Page 55 of Chasing the Horizon

“Hello?”

Valerie hung there in his office, very pregnant and more alienated than ever. She tried to read her father’s face. She tried to understand him.

But then her father said, “I’ll be there right away.”

He was on his feet, his phone on the desk. He was looking at her like someone he had to deal with. “I have to go,” he announced.

Valerie’s heart panged. “Where are you going?”

“I have to help someone,” he said. “Someone who actually wants me in their life.”

It was a low blow, and Valerie could see from Victor’s face that he knew it. But he didn’t seem to care. He fled, hurrying down the hallway and the staircase. Next came the sound of the closet door opening, followed by the garage door.

Valerie remained in her father’s study, watching the softly falling snow.

It hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. Then again, she had no idea what she’d planned.

Was it possible that none of them knew what was going to happen next? That they were all flailing through time and space, trying to make sense of themselves and their surroundings and the people they loved before their time was up?

Was it possible she was too hard on her father?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Driving swiftly through that mid-fifties March afternoon, Victor reached the Nantucket combined middle school-high school in record time and stormed through the front door with the air of a superman come to rescue the world and everyone in it. In the office, he found Kade, doubled over and looking at his shoes. For Victor, the pain of seeing Kade like that was enormous. Marty McEvans, the guidance counselor, greeted Victor by name. “Thank you for coming.” And then he said, “Kade, I’m going to talk to Dr. Sutton for a little while. Is that okay?”

Kade nodded and still refused to look up.

Victor touched Kade’s shoulder and told him, “It’s going to be okay, Kade.”

Victor realized, in his heart of hearts, that he had to make it okay for Kade.

Victor followed Marty into his office and closed the door behind them. “What happened?” he said under his breath.

Marty shook his head. “We didn’t know till this afternoon. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Come on,” Victor urged. He was getting impatient. He could still feel Valerie back at the house, waiting expectantly, her eyes so sorrowful and angry. She looked like me, he realized.

Had Victor chosen Kade over Valerie? But then again, Valerie had been avoiding him for almost three months. She’d made it clear that she didn’t want him in her life.

The only reason she came over was because of the book.

Victor forced himself to focus on the topic at hand. He tuned in to Marty.

“Apparently, Jack Landan had a stroke last night,” Marty said. “Kade drove his great-uncle to the hospital and checked him in and then drove himself back.”

“Kade drove?” Victor cried. “He’s eleven years old!”

But then Victor remembered all the stories Kade had told him about his tremendous travels, about riding motorbikes and sailing back to safety. Kade was enormously capable, at least physically. It was his emotional landscape that Victor needed to worry about.

“We only learned because someone at the hospital called the school today,” Marty said. “Which means Kade drove himself to school this morning. Nothing else about Kade was amiss. When we asked him about what happened last night, he told us that his great-uncle was stable and that he was going to check on him after school. Like it was up to him to make sure Jack was all right. I can’t imagine what he did last night. I guess he drove himself home and put himself to bed? Did he make himself dinner?”

“He probably did. He’s very capable.” Victor collapsed on the chair opposite Marty and hung his head. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“You’re the only one he wanted to see,” Marty explained.

And then, Victor remembered Joel in a hospital bed, so eager to see his father that he’d nearly fallen out of it. He shook the image out.

“He can’t go home by himself,” Victor said.

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