“Monday… okay. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll talk to her.”
I hung up the phone and sat there. My daughter had been pretending to go to school all week… where had she really been going?
When Emily came home that evening, I was waiting for her.
“How was school, Em?” I asked.
When Emily came home that evening, I was waiting for her.
“The usual,” she replied. “I got a whole ton of math homework, and History is so boring.”
“And what about your friends?”
She stiffened.
“Em?”
Emily rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “What is this? The Spanish Inquisition?”
She stomped off to her room, and I watched her go. She’d been lying for four days, so I figured a direct confrontation would just make her dig a deeper hole.
I needed a different approach.
She’d been lying for four days.
***
The next morning, I went through the motions.
I watched her walk away down the driveway. Then, I ran for the car. I parked a short distance from the bus stop and watched her get on the bus. Nothing concerning so far.
So, I followed the bus. When it hissed to a stop in front of the high school, a sea of teenagers poured out. Emily was among them.
But as the crowd flowed toward the heavy double doors of the building, she peeled off.
I watched her walk away down the driveway.
She lingered by the bus stop sign.
What are you doing? I soon got my answer.
An old pickup truck rolled up to the curb. It was rusted around the wheel wells and had a dent in the tailgate. Emily yanked the passenger door open and hopped in.
My pulse turned into a drum solo against my ribs. My first instinct was to call the authorities. I was reaching for my phone… but she’d smiled when she saw the truck, and he’d climbed in willingly.
The truck pulled away. I followed them.
Emily yanked the passenger door open and hopped in.
Maybe I was overreacting, but even if Emily wasn’t in danger, she was still skipping school, and I needed to know why.
They drove toward the outskirts of town, where the strip malls give way to quiet parks. They eventually pulled into a gravel lot near the lake.
“If I’m about to catch you skipping school to be with a boyfriend you haven’t told me about…” I growled as I pulled into the lot behind them.
I parked a short distance away, and that’s when I saw the driver.
They drove toward the outskirts of town.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
I was out of my car so fast that I didn’t even close the door behind me.
I marched toward the pickup truck. Emily saw me first. She was laughing at something he’d said, but her smile dropped the moment we made eye contact.
I marched up to the driver’s side window and rapped my knuckles against the glass.
Slowly, the window lowered.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
