Sneak Peek Sunday – Another Look at “Dream Vacation”
I’m one of several indie authors who are posting a sneak peek at their latest work today. You can find a whole lot of other great authors RIGHT HERE.
And I’ve got a preview for you from my upcoming book, “Dream Vacation”. Enjoy!
It’s four-thirty when I get back, and Grace still isn’t home. “She called right after you left. She said they going to stay at the mall until it closes at five and then start on home,” my mother informs me when I ask.
I start preparing dinner, and five o’clock comes and goes. By the time everything is finished and I’m dishing up places, six o’clock has come and gone, too. We should have heard something from Grace by now.
I call her cell phone, and it rings several times with no answer. That’s against the rules. One of the conditions of giving her the phone was that whenever Brian or I call, she has to pick up, no matter what she’s doing.
She’s never lied to us – not seriously, anyway. She’s never skipped school, or broken curfew or any of the other usual teenage things.
As far as I know.
The twins come in, attracted by the smell of pot roast. Steffy asks, “Where’s Grace?”
“That’s a good question,” I say, a lot more calmly than I feel. I go into the living room, and pick up the Entertainment section of the newspaper with trembling hands. It takes me just a few seconds to confirm my suspicion: there’s no Will Smith movie playing at the theater up in Beacon.
Which means Grace didn’t go there. And I also suspect that she’s not with her friend Tammie, either. Five minutes and a quick call over to the Meitners later, I know I’m right.
I look down at my hands to find them balled into fists. How could she lie to me like that? I trusted her! I’ve trusted her just the same as all my other children – just the way my parents trusted me! How could she betray that?
It was deliberate, too. She planned it all out. She knew I wouldn’t call to check up and confirm she was really going with Tammie and her brother. And she called this afternoon, to keep up the lie.
And then something more worrisome comes into my mind. What if something happened to her after that call? Unless she’s actually running away from home – and no matter how distraught she is about Will Harper, that’s just inconceivable – she must have planned to be home at a reasonable hour.
But she’s not. Why? Where is she? Is she not answering her phone because she can’t? Because she’s lost it, or it’s been stolen or she’s…?
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