The Parent Trap(51)

But she didn’t. The call went to voice mail and that never happened. She had Kate’s number so she tried that, too. The girl had no reason to be angry with her. But that call went to voice mail, too. That left Henry. He did answer, and yes he had seen both girls after school. Casey was wearing her soccer uniform and she was in the hallway at Kate’s locker. The two had their heads together in conversation and hadn’t seemed to notice him as he left the school. He would have talked to them but his mother had been waiting to drive him to Sechelt for a dental appointment. They were on their way there now.

Sarah thanked him and pondered what to do next. She couldn’t imagine why Casey would skip soccer practice, but if she had to guess, it had something to do with Kate, who was furious with her father. She dialed Jonathan’s number. He picked up immediately.

“Casey didn’t answer and neither did Kate when I tried her number, so I called Henry.” She relayed what he had told her.

“Thanks for that. I’m going to cancel practice and head home. Kate is supposed to be there doing homework. Let’s hope they both are.” There was no mistaking the worry in his voice.

In spite of her own growing concern, Sarah’s heart softened a little. He had overreacted for sure, but he didn’t deserve this. “I’m leaving, too. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”





CHAPTER ELEVEN

SARAH’S CAR WAS parked in her driveway when Jon pulled into his. He flung open the door of his SUV and took his steps two at a time. He unlocked the front door and did a quick tour of the house, calling Kate’s name, hoping for a response. He didn’t get one. Princess, curled in a tight little ball on the end of Kate’s bed, gave him the haughty look of one who was annoyed at having her beauty rest disturbed. Otherwise the house was lifeless.

He let himself out and jammed the key in the lock. Maybe he should leave it unlocked. What if Kate didn’t have her key? The city dweller in him refused to let him leave the house unsecure. Besides, if lack of a key was the only thing preventing Kate from coming home, she would have called or texted long ago. He locked the door and sprinted the short distance to Sarah’s place.

She and Petey met him at the front door. She had already changed out of the black skirt and tan jacket he’d seen her wearing when she’d left for work that morning and into jeans and a mossy-green sweater that was a perfect match for her eyes.

“Come in.” She held Petey in her arms until Jonathan stepped in and closed the door behind him, then she set the dog on the floor. The energetic little fellow raced into the living room, pounced on a small teddy bear, and shook the daylights and a little of the stuffing out of it.

“Have you heard from them?” he asked.

She shook her head, and the sharp movement loosened a tear that had been hovering on her eyelid. He watched it slide down her cheek, regret stabbing him like a knife. It was too soon to consider the worst-case scenario, and besides that, his gut was telling him that whatever the girls were up to, Kate was behind it. This was her getting back at him for grounding her, and she had somehow convinced Casey to go along with her. He offered his arms and Sarah walked into them with the same fluid motion as the tears that were now soaking his shirt.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what those two are up to, but we’ll find them.”

Her body shook with a single silent sob. Then she seemed to pull herself together by drawing a long, controlled breath. She lifted her head and backed out of his embrace.

“This isn’t like Casey,” she said, swiping at her eyes with the back of a hand. “Where could she have gone?”

What they knew so far was that Casey had been on her way to practice until she talked to Kate. Now they had both disappeared, which meant Kate had talked her into...what? He had no idea.

“Kate hasn’t spoken to me since last night. I know she’s upset about being grounded, but I’m having a hard time believing she’d do anything rash.”

“It sounds as though you were pretty hard on her.”

Now that Sarah had composed herself, she wasn’t going to go easy on him. He’d been hard on her, too. Actually, arrogant and unreasonable is what he’d been.

“That’s generous of you,” he said. “I was out of line and I owe you both an apology. I thought about this while I was out for my run this morning, decided I would talk to her before we left for school, but she had already left by the time I came home.”

The hard set of her mouth softened a little. “Casey walked with her. She said they were leaving early so they could help with setup for this morning’s assembly.”