Charlotte walked inside the kitchen, closing the door leading from the garage and feeling a bit lightheaded. Now she wondered if having three glasses of wine had been a good idea. She certainly hadn’t planned on having more than one, but before she’d known it, she’d asked the waitress to refill her glass and then fill it again. Although, maybe she hadn’t eaten enough, and that was the reason she felt somewhat weak. She had finished most of her salad but not all of her mushroom ravioli. She also hadn’t eaten very much for breakfast this morning.
Charlotte set her purse on the island, and while she’d known Curtis wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours, she sort of wished he would drive back sooner. Because if he did, she wouldn’t have to deal with Curtina’s nasty attitude. Their daughter usually arrived home around three thirty, and since it was now four thirty, Charlotte knew she was already upstairs not doing her homework, and instead texting on her phone like some addict. Though Charlotte was pleasantly surprised about Curtina having reactivated the security system, because even though she knew she was supposed to do so, even in the daytime, she usually didn’t.
Charlotte walked into the hallway and down toward the front of the house near the staircase. “Curtina!”
She waited for a response but there wasn’t one.
Charlotte frowned. “Curtina,” she yelled again, “don’t make me come up there.”
Again there was no reply.
Charlotte hated when Curtina ignored her like this, and enough was enough. So she went up the stairs and down to her daughter’s room. Strangely, the door wasn’t closed, and when Charlotte walked in, Curtina was nowhere to be found.
Charlotte shook her head, wondering where she was, and then went back downstairs to grab her cell phone. She quickly dialed Curtina’s number. Of course, she didn’t answer.
Charlotte left her a voice mail message. “Curtina, where in the world are you? You know you’re supposed to come straight home, and you’d better call me as soon as you get this message. And get your little behind back here. Now.”
Charlotte ended the call and sighed heavily. What was this child going to do next? And why was she acting this way in the first place? Charlotte sat at the island for a couple of minutes and then called Curtis.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, baby.”
“Have you heard from Curtina?”
“No, why?”
“She’s not here.”
“What do you mean she’s not there?”
“She didn’t come home from school. She should’ve been here an hour ago, and she’s not answering her phone, either.”
“Maybe she went over to Taylor’s. You know she’s done that before, especially when it’s Jackie’s week to drive them to school,” he said.
“Still, she knows she’s not supposed to do that. She’s not supposed to go anywhere without permission. Not even over to Taylor’s or Lauren’s.”
“You’re right, but you know how hardheaded she is now. Why don’t you call Jackie to see if she’s there?”
“I will, and I’ll call you back.”
Charlotte hung up and dialed Jackie.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Jackie, how are you?”
“I’m good, but I’ll bet you’re doing even better since this isn’t one of your weeks to cart these grown little women around.”
“Yeah, tell me about it, and actually, that’s the reason I’m calling you. One of those grown little women isn’t home.”
“You mean Curtina?”
“Yes, is she there with you?”
“No, I dropped her off at home a little more than an hour ago. You haven’t seen her?”
“Nope.”
“Well, when we pulled up to the gate, she reached out of the back window and typed in the code to open it. Just like always. Then I drove her up to the front of your house and waited for her to go in. You didn’t hear the door opening?”
“I didn’t get here myself until just a little while ago.”
“And your housekeeper didn’t hear her come in, either?”
“Agnes is off on Mondays.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, then, I don’t know what happened, and now I’m worried because I literally watched her unlock the front door and walk inside.”
“I’m sure she’s fine. Just somewhere she shouldn’t be.”
“Hold on a minute,” Jackie said, and called out to her daughter. “Taylor, come here for a minute.”
Taylor, Lauren, and Curtina were thick as thieves, so even if Taylor knew something, Charlotte doubted she would admit it.
“Do you know where Curtina is?”
“She’s home, I guess,” Charlotte heard Taylor saying.
“No, she’s not. Her mom is on the phone right now. And if you know where she is, you’d better tell me.”
“I don’t, Mom. She didn’t tell me she was going anywhere.”
“You’d better not be lying to me,” Jackie told her. “And you can just wipe that ugly frown off your face, too.”
Charlotte couldn’t believe these twelve-year-old girls.
“Did you hear what she said?” Jackie asked.
“Yeah, but I wonder if she’s telling the truth.”
“You and me both. There was a time when I believed everything she said, but now she lies whenever she feels like it.”
“We’re dealing with the same thing over here with Curtina.”
“Too much, girl, but I’ll let you know if we hear from her.”
“I appreciate that, and thank you.”
“Talk to you later.”
Charlotte pressed the End button and immediately called Curtis again.
“Hey,” he said.
“She’s not at Jackie’s, but Jackie says she didn’t leave until she saw Curtina come inside the house.”
“I just tried calling her, but she’s still not answering. So I hope nothing happened to her.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes because even though Curtis didn’t play games with Curtina, there was still a small part of him that wanted to believe the best about her. Curtina was his youngest child—the baby of the family—and there were times when he didn’t want to accept how awful she could be.
“Curtina is fine,” Charlotte said. “Trust me. She’s just being grown and doing what she wants.”
“Are you okay?” Curtis asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. You sound different.”
Charlotte hoped he couldn’t tell she’d been drinking, and now she wished she’d focused more on hiding that fact versus getting herself all worked up about Curtina. “No, I’m fine. Just upset about Curtina and wondering what we’re going to do with her.”
“Well, first we need to make sure she’s okay.”
“Like I said before, Curtina is fine. And part of the reason I know that is because she even reset the alarm system. She had to have turned it off and then back on so we would think she hadn’t been here yet. Not knowing I was going to call Jackie. Probably thought she could sneak away and get back here before we realized it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. You’ll see.”
“Let me get off and try her again,” he said.
“Call me back.”
Charlotte set her phone down on the island and sat in one of the chairs. The wine she’d had was still taking full effect, and just as soon as they found out where Curtina was, she was going to lie down and take a nap. That way, she’d be able to sleep off her little buzz before Curtis got home.
Charlotte turned on the television and flipped through a few channels until she saw an old episode of Law & Order. But then Curtis called her back.
“Did she answer?” Charlotte asked.
“No, but I finally got her to call me.”
“Really? How?”
“I texted her and told her that if she didn’t respond in the next two minutes, I was grounding her for a month. And that she could also forget about using her phone or going anywhere except school and church.”
“That’s so ridiculous. You had to threaten her before she called you? And where is she, anyway?”
“Down the street at the convenience store. She claims she was just getting some snacks, and that she’s already on her way home.”
“I don’t believe that. Not when we have all the snacks a person could want right here. She’s gone down to that store a couple of other times for some so-called snacks.”
“Yeah, I know. Which is why we’re going to have to keep a closer watch on her. For a while you’re going to have to try to be home before three thirty. She needs to know that you’re going to be there waiting on her.”
Charlotte agreed but didn’t like the sound of what Curtis was saying. Why should she have to rush home five days a week, just because their wannabe-grown daughter needed monitoring? It was true that they didn’t want her there alone for more than an hour or so, but now Charlotte would have to schedule every single weekday around a twelve-year-old? She loved Curtina with all her heart, but this crazy-preteen drama was becoming too much.
Still, she told Curtis what he wanted to hear. “You’re right. And I’ll be here from now on.”
“Okay, well, I’ll see you in a couple of hours or so. Just depends on how bad traffic is.”
“Drive safely.”
“I will. Love you.”
“I love you, too.”