My mouth hung open, and then I bowed my head. “You could have called or texted me—”
Crying now, she got up and said, “I wanted to see your face, Dad. Can you understand that? Your face?”
“Oh, God, Jannie, I—”
She stormed away, pushed her brother aside where he was still standing in the door, and pounded up the stairs.
“Dad!” Ali complained, rubbing his shoulder.
I started to get up to follow Jannie but felt my grandmother’s hand on my elbow. “You leave her be a bit,” she said quietly. “Some of that’s just hormones.”
That served to churn my emotions even more. I’d always thought of Jannie as my little girl, but here she was the youngest in the school to make varsity track and now she was surging with hormones?
I put my head on my forearms, desperate to go back to sleep.
“What’s hormones, Nana?” Ali said.
A pause. “Ask your father.”
My son replied, “He doesn’t want to talk to me because he doesn’t believe I smelled a zombie last night.”
I raised my head, shot my grandmother an I-give-up look, and said, “I think I’ve given Jannie enough time.”
Nana Mama looked ready to argue but then shrugged and looked at Ali. “Cereal or eggs, young man?”
“Sunny side up,” Ali replied as I headed toward the hall, then called after me, “Dad, will you walk me to school?”
I checked my watch, realizing that if the killer and kidnapper kept to their ritualistic timetable, in less than thirty-six hours Cam Nguyen and those kids were going to die.
“Can’t, son,” I yelled. “I have a meeting.”
“Dad, please,” he insisted.
“Tomorrow,” I called back down the stairs. “No ifs, ands, or buts.”
Outside Jannie’s b
edroom door, I raised my hand to knock but then heard Bree’s voice already inside.
“It’s my fault,” she was saying. “I could tell you wanted to tell your dad something, but I didn’t pick up on what a big thing you’d done.”
There was a long pause before Jannie said in a quiet tone, “I should have told you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. You know?”
“I do,” Bree said.
I knocked and opened the door, finding my wife hugging my daughter.
“Group hug for the greatest freshman quarter-mile runner in Washington, DC?” I asked, throwing my hands wide in a comical gesture.
Jannie smiled and nodded. I went over and wrapped my arms around her, saying, “We are very, very proud of you.”
She snuggled her head into my chest and said, “Promise me you’ll both come to my first meet? It’s Friday afternoon. They’re putting me in the invitational.”
“Good Friday,” Bree said. “Of course we’ll be there.”
I added, “Wild horses couldn’t drag us away.”
Chapter