened she would be. Maybe he’s at the friend’s house now”
Cy took the next exit. “Maybe. Jeff’s been having problems lately. Ever since our parents split last year, he’s been getting bad grades in school and talking back to his teachers. This is another act of rebellion.”
“You’ll find him.” She wanted her words to be comforting and encouraging. Seeing Cy worried made her feel uneasy, too.
The road seemed to stretch on and on for miles. He got off on another exit ramp and left the highway. The new road led down past a stretch of trees and a lonely gas station. Dahlia assumed he was taking a back road. The sign illuminating the gas station grew smaller in the passenger side rearview mirror.
Dahlia watched the minutes pass on the time display in the car. She counted sixteen of them before the car looped a corner and got back on the main road. Cy turned down another street and pulled into a residential development.
“My mother and Jeff moved here after the divorce.” He drove past three houses and stopped at the fourth one in the cul de sac. He parked in the driveway and got out. Dahlia kept up with him to the door.
He fished in his pockets. He muttered something under his breath before saying aloud, “I can’t find my key.” He made a fist and knocked on the door.
Dahlia heard the sound of light footsteps running. The door pulled back to reveal Cy’s mother. Her forehead was lined and her eyes were red as though she had been crying. She threw her arms out upon seeing her son. “Thank God you’re here.”
Cy hugged his mother. “I came as soon as we got off the phone. Mom, I don’t know if you remember Dahlia. She and I went to high school together.”
His mother blinked as she looked at Dahlia for the first time that evening. Recognition slowly changed her expression. “I think I remember her.”
Dahlia folded her hands in front of her and tried to work past her nervousness. “It’s good to see you again. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
“Dahlia’s going to keep you company while I go look for Jeff, Mom. I’ll call you soon. Love you.” He kissed his mother on the cheek. He caught Dahlia’s hand as he turned and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you,” he uttered in her ear as he flew by to get back in his car.
Cy’s mother shook her head as though she were waking up from a dream. “Come inside, Dahlia. It’s cold out here.” She folded her arms around herself as she turned to go inside the house.
Dahlia stepped inside and shut the door behind her. She removed her coat in the warm space of the hallway. “If you show me where the tea or coffee is, I can make a cup for you.”
“The last thing I need right now is to get the jitters from caffeine, but if you want coffee, there’s some single cup pods you can stick in the machine.” Cy’s mother wandered into the living room to the right of the front door.
Dahlia found the kitchen straight ahead and to the left. The space was dim except for a light above the stove and one over the microwave. She flipped on a switch to turn on the overhead lights and found the single-serve brewer on the counter next to the toaster. Cy’s mother kept the pods stored on a metal rack beside the machine. Dahlia looked through them until she found chamomile tea. She plucked it from the rack, along with an orange pekoe tea pod for herself.
She set the chamomile tea pod in the machine first and went searching for the mugs. She found those in the cupboard above the machine. She placed one mug under the pod just in time to collect the steaming tea.
She looked around the kitchen while she waited for her own tea to brew. Cy’s mother must have just recently moved into the house. The kitchen didn’t seem to be completely set up. Brown boxes had been broken down and stacked neatly behind the wastebasket. She looked on the refrigerator and saw two magnetized pictures on the door. The first was a picture of Cy and his brother Jeff when they were younger. Dahlia guessed it was taken when Cy was in high school. He had on his track jacket. The other photo was one of Jeff by himself, as a teenager. He wore a Hawks basketball jersey, the school’s mascot.
Her tea finished brewing. She carried both mugs into the living room, where Cy’s mother sat on a couch, peeking through the window blinds. Dahlia knew she was keeping an eye out for her son Jeff, and it saddened her to see the woman distressed. She sent the mugs down on the coffee table. “I found chamomile tea.” She pointed to the yellow mug. “I can go back into the kitchen to get sugar.”
“No, it’s fine. Thank you.” Cy’s mother took the yellow mug and held it in her hands instead of taking a sip. “You said your name was Dahlia, right?”
“Yes.” She stared into the brownish orange depths of her pekoe tea.
“Cy said you went to high school together. How did you run into each other now after all those years ago?”
She brought the cup to her lips, anxiety making her tighten her stomach. What was she supposed to say? It was one thing to make up stories about her relationship with Cy to strangers and business associates, but she didn’t want to lie to his mom. “I’m actually a client of his.”
“A client in his security business?” The woman’s eyes got big. “I hope he’s taking care of things for you and you’re not having any problems.”
Seeing her immediate alarm and concern, Dahlia quickly shook her head. “No, ma’am. Cy is doing a great job.”
“I’m glad. I was worried for a moment.”
“Please don’t worry about me.”
“Sweetie, I’m a mother. I can’t help it.” Cy’s mother set her cup of tea down on the coffee table and rubbed her hands together as though she were still trying to warm them up. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m bad company right now. With my son gone missing, I’m such a nervous wreck.”
“I can imagine how scared you feel, but Cy’s out there looking for Jeff. He’ll find him soon.”
“You don’t have to talk to make me feel better. I don’t know if Cy told you. His little brother got suspended from school for fighting. Then we argued in the car when I picked him up from school. Jeff’s so angry. He’s mad at me for getting a divorce. He’s mad at his teachers. Just mad at the whole world.” She stopped to wipe her eyes. She looked at the black smudges on her fingertips afterwards and gave a little hollow laugh. “Look at me. My mascara and eyeliner are running.”
Dahlia reached into her purse and took out a little packet of makeup remover towelettes. “Here you go.”
“Look at you.” She accepted one. “How is it you come so prepared?”
“I’m a makeup artist. I carry a little bag of tricks with me at all times.”
“Really?” Cy’s mother dabbed around her eyes with the towelette. “I’m starting to remember now. I think I saw Cy talking to you several times when I used to drop him off at school. You seemed to be into fashion and makeup then, too.”
“Right.” If Cy didn’t say anything about her or his teenage dating life to his mother before, she wasn’t about to divulge their history now. “I love makeup. It’s a creative outlet for me.”
“One you’ve made into a career.” His mother fiddled with the towelette between her fingers. “This is going to sound silly. Do you think you can help me with my eye makeup application? I’ve been meaning to try new colors, and this would be a good distraction for me.”
Dahlia couldn
’t hide her smile. “I’d love to.” She reached into her purse again to produce two eye palettes. “Do you prefer neutrals or bold colors?”
Chapter Nine
Cy drove around the residential development in search of his brother. When he saw no signs of Jeff, he drove into the surrounding neighborhood. No one was on the sidewalks at this time of night.
Icy rain fell to land on his windshield. He turned on the wipers and the defroster. If Jeff was running around somewhere in this kind of weather, he needed to find him very soon.
He pulled into the parking lot of a shopping center about half a mile from the residential areas. The shopping center was still in the process of construction, with only a drugstore, a smoothie place, and a bar and grill restaurant. He went into the drugstore first and spoke to the woman behind the counter. “I’m looking for my teenage brother. He’s fifteen, brown hair, about five nine.” He showed her a picture on his cellphone of him and his brother that was taken last Thanksgiving.
The woman squinted at the photo. “There was a young man here about an hour ago who looked like him. He tried to buy a soda and pack of cigarettes. He left the store when I asked to see his ID.”
Cy shook his head. “Do you know where he went or what direction he was headed to?”
“No. There were customers behind him. Sorry.”
He thanked her and left the store. He went into the smoothie place. Two tables were inside but no one else was there except for the employees. They mopped down the counters and floor. The guy behind the counter gave a nod. “What can I get for you? We’re just about to close.”
Cy posed the same question to them and showed them the picture of Jeff. They said they didn’t see him, so he moved on. Only one more place to go in the shopping center, and that was the bar and grill. Outside of the shopping center, there wasn’t another business or residential area for the next eight miles. He shoved his hands into his pockets and kept his face down to prevent the freezing rain from taking little stabs at his eyes. This winter weather was too much for Georgia. No one, including his teenage brother, should be out walking in it.
The bar and grill was warm from the heating system and the extra help from the open grill and pizza oven in the back. Cy scoped the area, his eyes roving past people bundled up in sweaters at the bar with their beers and chardonnay, watching the football game on the overhead TVs. He kept looking around until he saw a familiar figure in a booth in a darkened corner of the restaurant.
“Sir, how many?” A host came to the front of the bar and grill in order to find him a seat.
“Two, but I found him in that corner over there. Excuse me.” He walked past the host and the people at the bar to get to the booth with his little brother.
Jeff sat in his little corner nursing a half full glass of what looked to be orange soda and a basket of fries drenched in ketchup. His eyes got as round as the glass and he looked like he was going to pop out of his seat when he saw Cy. Then, he shifted and settled down in a visible attempt to play it cool.
“There are seats at the bar. I’m surprised you didn’t grab one of those and try to order a beer.” Cy slid into the booth across from him. “Or maybe you gave up after you couldn’t buy cigarettes from the drugstore.”
“Let me guess. Mom freaked out and called you.”
“Watch how you talk about her. She’s worried sick, wondering where you are right now.”
Jeff looked away from him. He folded his arms across his chest. “If she cared about me, she wouldn’t have grounded me for two months.”
Cy wished his mother grounded Jeff for twenty-two months, but then his brother may have tried to run to Canada instead of just up the road. “What do you think you’re doing? First, you get into a fight with another kid and get suspended from school. Then, you run away from home. Wanna talk to me about what’s going on?”
“If Mom sent you looking for me to give me one of your drill sergeant pep talks, just go away.”
“Maybe a drill sergeant is what you need to get straightened out.”
“I’m not going into the military. That was your thing. Mom and Dad talk about how proud they are of you and blah blah blah.”
“Is that why you’re angry? You think they’re comparing us?”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “No.”
“Then tell me, Jeff. I want to know what’s going on. Why are you getting into fights and running away from home?”
His brother unfolded his arms. “Mom and Dad went to all your games when you were in school. They didn’t breathe down your neck twenty-four seven and get on your case if you did one little thing wrong. They can’t come to my games or anything, but they treat me like a criminal.” He waved his hand as though swatting a fly. “Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re about to say. I would be a criminal if I bought those cigarettes and got away with it.”
“Actually, I was going to say that our parents’ divorce has been really hard on everyone.”
“Yeah, no kidding, Sherlock.”
First Shakespeare. Now he was Sherlock. He was raking in the literary nicknames these days. “I know it’s been tough for you to deal with because you’re the only kid in the house. You feel like you have to deal with everything by yourself. That’s not true, Jeff.”
“Why isn’t it true? Dad moved into an apartment. Mom moved into a new house. She works all day so she doesn’t have to talk to anybody about why she and Dad split up. And you got your big mega firm security company to keep you busy.”
“We’re all working hard. It doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about you or don’t care about you.”
“Everyone cares when I get into trouble. That’s about it.”
Cy began to see how his brother was crying out for attention in the wrong way. “I’ll admit, Mom, Dad, and I can all do better. What you did today to get attention isn’t the answer.”
His brother flicked his napkin to the side of the table. He was still listening because he peeked at Cy from the corner of his eye.
“I’ll speak to Mom. Just get in the car and come back with me.”
“So I can watch her jump up and down because her favorite son saved the day?”
“If you heard her crying on the phone when she called me and saw her face when I came to the house, you wouldn’t say that.”
Jeff put his head down in remorse. “I just want everything to go back to the way it was.”
Cy felt a pull in his gut. “I’m sorry. It’s not going to happen. It doesn’t mean we can’t still be a family and move forward.”
“How?”
He didn’t have a quick answer. “You love Mom?”
He looked away again, yet didn’t roll his eyes. “Yeah.”
“Tell her. That’s a start. I think you both need to hear it from each other.”
Jeff played with his straw. “Are you going to tell her about the cigarettes?”
“Yep.”
“Of course you would. Get me grounded another two months.”
“If you tell her yourself, maybe the punishment won’t be as bad.”
His brother finished his soda. “These fries are getting cold, anyway.”
Cy hid his smile as his brother stood up to leave with him. He left a tip on the table for the waiter and headed out the door. Before he reached his car, he remembered he promised to notify his mother and Dahlia when he found Jeff.
He pulled out his phone. Low battery. The phone died as soon as he put in the pass code to unlock it. Just when things were starting to look better.
He exhaled and got in the car. He hoped Dahlia was doing well keeping his mother company. He didn’t even think to ask if his mother remembered her. He hoped they were getting along.
DAHLIA GAVE THE HANDHELD mirror to Cy’s mother. “Tell me what you think.”
“Wow you’re right. This plum shadow really does bring out my eyes.”
While she admired her new look, Dahlia went to put her makeup kit and brushes in her bag. In the process, she slipped a peek at he
r cell phone in case she missed a call or text from Cy. There were no missed calls. She scrolled through her texts to see a weather alert text that called for additional freezing rain that evening. She worried not only for Cy, but his little brother. The road conditions were bad to drive in. To walk could be dangerous.
She glanced out the living room window. She saw Cy’s mother’s reflection in the glass as she looked out, too. Did she have anything else that they could use to keep busy while they waited? Dahlia reached into her purse and rummaged until she found another palette. “I found my highlighter kit if you want to try contouring.”
Lights flashed before a car pulled into the driveway. The light over the garage shined down on a gray BMW. The windows were tinted, but she made out two people in the passenger and driver seats. Excited and relieved at the same time, she quickly turned to Cy’s mother. “They’re back.”
“Cy found Jeff?” She sprang from the couch to go open the door for her sons.
Dahlia watched Cy and his brother step onto the porch. Their mother rushed outside before Jeff could climb the three steps. She was ready to throw her arms around him once he reached the top. He returned her hug.
Dahlia held the door open for them all to come in. Cy gave her an appreciative smile and touched her shoulder as he passed by. She closed the door to the cold and joined the family in the living room.
“My phone battery died before I could give you a call or text,” Cy said to his mother.
“Jeff, I was so worried about you.” Cy’s mother took her other son’s face in her hands.
“I know, Mom. Sorry. I shouldn’t have run away. It was a dumb thing to do.”
“You bet it was. Don’t ever do it again. You and I have a lot to discuss.” She swiped a glance at Dahlia. “Just not in front of our kind guest.”
Jeff frowned as he looked at his mother. “Are you wearing purple eyeshadow?”
“Yes, do you like? Dahlia was telling me how the color brings out my brown eyes.”
