Alan pulled a chair out and took a seat beside his wife.
“I stopped at the Masons’ and knocked on the door a few times, but no one answered,” Michelle continued. “I heard yelling from inside. Fred and Kim were arguing, at each other’s throats. I’ve never heard them talk to each other like that before. Guess it isn’t hard to comprehend; their family has been incomplete for months now. How they’ve gotten by this long without knowing what happened to Chad or Mark is anyone’s guess.” She paused. “I felt like giving up after that, thought to come back home and go to bed, but couldn’t bring myself to do it, you know? So I kept walking. I passed by so many new faces and had so many flashlight beams shined at me it felt like I was sixteen again at my first rock concert. Then a big truck pulled up beside me, that big black one Jade drives. She opened the door and told me to get in, and I did. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her, then we talked for a while.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“Me.” Michelle smirked. “And what I was doing walking the road late at night. She told me it was reckless being there, worrying like I was, as tired as I was, doing what I was doing; pretty much all the things you would say.” She took another sip. “So I told her to get fucked.”
“Michelle…”
“I’m a mother, Alan. And that woman is most definitely not,” Michelle began sternly. “Handing off unsolicited advice on something she knows nothing about and doesn’t concern her? She’s lucky that’s all she got out of me. But she surprised me; she didn’t take it badly at all. She wasn’t the least bit insulted either. She just apologized, told me she was wrong for overstepping, then asked where I wanted to go. After what I’d said, I didn’t think she was serious, but she was. So we made a stop at Whitney and Scott’s new place. It’s nice. They’ve put a lot of work into it, turned that house into a home for themselves. I’m proud of them. But they are just devastated over Brooke not being there. And neither of them has seen Lauren. We stopped at Amy and Pete’s for another dose of not-so-good news; then Jade brought me home. I went to the bedroom, checked on you, and I’ve been here ever since, learning what chronic insomnia is like.”
“You are beyond exhausted.” Alan reached for Michelle’s hand. “Are you sure there’s no chance of you getting any sleep? Even after all that?”
“None. Not until Lauren is home. And don’t argue with me about it, okay? I know I look tired. I know I look like shit, but I don’t know what else to do. My mind won’t let me cave.” Michelle shuddered. “While you were gone all that time, all I had was Lauren and Grace. They kept me moving, Alan. It was tough, really tough sometimes. I didn’t know the first thing to do some days, but those two kept me going. Having Norman around was a blessing too. He filled in a lot of blanks; the chores I didn’t know the first thing about or how to do, he handled them. But he’s gone now, never to return. And Grace isn’t here…and now…neither is Lauren.”
Alan scooted his chair to meet with hers. He reached for her and pulled Michelle into him, her body rigid against his. “I’m here. I know sometimes it doesn’t seem real to you, because it doesn’t to me. But I am here, Michelle. And all of this will blow over. Grace will be okay. She’ll recover. And Lauren will come home. I promise.”
Michelle’s tension gave in a little. “You’d better be right. Because I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Breaking their one-on-one focus, a door in the hallway creaked open, and Lee emerged. Looking disheveled, he yawned, sent a wave, and bumbled into the kitchen. “Could I have some of that coffee, please?” he asked, pointing to the stove.
Michelle leaned back in her chair to ogle him. “Of course you can.” She rose. “Hang on. I’ll get it for you.”
Lee cracked a smile and thanked her, bid Alan good morning, and took a seat across the table. “Thought I might get some fresh air today…as in, not in my room. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
Alan shook his head. “We were just having a family chat. And since you’re family, the answer is no.”
Michelle returned a moment later with Lee’s coffee, then offered her husband a serving.
“Make mine a double, thank you.”
Lee tore open two packets of sugar and stirred the contents into his. “So, what are we discussing?”
“Just…current events,” Alan said.
Lee squinted, repeating the answer to himself, unsure of what to make of it.
“We were talking about Lauren,” Michelle blurted out, plopping back into her seat with Alan’s mug.
“Oh.” Lee’s eyebrows curled upward, and he visually perused the room. “Where is she?”
Alan retrieved his coffee mug. “I wish we knew. Apparently, no one’s seen her since Saturday.”
“What’s today?”
“Tuesday,” replied Michelle.
Lee nodded,
