Chapter 8 - The Girl in Connecticut
It cracked in half.
I stared at it.
She stared at it.
Then she said, “That was stupid.”
“Very.”
“I know.”
“We needed that.”
“I know.”
A small voice came from the hallway.
“Are you guys fighting?”
Mason stood there holding a stuffed bear.
Mara covered her face.
“No, baby.”
“You broke the computer.”
“Yes.”
“Because you're not fighting?”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
Mara pointed at me.
“Don't.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Your face did.”
Mason looked between us.
“Adults are weird.”
He went back to bed.
At 2:13 a.m., my phone rang.
Brielle.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
“I'm not calling to forgive you.”
“Okay.”
“My father is meeting Gerald tomorrow morning.”
I sat up.
“Where?”
“Our house in Greenwich.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because my father spent dinner calling those boys a liability.”
Mara heard.
Her face hardened.
Brielle continued.
“And because Gerald mentioned a girl named May.”
Mara grabbed the phone.
“What girl?”
Brielle went quiet.
“Who is this?”
“Mara.”
Another pause.
Then Brielle said, “There's a child at my aunt's foundation school. About six. Her name is Maeve.”
My heart hammered.
“What does she look like?”
“I don't know.”
“Brielle.”
“I've seen her twice.”
“Hair?”
“Dark.”
“Eyes?”
“Green, I think.”
Mara sat down.
Her eyes were green.
“Send the address.”
Brielle hesitated.
Then she did.
At dawn, Mara and I drove to Connecticut.
The school was a converted estate behind iron gates.
We waited across the road.
At 8:04, a black SUV arrived.
A woman stepped out with a little girl.
The girl wore a red coat.
Dark hair.
Small face.
She turned toward the road.
Mara stopped breathing.
I saw it too.
The dimple.
Left cheek.
The girl looked like Mara.
Then the woman beside her turned.
I recognized her from my father's photographs.
My aunt Celeste.
My father's younger sister.
Mara opened the car door.
I grabbed her arm.
“Wait.”
“That is my daughter.”
“We don't know.”
“I know.”
She pulled free.
Celeste saw us.
Her face changed.
She shoved the girl back into the SUV.
I ran across the road.
The SUV tore away.
Mara screamed Maya's name.
The little girl turned in the rear window.
May you like
And pressed both hands against the glass.
