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―Hello?‖ I‘d been so preoccupied I hadn‘t heard the front doors open To ht beneath the breezeway ―Who‘sMy God, Ms

Lord, what are you still doing here?‖

It was David-déjà vu all over again but, this tie of relief I should‘ve thought of Mr Anderson, but I hadn‘t seen his car and figured he‘d gone ho Probably when I was busy alienating David

He listened as I explained and then reached into his pocket ―Call her now,‖ he said, offering his phone

This ti; his was an iPhone and all I‘d had any experience as Mo a little too freaked to be e her cell I called three ti rolled to voice mail So I tried the store next Evan picked up More bad news: Mo ―She should‘ve been there by now,‖ Evan said ―I‘ll try her, too, and tell her you called, okay? Give me the number‖

―Ah‖ I looked at Mr Anderson ―What‘s your phone number?‖

―Here,‖ Mr Anderson said, and then took the phone He rattled off the number, listened, said, ―Anderson,‖ listened some more, and then handed back the phone

―Who is that?‖ Evan said His tone was sharper now, a little suspicious ―Are you all right?‖

―Of course, I‘m fine It‘s my chemistry teacher,‖ I said, et you, honey?‖

―No, I‘m fine, Evan Really Justif you hear from Mom?‖

―Will do You call ht? Worst-case scenario, you stay with ain ―Just, you know, call me if‖

He said he would, and I thumbed off ―Sorry,‖ I said to Mr Anderson ―About Evan, I ood that people are worried about you Who‘s next?‖

―My dad‖ But his cell was off, too, and when I called the hospital, the page operator said he‘d left for the day and was off pager

Mr Anderson said, ―Is there anyone else you can call? A relative, brother, sister?‖

When I shook my head, he added, ―Then maybe you should call Evan back‖

―No, I‘ll be okay She‘s just late It‘s probably nothing‖

―If you think I‘ to drive off and leave you here‖ Mr Anderson ran a hand through his hair, looked down the eo over to your mom‘s store Maybe Evan‘s mistaken If she‘s not there, then I‘ll take you ho her fro out that if my mom showed and I wasn‘t here, she‘d have a heart attack But Mr Anderson wasn‘t having any of that ―No way I‘ you here

We don‘t live that far from each other anyway I‘m sure your parents will understand

Come on‖

I‘ll be honest I was so freaked out he really didn‘t have to try all that hard The one thing I didn‘t as to stand there, by myself, in the dark God, why hadn‘t I taken David up on his offer? I could‘ve been having a cup of coffee with a nice guy as just trying to be friendly Okay, fine, he was having girlfriend problems, but it wasn‘t like Danielle was my favorite person

I followed Mr Anderson to a red Toyota pickup ―Prius is in the shop,‖ he said The truck was neat as a pin and sreen There was a shoe box of CDs he‘d mixed himself and he told me to pick whatever I wanted The mixes were all classical and jazz, so I just slid in a random CD A snappy blast of jazzy brass, piano, and druton, filled the car I stuckon Mr Anderson‘s cell, but all I got was Robo-Moe and have a nice day

At the store:

―Hey, sweetheart‖ Evan kissed me on the cheek He shook Mr Anderson‘s hand, and I could tell fro to decide if Mr

Anderson was okay

―You hear fro up I don‘t have any idea where she could‘ve gone, unless‖

―What?‖ I asked

―Well, Nate Bartholouy rote Sandlot Blues?‖

He hooked a thu pitcher, who looked suspiciously like Kevin Costner, was kicking a spray of red dirt from theabout going out to dinner,‖ he said, then added to Mr Anderson, ―She does that, sometimes She and Nate have always been friendly‖

Actually, no, she never did that Mom liked books, not writers Except for Meryl, she said all writers were prima donnas, drunks, social misfits, pompous, or depressed

Brilliant, maybe, but coory of it takes one to know one) She‘d rather stick pins in her eyes than voluntarily eat a meal with any author, no matter how famous

―Do you know Mr Bartholomew‘s number?‖ asked Mr Anderson When Evan shook his head, Mr Anderson looked atyou home‖

I followed him out to his truck To be honest, Bob, I was so panicked by then, I couldn‘t have argued even if I‘d wanted to

We left the lights first of Milwaukee and then Mequon and darkness closed like a curtain There were fields and farht, and us, driving north, following the truck‘s headlights on a knife edge of interstate