Becky went back in the house. It was still early. She went to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. She’d take it back to her room and hide. She wasn’t expecting Charles to be in the kitchen.

“Good morning, Charles. Is there any coffee?” Becky stretched and covered a yawn.

“Yup, help yourself. You know where the cups are. There are some cinnamon rolls on the table. They should still be warm.” Charles continued to prepare dressing for the turkey. “Did I hear you talking to Robert?”

“Yes, he was just going out the door. It looked like someone was here to pick him up. Where is he off to?”

“Search and Rescue called. He had to go to work.”

“Will he be back in time for dinner?” She asked as she fixed her coffee.

“Nope, afraid not. He’ll probably be gone for a couple of days. He may not make it back before you leave.”

“Oh. No!” Becky thought of Heidi.

“Is something wrong?” Charles gave her a questioning look.

“No. I’m just sorry he had to leave. We didn’t get to say goodbye. You didn’t have to go?”

“No, I’m on leave until Monday. I wanted to stay close to Jackie for the last couple of weeks until the doctor gave her the green light. Now that she’s off restriction, she’ll be okay alone and with Heidi staying, it’s even better. I won’t be so worried about her.”

“Humm, that’s right.” Becky sipped her coffee. “Well, I think I’ll help myself to a sweet roll and go back to my room. It’s a little early for me. Unless you need some help.”

“I think I’m almost done for now. Just have to put the bird in the oven, but thanks for the offer. Heidi was up with Robert earlier, she should be around somewhere. She might have gone back to their room.”

“I’ll catch her later. She’s probably gone back to bed herself. I don’t imagine she got much sleep.”

Charles chuckled. “You might be right about that. When they came down here this morning, they both looked pretty happy. When Jackie and I first met…”

“You don’t have to remind me, I was staying in the same hotel, remember. You two were a couple of horn dogs,” Becky laughed. “See you later, Charles.”

Charles had a big smile on his face remembering when he first met Jackie. “I’ll be so glad when that baby is born, Jackie and I have a lot of catching up to do.” He thought to himself. “Maybe I should invest in some condoms?” He laughed at himself. “Yeah, like I’m going to stop long enough to put one on.” Charles finished what he was doing and went to see if Jackie was up yet.

Becky paced back and forth in the bedroom. She didn’t know what to do. “Maybe I should go down there right now and tell Charles. No, I promised. Shit!” Becky shoved the last of the sweet roll in her mouth and licked her fingers. She went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She looked at herself in the mirror. “You are such a stupid jerk, Becky Brooks. Uugh!”  There was a knock at the door.

“Hey, Becky. You up?” It was Franny. Becky opened the door.

“Mornin, girlfriend. What’s up?”

“Have you had coffee, yet?” Franny asked.

“Yeah, but I could use another cup. Charles made some cinnamon rolls, they’re really good. I’ll grab my cup.” They started for the kitchen.

“Should we see if Heidi wants to join us?” Franny asked.

“No, I talked to her earlier. Robert had to go to work, so I think she went back to bed. She didn’t get much sleep last night, if ya know what I mean.” Becky whispered the last part.

“Oooh, okay. We can check on her later.” They went to get their coffee. It wasn’t long before Fletch joined them.

“It’s so quiet this morning, where is everyone.” He asked as he poured some coffee.

“Charles was just here about ten minutes ago, he must have gone back upstairs. Robert had to go to work,” Becky told him.

“Wow, bummer. Did he say when he’d be back, he was going to go running with me.”

“I don’t think he’ll be back before we have to leave. I wish they had let us know he was leaving, at least we could have said goodbye.” Becky was fidgeting.

“You okay, Beck?” Fletch asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. If you need a running partner, I’ll go,” Becky told him. “I need to run off some of this extra energy. Too much coffee and sugar this morning.”

“Cool. Do you want to go now before breakfast?”

“Yeah, sure. Wait while I go change. It won’t take me more than a couple of minutes. Enjoy your coffee.” Becky rushed to her room and quickly changed. She would tell Fletch what was going on when they were away from the house.

“Is something up?” Fletch inquired while she was gone.

Franny shook her head. “Not that I know of. Why?”

“Ah, nothing.” Fletch had gotten to know Becky over the last couple of months and knew her moods. When she was fidgety, he knew she was hiding something. When she was quiet and moody, she was sad or unhappy. The rest of the time she was like a bubbly champagne, fizzy and sparkly.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Becky dashed back into the kitchen. “Franny, are you going to come with us?”

“No, I’ll pass this morning. I’ll see if Charles needs any help with Thanksgiving dinner.”

Fletch and Becky went out the door. Fletch liked to jog early in the morning and having someone to jog with made it even better, except this morning something was off. They were half way around the lake before Fletch stopped.

“Okay. What the fuck’s up?” Becky hadn’t said a word since they left the house.

“Nothing.”

“Knock off the bullshit, Beck. I know you, remember.” Fletch jogged in place. “You’re never this fucking quiet.” They both stopped jogging and walked.

“Heidi’s gone.”

“What do you mean, she’s gone. Gone where?” Fletched stopped.

“When Robert left this morning, she snuck into the truck that came to pick him up and hid. He doesn’t know she’s there. At least he didn’t when they left.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why didn’t you stop her?”

“Because she asked me not to. Okay!” She yelled at him.

“Come on. We better go back and tell Charles. Maybe he can get in touch with him.”

“Let’s at least finish our run, we won’t get back any sooner, either way.” Becky started to jog again.

Fletch hung his head. “What the fuck was she thinking?” He took off to catch up with her as she continued to jog around the lake.

It took them about thirty minutes to get back to house. Charles and Jackie were in the kitchen fixing breakfast when they got back.

“Charles, Heidi’s gone,” Fletch told him as he caught his breath.

“Gone?”

“Tell him, Beck,” Fletch told her.

“Heidi snuck into the truck that came to pick up Robert this morning and hid on the floor in the back seat.”

“Why didn’t you stop her?” Charles roared.

“Because she asked me not to,” Becky yelled back.

“For crying out loud, Becky, you should have stopped her. Being out there with Search and Rescue is no place for her. Hasn’t she been through enough already? She didn’t even have a coat.”

“I loaned her mine.” Becky couldn’t look at Charles.

“Son of a bitch!” Charles yelled and made Becky jump. “I have to make a call. Maybe I can still reach him.” Charles stormed out of the room. He came back a short time later. “Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself. They are out of cell tower range. I won’t be able to reach him until they are on their way back. You better hope nothing happens.”

“I’m sorry,” Becky cried, “she begged me not to say anything. Could she really be in danger?”

“If they don’t discover her there, she could be left behind with no food for several days. I don’t believe she’s all that well versed in survival skills. Damn it! What were you thinking?”

“Alright, Charles, calm down,” Jackie told him. “There is nothing that can be done now. This is Thanksgiving. Let’s be thankful we are here together and hope Heidi and Robert come home safe.” Becky ran to her room in tears. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“Jackie, wait. I’m out of line, I’ll talk to her.” Charles followed Becky to her room and knocked on her door. “Becky, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. Please come back to the kitchen and have breakfast.” He waited for her to answer. Becky opened the door.

“I shouldn’t have let her go. I’m sorry Charles.”

“Jackie’s right. We can’t do anything about it now. Go wash your face and come and have some bacon waffles.”

“Bacon waffles, yummy.”

“Yup. Go wash up and come eat.”

Becky gave him a nod. “I’ll be there shortly.”

“Good,” that was all he said and returned to the kitchen. He was pissed but he wouldn’t ruin Thanksgiving.