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McCrae clicked off. He hoped his face-to-face with Coach Sutton was going to be more than a walk down memory lane from a time he would rather bury in the back of his mind.
* * *
Zora couldn’t think. Tanner was dead. Carmen, Bailey, and now Tanner were all dead. Her friends and her classmates. Two of the Five Firsts and the boy they’d all circled around.
Once again, she recalled making out with Tanner. Fast and hurried and hidden. He’d held his hand over her mouth because she’d had an attack of the giggles that wouldn’t quit, and there had been other people in her house.
Oh, if they’d only truly gotten together, made a baby. Zora had cried at Delta and Tanner’s wedding, and though she’d sworn it was tears of happiness, it felt like something important had gotten away from her.
He was supposed to be the father of your children. Owen should be yours.
Well, hell.
Brushing back her tears, she grabbed a tissue in the master bath and blew her nose, shuddered at her reflection. She looked like a hag.
Painstakingly, she applied new makeup, adding a lot of blush because she was just so pale, almost gray. Satisfied with the results, she dug through her closet and found her light gray coatdress with the tailored pockets. She slid her feet into black flats, Manolos, then grabbed up a soft, black leather bag with a thin chain strap that she slipped over her shoulder.
Her house felt empty, even though Brian was in his office. It felt cold, too. She wished she had her car, but it was still at the hospital. She shouldn’t have allowed Amanda to drive her home, but she couldn’t remember one minute of that trip, so she probably would’ve been driving blind anyway and was lucky to be alive.
But now. Now she needed to get out.
She called for an Uber and fifteen minutes later was on the road to the hospital. At the Laurelton General parking lot, she thanked the driver and then found her car, a white Mercedes sedan that matched her husband’s in everything but color. His was black.
She drove to the mall and wandered aimlessly around, buying a new thousand-dollar handbag. The purses were with the hats and scarves and near the shoes. Jewelry was on one side, and she stopped to finger a silver bracelet. She then went to the shoe department and spent ten minutes deciding between a pair of fiery red heels by an up-and-coming Italian designer or another pair of Manolos in silver.
She decided to buy them both and was waiting at the register when a woman with a boy of around five came in. The kid was bouncing in his shoes, walking behind her. She stopped and looked at the same bracelets Zora had just examined, and the little boy bounced into the shoe department. Zora paid for her shoes and then turned toward him. He was about five feet away.
“Hey, there,” she said, squatting down, putting her packages on the floor around her.
He stared at her. “You bought stuff.”
“Lots of stuff. You wanna see?”
He nodded and trotted toward her. Remembered. Started bouncing again.
She opened the bag that held the purse. It was a dark green. “I think it’s the same color as dinosaurs.”
“No.” He shook his head.
“No? There’s a toy store down the mall. I bet we could find one there the same color.”
Zora’s heart was pounding. She wasn’t sure what she was doing. He reminded her of Owen. She’d seen the Facebook posts from Delta, although she’d really fallen off posting recently.
“I know that store!” he said, delighted.
Zora slid her eyes around. No one was paying her any attention, least of all the boy’s mom. What was wrong with her?
“You wanna go?” Zora whispered.
“Yeah! Rrraaaarrr!” he yelled, clawing the air in an imitation of a T. rex.
“What’s your name?”
“Tyler.”
“Well, Tyler. Let’s go see what’s at the store.”
“I’ll tell Mom!” And he raced off to tell his mother before Zora could stop him. She quickly headed for the open doorway into the center of the mall, then made her pace drop to a stroll, heart pounding. She was just going to the toy store and he’d wanted to come along, that’s all. Nothing wrong with that.
