Page 87 of Cupcake of the Month
Soon after, he was back in the car with Jordan, traveling south. He didn’t have much to say as they drove the bland stretch of highway. His mind did enough communicating for both of them. The first image was of Zach waiting in the airport terminal. The next, which got more air time, was him flying the friendly skies with his parents to an unknown destination, lost to Josh forever.
Jordan’s phone beeped out a notification, putting a dent in the replay going through Josh’s head. “I thought I silenced that.”
“Do you need to answer?”
“No, it’s a social media notification. You remember I have brothers?”
Josh searched her tone for censure, but didn’t find any. This was just a normal conversation. “Twins, right?”
“Yeah. Micah is going through an embarrass-my-sister phase and tagging me in old photos.”
Josh gave a soft laugh, picturing a young Jordan in pigtails and braces. “This I have to see.”
She seemed to understand his need to keep his mind on something else since she pressed her finger over her phone’s home button and handed it to him.
Pictures of Jordan at t-ball with her family cheering her on were loaded next to prom pictures and poses at a house that would have fit two of Josh’s fake brownstone. His stomachclenched at the scene. That was him, once. The large house, the loving family.
He kept swiping. The twins appeared, identical and sharing enough features with Jordan that Josh would have been able to tell they were related even if she hadn’t mentioned it.
The next picture showed her brothers with a handful of people, everyone holding a champagne glass. “What are they celebrating?” he asked.
She gave the picture a quick glance. “Being successful computer geeks.”
He swiped a few more times. “This woman looks like the lawyer of the people suing you,” he commented. His face grew hot as he realized what he had revealed.
Jordan had raised one eyebrow, but kept her eyes on the road. “You know who’s suing me?”
He tried to shrug it off. “It was in the news.”
“In Connecticut.”
“I might have looked it up.”
“I see.” Her knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. “I did that with you, you know, after you left. Looked you up. Never found anything.”
“It helped that I had a different last name.” He turned off her phone and put it on the console between them, the weight of his life settling over him again like a mantle of rusted chains. “I didn’t get a lot of publicity until after.”
Jordan made a stop at a drive-through to grab some food but Josh wasn’t hungry, his stomach holding on to the empty ache. He took over at the wheel, giving Jordan a break while she nibbled her chicken sandwich.
What would he have done if she wasn’t with him, to give him strength and courage with her presence? He’d always known she was a remarkable woman. He took a deep breath, searching for that spicy citrus scent of hers, letting its tendrils calm his mindwhile he drove on and on the endless road.
She licked mayonnaise off her finger, then crumpled the trash and put it in the empty bag. “So which picture looks like the lawyer?”
“It’s a few pictures after your brothers with the champagne. She and your brother are in the shot.”
Jordan tapped around on her phone, then raised her glasses and brought it closer to her face. “I think you might be right. How could you tell?”
“I’m good with faces.”
She nodded, but didn’t say anything more as she tapped some more. Her phone dinged a few times and she responded with more tapping.
Several hours later, they turned onto the highway leading to the airport, each second increasing his heartrate as they got closer and closer. Zach had to be there. Had to. The police in Georgia had notified security hours ago, so someone was bound to have seen him. This day would soon be over.
He pulled into departures and flew out of the car while Jordan took over at the wheel. He made a beeline for the security office and introduced himself, but they had no news. No boy alone entering the building. No ticket under Zach’s name on any of the airlines. No end to Josh’s nightmare.
When Jordan joined him after parking, they searched the terminal themselves, up the escalators to the TSA line and down to baggage claim, then back again, over and over. The sky outside grew darker as it ushered in the constant flow of people until the sun was completely gone. Still they retraced their steps.
Families occupied the benches in the terminal, luggage strewn about and young ones making a game out of hiding behind the fake plants. Couples embraced and waved to one another as one went through security. Any lone figure was older than Zach.
