Page 29 of What Maple Heard

I crossed the room in four steps and picked up the phone.

And the voice on the other end told me exactly what I had been most afraid of hearing.

All the blood left my face.

***

Chapter 9

Cade

When Nancy said the words River’s school and principal and right away, I didn’t wait to hear the rest.

I watched the color leave Maple’s face. All at once, like someone had pulled a plug. Her eyes were fixed on Nancy’s face, taking in every word like her life depended on it. She moved to the reception phone, and I was already moving.

I took off the tutu.

I pulled my pants over the green leotard because there was no time to change completely and the leotard was staying on whether I liked it or not.

“Sorry, guys.” I looked at the kids. “We have to pick up from the song tomorrow. Something urgent came up.”

“Bye, Cade!” eleven voices said. In unison.

I told Nancy to call David to come get the kids and I grabbed my blazer and I was out the door.

Maple was in the parking lot. She had her keys out and was trying to find the right one, but her hands were shaking and she kept dropping the key ring and picking it back up and dropping it again.

“Get in my car,” I said.

“Just go, Cade.” She didn’t look up from the keys. “I don’t want your help.”

“Maple.” I said sternly. She stopped and turned to look at me. “Get in my car. RIGHT NOW.”

For just a second, the fear in her eyes was so raw that everything else fell away, and she was just a person who was terrified about the one person she loved most in the world.

She nodded.

I opened the passenger door. She got in.

She stared straight ahead for the first two minutes. Then she started talking. Not to me exactly. Just talking, the way people talk when something needs to come out and there’s nowhere else for it to go.

“I told him. I told him so many times to stay away from those boys. He doesn’t listen. He never listens. Why doesn’t he listen? I’ve said it a hundred times—“

“Maple.”

“—and now what? What happens now? What if something happened to him? What if—“

“Maple.” I reached over and put my hand over hers. Very carefully. Just resting it there, not gripping, not demanding anything.

She didn’t move her hand away.

I noticed that. For the first time in the last month, she had not pulled her hand away.

“Tell me what happened,” I said. “Is River okay?

She took a breath. “He and his friends skipped school.” Her voice was steadier now. Slightly. “They were caught tagging a wall with spray paint near the highway. He was with three other boys.”

I kept my eyes on the road.