It hadn’t been more than five minutes after Jerry Rankin left when the telephone rang again. Ann hastily threw on her sweatshirt and ran across the hall to Amy’s bedroom to answer it.
“Hello?”
As quickly as she spoke she heard the click of the caller hanging up. Ann waited a moment before replacing the receiver, wondering if it was the obscene caller again. Then she decided against it. Not his M. O, she thought to herself sardonically as she hung up the phone.
Ann returned to her bedroom and put on her sweat pants as the sudden urge to call Amy at Amanda’s house came to her. She just wanted to hear her daughter’s voice and make certain that she was where she was supposed to be. After slipping into her house slippers, she turned off the light and went downstairs.
Ann found Amanda’s phone number scrawled on a note pad stuck to the refrigerator door and dialed it. On the third ring, a teenage girl’s voice came over the line.
“Hello?” the girl giggled.
“Hi, this is Ann Middleton-Amy’s mother. May I speak to Amy, please?”
“Sure,” the girl replied. Ann heard the clunk as she dropped the phone and began yelling Amy’s name. A few moments later, Amy got on.
“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” she said. Her voice sounded a little too cheerful.
“Nothing, sweetie. I just called to see how everything went tonight. Did you guys win the game?”
There was a long pause, some whispering, and then her reply: ”Yeah, we won.”
Ann had a sneaky feeling that Amy had never made it to the game. “I’m happy to hear that. What was the score?”
“Uh, I don’t remember exactly. It was close though… I think,” she stammered.
“You think?” Ann quizzed suspiciously.
“Well, we left kinda early.”
“And where did you go?”
“We came here, Mother! Why all the third degree?”
If Ann were a gambler, she’d bet her last dollar that her daughter had been drinking. “I was just curious, that’s all. Is Mrs. Givens there now?”
“Jesus, Mother!” Amy sputtered. “Of course she’s here! Do you want me to put her on just to prove it?”
“That won’t be necessary, I…”
“No, Mother. Let me go get her so you’ll know that I’m not lying!” Amy snapped. Then, after a long sigh, she said, “Why don’t you ever believe me, Mom? You never trust me!”
Here we go again, Ann thought. “I do trust you, honey. I’m sorry, It’s just been a long day and I’m tired,” she said, not wanting to start a fight.
Amy fell silent for a moment. Then she said, “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that-Hey, guess what!”
“What?”
“I got asked to homecoming!” Amy announced excitedly.
“That’s wonderful, sweetie! Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Jason Walborn. And is he ever a hunk!”
“I don’t recall you ever mentioning his name,” Ann said. “Is Jason a freshman, too?”
“Nope. He’s a junior! Can you believe it?”
Ann didn’t want to believe it. “Oh,” was all she could say.
“Don’t worry, Mom. He’s really cool. From a fine upstanding family, and all of that,” she added with a giggle.
Ann wondered what Sam’s reaction would be to his fourteen-year-old daughter going out with a junior. He simply wouldn’t allow it- she was certain of that. And she probably shouldn’t allow it either. But she didn’t have the heart to spoil Amy’s obvious excitement now.
“I’m really happy for you, honey. Isn’t homecoming next weekend?” Ann asked.
“Yeah, so we have to go out and find me a dress tomorrow!” Amy declared.
Ann sighed to herself and said, “Okay, I guess I can take you to the mall tomorrow. When will you be home? We’d better get an early start before the stores sell out of everything.”
“I don’t know. Probably around noon or so,” was her daughter’s reply.
“Well, try not to be too late, honey,” Ann said. “Be good and try to get some sleep tonight, okay?”
“I will, Mom. See you tomorrow.”
“I love you, sweetie.”
“Love you, too,” Amy said before hanging up.
As she replaced the receiver, Ann considered Amy’s sudden announcement that she was going to the school dance and realized she had mixed feelings about it. Although she was certainly less than thrilled that her little girl was going out with a boy who was two years older, she was nevertheless happy that Amy was so excited about something for a change. Recalling the child’s declaration that school dances were just for “nerds and jocks” brought a wry grin to her face. How quickly a teenager’s mind can change!
Ann realized that she no longer felt tired as she checked the time. It was just a little past eleven. Deciding that she could never fall asleep after all the excitement, she went over to the fridge, took out a can of diet Pepsi and went into the family room. After switching on the eleven o’clock news, she went over and plopped down on the sofa.
Ann began thinking about her date with Jerry Rankin and concluded that she had truly enjoyed herself. Besides his being handsome and a lot of fun, she had been equally impressed with Jerry’s impeccable manners and the way he had managed to comfort her after that terrifying phone call. His offer to be there for her whenever she needed someone had been awfully considerate of him, too. Although she could never see herself actually calling him up and bothering him with her troubles, it nevertheless gave her some piece of mind knowing that at least that option existed.
One thing troubled her, though. It was pretty obvious that Jerry Rankin was more than just a little interested in her. She could be wrong of course-and maybe she was just flattering herself-but Ann couldn’t help but sense that he wanted more than just a casual relationship with her.
And that was bad.
Because she was quite certain that she wasn’t ready to start a relationship with Jerry Rankin, or anybody else for that matter. And if he were as interested in her as she suspected, it would ruin everything. At this point in time, she needed a friend, not a lover. If Jerry could consent to being just friends, she would be more than happy to go out with him on that basis-in fact she would look forward to it. But if he was expecting more, then they were just going to have to part company now before somebody got hurt. It was as simple as that.
So when he called tomorrow, Ann resolved that she would approach Jerry with this. She wouldn’t rush into it, of course. She would test the waters first, then let him know how she felt. Hopefully, he would understand her position. She liked Jerry Rankin; she might even be capable of falling in love with him someday if she allowed herself. But she wasn’t about to let that happen now. And if she could convince Amy that Jerry was only a friend, maybe she could avoid her making a big fuss over him. She knew that if Amy thought there was something more to their relationship, she might well fly off the handle. Amy still resented the divorce and wanted her and Sam to get back together again. The last thing she wanted was to see her mother get seriously involved with another man.
Ann didn’t like sneaking around behind Amy’s back. She had always taught her daughter how important it was to be honest and straightforward about things, no matter how difficult it might be sometimes to tell the truth. For this reason, Ann had already decided she was going to tell Amy about her date with Jerry soon-perhaps even tomorrow-providing that Jerry was willing to keep things on a friendly basis. Karen no doubt would disapprove, but she didn’t care. Amy had a right to know what her mother was doing. And besides, Jerry had mentioned that he wanted to meet her. How could that ever happen if Amy didn’t even know he existed?
She took a sip of Pepsi and watched the weather report. Smithtown was presently being hammered by thunderstorms, but the meteorologist gave his assurance that the storms would stay to the south of the state and avert central Ohio. By morning it was supposed to be fair and turn much colder in Columbus.
Ann reached for the romance novel she had been reading and read until she had to fight to keep her eyes open. Then she decided to go to bed, stopping at the bathroom on the way. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she happened to notice that the mini blinds were fully open as it occurred to her that this was the second time in the last week that they hadn’t been in their usually closed position. The first time she’d given it little thought, aware that Amy occasionally opened the blinds as well as the window a little to vent out the steam when she took a shower But Amy hadn’t taken a shower today because she was running late for school earlier that morning and hadn’t had time.
Then she had gone straight to Amanda’s after school instead of coming home first.
Ann felt a pang of dread as she struggled to recall if the blinds had been open when she had gotten ready for her date with Jerry Rankin. She was almost certain that they had been closed then; otherwise she would have noticed. Wouldn’t she have? Of course she would have. Being modest by nature her entire life, she had always made a point of closing the blinds whenever she was in the bathroom.
So someone had opened the blinds while she had been out with Jerry.
But who?
A thought suddenly came to mind: Amy. Perhaps Amy had come home while she’d been out with Jerry. She hadn’t mentioned it on the phone when she’d spoken to her earlier, but that was no real surprise. It probably hadn’t seemed worth mentioning…
Ann looked at the bathroom window. It was closed and locked. So if Amy had come home earlier, it hadn’t been to take a shower. The window would still be cracked open.
So why had Amy come home, then?
Had she come home to do something she shouldn’t have been doing? Ann wondered. Like sneaking boys in, or drinking with her friends? That might explain why she had seemed so suspiciously “cheery” on the phone earlier. But surely Amy wouldn’t have taken that great of risk, Ann thought. She would have had no idea how long she and Jerry would be gone or whether she’d have enough time to pull off some kind of caper. And besides that, it would have been nearly impossible for her to avoid being found out somehow if she had been drinking alcohol in this house. Amy was much too sloppy and careless to have been able to cover her tracks so well.
Ann heaved a sigh of exasperation as she closed the blinds. Whatever had happened, she was going to get to the bottom of it. Tomorrow she would have a few questions to ask her daughter about all of this. And if Amy tried to lie her way out of it, she would be able to tell.
And if Amy told her that she hadn’t come home and she was telling the truth, then what?
Ann didn’t even want to think about it…
She turned off the light, went upstairs and went to bed.
It took Ann Middleton a very long time to get to sleep that night…