Page 55 of I’ll Be Watching You

Maybe just a bit.

Luisa was right.

“Okay,” Mom said. “Give me a couple minutes.”

“Of course,” Jack said.

Again, he and Margo shared a glance. It was like they could psychically communicate. Would they forgive her?

Ava didn’t know.

She ate her toast with homemade jam and finished her first cup of coffee. Luisa was working on her computer doing who knows what. Ava had thought she understood Luisa better than all her kids, until Luisa decided to forgo college and enlist in the Marines. It had thrown Ava for a loop. Now she was back home, going to college. Quieter than she’d been as a child. Not so much moody as contemplative. Her six years in service had changed her. For the better? Ava didn’t know. She’d grown up and Ava hadn’t been a witness to it. That made her melancholy, like she’d missed out on something important.

Jack glanced down at his phone, smiled.

“What?” Ava said, wanting good news.

“Laura sent me a picture of Austin and Cody playing video games with her dogs and Logan’s dogs as pillows.” He turned the phone around to show Ava. She smiled too. “Apparently,” he said, “they got up early to do all their homework so they could play video games all day.”

“It’s like a staycation at Logan’s spread,” Margo said.

“I wish I could join them,” he said wistfully.

Ava loved that Jack had fallen in love again, especially with a woman who everyone in the family genuinely liked. Even Margo, who could be so judgmental sometimes.

She probably learned that from me, Ava thought.

Ava poured a second cup of coffee, the toast already feeling like sludge in her stomach. But she couldn’t put this off any longer.

She sat down at the large table in the breakfast nook and said, “I’m ready.”

Luisa pulled out her cell phone and said, “When we called yesterday and left a message, she didn’t answer. So I spoofed Dad’s name.”

“You what?” Ava asked.

“When we call on my phone, caller ID will read Cooper Angelhart.”

“Oh.” She had heard of spoofing, of course, but she had always considered it only in relation to a crime. She couldn’t think of anything illegal about what Luisa was doing.

“Devil’s advocate,” Margo said. “Why would she pick up anyway? She knows Dad is in prison with no access to his phone.”

“I figure she won’t pick up an unknown caller, but would if she thought it was someone who knows Dad.”

“Put my name in,” Ava said quietly. “I’ve never met her, but she knows who I am.”

“Okay,” Luisa said and worked quickly on the phone.

“You may listen,” Ava said. “But please, let me handle the conversation.”

Jack and Luisa agreed; Margo just stared at her and Ava could practically read her mind.

If I want to ask questions, I’ll ask questions.

Luisa dialed, then put the phone on speaker and slid it in front of Ava.

Two rings later, a woman picked up. “Hello? Ava?”

Ava kept her face as impassive as possible. She didn’t need her kids to see how hard this was on her.