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CHAPTER SIX
Her mother was in the family room, reading a book and watching the evening news, when Paige entered the brightly lit apartment. Joan immediately jumped to her feet, eyes smiling in anticipation. “How did the interview go?”
Paige plopped into a nearby chair, staring vacantly at the giant TV screen on the opposite wall. “Not great.”
“Oh.” Joan’s smile vanished. “I thought that since it was so late, it must be going really well, that you might still be there.”
“No. It was actually over pretty quick. I went to Chloe’s. Sorry. I should have called.”
“No, of course not. I forgot you were going over there. How’s she doing?”
“Not great,” Paige said, as she’d said earlier.
Her mother knew better than to pry. Both women turned their attention to the TV, where a photograph of a pretty young woman with long, dark hair now filled the screen. “Twenty-eight-year-old Tiffany Sleight has been missing for five days,” the announcer was saying. “She disappeared after telling colleagues she was meeting a friend after work and hasn’t been seen since. Anyone having information is asked to call police at…”
“Wasn’t there another girl who disappeared about a month ago?” Joan asked.
Paige shrugged. It seemed that women were always disappearing. Sometimes she wished she could be one of them. Justpoof—and she’d be gone.
Be a pear…
Joan grabbed the remote from the leather ottoman in front of the sofa and muted the sound. “Well, enough of that. Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“I made lasagna.”
“Maybe later.”
“Do you want to go to a movie? There’s a new one with that handsome actor…what’s his name? Chris somebody…You know the one…”
“Matt’s cheating on Chloe again,” Paige said.
“Oh, dear. You’re certain?”
Paige reached into her purse and removed her phone, getting up from her chair and guiding her mother toward the blue velvet sofa, then sitting down beside her. She clicked onto Perfect Strangers, scrolling through the various photographs and stopping on the picture of Matt. “See for yourself.”
Her mother sighed. “What’s with these men?” she asked. “Are they asking to be caught?”
Paige knew her mother was thinking of Noah.
Joan shook her head. “You showed Chloe this?”
“She showedme.”
“Poor thing. How’s she handling it?”
Paige shrugged. The shrug said,Not well.
“Just look at all these men,” Joan marveled after a silence of several seconds. “I had no idea.” She took the phone from Paige’s hands. “Oh, this one looks nice,” she said, stopping on the picture of a man calling himself Samson. “Hair’s a little long, but great smile. Very nice teeth. Maybe you should…whatdoyou do when you want to meet someone?”
“You swipe right.”
“Like this?” her mother asked, absently flicking her index finger across the screen.
“Mom! What are you doing?” Paige grabbed the phone from her mother’s hands.
“What did I do?”
