Page 2 of She Didn't See It Coming
“Yes, I told you last night, remember?”
“Right.” He turns around to face her and smiles. “And you’re in your work-from-home outfit.”
She laughs and looks down at her sweatshirt and yoga pants. “It’s nice not to have to dress up for work once in a while.”
He makes himself some toast and eats it sitting beside their daughter at the kitchen table, entertaining her with silly faces, making her laugh, while Bryden gathers everything together to get Clara ready.
Sam leaves the condo first. He’s a portfolio manager with Kleinberg Wealth, and he’s got an early meeting. Bryden picks up Clara and they have a group hug in the front foyer, and Sam and Bryden kiss each other goodbye before he puts on his coat. Bryden and Clara wave from the doorway as they watch him walk down the corridor and enter the elevator to go down to the underground parking garage, where he’ll get in his car and make the fourteen-minute drive to his office downtown.
A few minutes later, Bryden gets in the elevator with Clara, descends to the parking garage, and buckles her daughter into her car seat in the Volvo to drive her to day care.
•••
That afternoon,Sam Frost is in a meeting with a high-net-worth client. They’re sitting at a long table in front of glass windows with a panoramic view of the city, when Sam gets a signal through the glass wall from Connie that he’s wanted on the phone. He shakes his head at her. He turns his cell phone off during meetings for a reason. But she’s insistent, making faces and gesticulating at him. He excuses himself and leaves the room.
“What is so important that you have to interrupt my meeting?” he asks her.
“It’s your daughter’s day care.”
“Is she all right?” he asks quickly.
“Yes, she’s fine, but your wife hasn’t picked her up.”
He glances at his watch. It’s 5:30. Bryden always picks Clara up at 5:00. “Seriously?”
“You’d better talk to them.”
He follows her to reception and picks up the phone. “Sam Frost,” he says.
“Mr. Frost, sorry to bother you, but Bryden hasn’t been in to pick up Clara, and she’s not answering her phone or texts.”
“She’s probably in her car on the way,” he says. “Can you wait a little longer?”
“We’re here for late pickup till six thirty. But someone must come get her by then.”
He makes a mental calculation. “Look, if Bryden doesn’t arrive there by six, I’ll come get Clara. It’s only a few minutes from here. But I’m sure she will get there any minute. I’ll try to contact her.”
“Thank you, Mr. Frost.”
He hangs up the phone. Connie is looking at him.
“Everything all right?” she asks.
“I’m sure everything’s fine,” he says. “Something must have held Bryden up.” He texts her.You okay?He watches his phone for a moment, but there’s no reply. He calls her, but it goes directly to voicemail. “She must be in the car, running late,” he says to Connie. He returns to his meeting, which soon comes to an end. When he hasn’t been able to reach Bryden by six o’clock, he phones the day care. The director, Gwen, answers.
“We were just about to call you, Mr. Frost. Bryden still isn’t here. I hope she’s okay.”
“I don’t know what’s happened to her,” he says, allowing worry to creep into his voice. “But I’m leaving now. I’ll be there soon.”
He turns to Connie, who is hovering. “This is really odd. I’ve called and texted her, and the day care has too, and she’s not answering. She should have got there by now.” For good measure, he calls Bryden again while Connie stands by, but again, there’s no answer. He leaves another message. “I’m really worried now, Bryden. Can you please get in touch? I’m going to pick up Clara.”
Sam quickly leaves the office and drives as fast as he dares to the day care, which is located about midway between downtown and their condo in the northwest part of the small city. The first thing he does when he arrives is gather Clara up in his arms and smother her tearstained face with kisses until she giggles. Then he turns to Gwen, who has been waiting, and says, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happened to Bryden. I’m sure there will be some simple explanation.” Nothing like this has ever happened before. He puts his daughter down and takes her by the hand. “Let’s go find Mommy, shall we?” They walk out of the day care as if nothing is wrong at all. It’s important to act as normally as possible in front of his daughter, he thinks, even if things aren’t normal at all.
They arrive home via the underground parking garage, and the first thing Sam sees is his wife’s car sitting in its usual spot. He parks beside it. “Look. Mommy’s car is here,” he says to Clara. His voice sounds fake, with a forced optimism. He gets out of the car and glances quickly through the windows of his wife’s Volvo, but the car is empty. Then he helps Clara out of her car seat.
They take the elevator from parking level 1B directly up to the eighth floor. The doors slide open, and Sam walks down the quiet corridor holding his daughter’s hand. Their feet make no sound on the carpet; he can feel the thudding of his own heart.
When Sam opens the door, he spots Bryden’s handbag on the small side table in the foyer beneath the mirror. It looks so familiar, so normal. He calls out her name as he closes the door behind them.
