Chapter 14, Real Life
Cathee’s eyes were swollen and shadowed when she looked in the bathroom mirror the next morning. Christina was still sleeping. She jumped into the shower, hoping the cool water would help reduce the swelling. As she stepped out of the shower, she could see that it hadn’t helped much. She sighed. She wasn’t planning on seeing anyone, anyway. She picked up the phone to call the front desk. “I’m checking out this morning.”
“You were reserved for one more day.”
“I won’t be needing it. Could you send up the bill?”
“Of course.”
She flew around the room packing while she waited for the bill to arrive. A few minutes later, the bill was slid under the door. When she moved to pick it up, she saw a small white card on the floor next to the bill. She picked it up along with the bill and stared at it a moment. It was Garrett’s business card. She bit her trembling lip. He loves me. She closed her eyes, a tear trickling down her cheek. I just can’t do this. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and slid the card into her purse, then looked over the bill. Since she wasn’t protesting any of the charges, she could leave without seeing anyone at the front desk.
After she was packed, she gently shook Christina. “Sweetie, it’s time to get up.”
Christina sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Where are we going?”
“Our vacation is over. We’re going home.”
“I thought we had one more day?”
“I have some things to do, Sweetie. It’s time to go home.”
“Okay.” Christina stretched, then dressed herself in the clothes Cathee had laid out for her.
Cathee took one more look around the room, then moved her bag to the hallway while Christina wheeled hers behind. “Are you bringing the flowers, Mommy?”
“They won’t fit in the car.” Cathee made an excuse for leaving them behind. She didn’t want the reminder of their few days with Garrett.
They quickly loaded into the car. The sun hadn’t been up long. It had just turned 7:00.
“I’m hungry.”
“I’ll go through a drive through, Honey. I just want to get home.”
“Where’s Mr. Garrett?”
“He won’t be coming with us, Sweetie.”
“Why not?”
“He lives somewhere else. He doesn’t live with us.”
Christina pushed out her bottom lip in a pout. “I want him to live with us.”
Cathee had no answer. She remained silent, fresh tears coursing down her cheeks. Am I being fair to Christina? She needs a dad. Then the thought came, She’s been fine for four years. She’ll be fine now. She remembered how distraught Christina had been the night before. There were too many things going on just then. She couldn’t think clearly.
She pulled into a drive through for breakfast, then headed toward Wichita. She was anxious to get home and forget about the past few days, but all the time she’d spent with Garrett kept running through her mind. The memory of the kiss came flooding back, and fresh tears started.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, Sweetie?” Cathee managed around the tissue she was using on her nose.
“You promised you’d have fun this week. Are those happy tears?”
Tears welled up again. She couldn’t answer her daughter. Instead, she turned on the radio and listened to the news. Nothing about Juan. She wished they’d catch him. An almost overwhelming urge to turn around and run back into Garrett’s arms took over, but she steeled herself and continued on the road back to Wichita. Christina remained silent the rest of the trip.
As they pulled into the driveway, Cathee hesitated before she stepped out of the car. She remembered Garrett’s mother’s advice about him walking his dates to the door and wished she could have him here. The house looked the same except for the pile of newspapers at the door. She’d forgotten to have them held. What if Juan had found her house?
“Stay here, Sweetie.” Christina couldn’t have unbuckled her seat, anyway.
“How come?”
“I just want to check something, okay?”
“Okay.”
Cathee walked up to the front door and let herself into the house. Everything was quiet and seemed to be in order. She felt safe. Surely, if Juan was in the house, she wouldn’t have felt this... peace. She walked through the house, checked the closets and the basement, then went back out to set Christina free.
“Can I play on the tramp, Mommy?”
“Go ahead. I’ll unpack.”
“Thanks.” Christina raced through the house to the back yard.
After Cathee had unpacked and put a load of laundry in, she called the hospital. “I need a paternity test done. When can I come in?”
“You can come in at any time. You don’t need an appointment.”
“Thanks.”
She pulled out a box of macaroni and cheese for their lunch and stared at the box a moment. She remembered Garrett’s laughing admission to eating out of boxes. Am I going to spend the rest of my life hearing his voice? She opened the box angrily and dumped the noodles into the boiling water. Get over him, already. Then she touched her lips, remembering his kiss. It had been nothing like the terror-filled time with Juan. Garrett had been unbelievably tender and sweet. Tears welled up again.
Am I being fair to him? Maybe...maybe I should have given us some more time. She paused and stared out the window where she could see Christina twirling on one of the two swings on the wooden swing set in the backyard. It’s too late. I’ve hurt him too much. How could I ever go back?
She opened the back door and called to her daughter, “Time for lunch.”
Christina hopped out of the swing and ran to the kitchen. Cathee reminded her, “You need to wash up.”
She hurried over to the sink to wash, then sat at the table. “Please bless the food, Christina.” Cathee surprised herself by wishing Garrett was there to make the request. She stifled a sigh. Is this ever going to get better?
After lunch, Cathee addressed Christina. “We need to go to the hospital to take a test.”
“What kind of test?”
“They’re just going to wipe a q-tip inside our mouths.”
“How come?”
“The police want some information.”
“Oh.”
It didn’t take them long to do the swabs. Cathee gave them the case number, then left a message for Alec Mills. “Hi. This is Cathee. I have a new phone number since Juan was tracking me with the old one.” She gave Mr. Mills the number, then continued, “We just did the paternity test at the hospital in Wichita. They have the case number as a reference.” She gave Alec the address and phone number of the hospital, then turned off her phone. Even with a new number and the AT&T clerk’s assurance that the tracking was off, she was nervous about leaving it on after having been traced.
There had been no mention of Juan in the news, which meant he hadn’t been caught yet.
When she was safely back home, she turned on her computer and Googled her own name. She couldn’t see any information related to her address, and the number that came up was her old cell phone number. The items with her number had been public announcements for a couple of stake singles’ activities. Since she was the ward singles’ representative, she’d used her phone number. Thankfully, it had been the cell phone and not her landline.
She spent the afternoon reading through mail from the past few days and reading the newspapers that had been piled on the porch. She ripped out the announcement about Juan. It had the number to call in case there was any information on his location. Suddenly, she remembered they had Garrett’s number but not hers. If anything happened on the case, there wouldn’t be any way to contact her. She looked at her purse and thought about calling Garrett. If anything happens, Mr. Mills will call, she assured herself. She didn’t think about the fact that Mr. Mills didn’t have access to the same information Garrett did. The people from 1-800-GET-JUAN had Garrett as a contact, not Alec.