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“I don’t know where they went, and Tom isn’t answering his calls.” August pauses to look up at me. “I tried calling him this morning and it went to voicemail.”
Weirdly, this news makes me feel better. If Tom isn’t picking up calls from his best friend then maybe his silence isn’t about me. Maybe I still have a chance.
The sound of his voice pulls me from my wishes. “Let me make a phone call.”
He’s on the phone for several minutes with Tom’s mother. From his end of the conversation, it sounds like the planning for this bachelor party is quite elaborate.
August drops his phone onto the sofa and turns to me. “All right. Tom went to his parents’ place last night after TIFF.”
“What? He was there?”
“Sounds like it from what his mom says. Anyway, Drew was also there and he took Tom’s phone. This getaway is no phones, so that explains why neither of us have heard from him.”
Relief floods my body, soothing like a warm bath, and I nod for him to keep going.
“Drew got tickets to tonight’s game between the White Sox and Blue Jays.”
“Baseball, right?” My cheeks flush at what must seem like a silly question to him.
He chuckles and nods. “They’re gone for two days.”
“Gone? What do you mean?” I nibble on my bottom lip.
“The game’s in Chicago. They all left on the first flight out this morning.”
“Oh.”
Two days. August might as well have said Tom will be gone for two years. I can’t bear to wait a second longer to talk to him. But he’s in Chicago.
I peer over at August, once more hopeful. “Do you know where they’re staying?”
“Uh-huh.” He smiles and taps at his phone. “I’ll airdrop the details.”
After thanking August, I leave with only one thought racing through my mind. I have to get to Chicago, and driving isn’t an option.
But can I fly?
Fear crushes me like a 747 airplane. I make a quick call to get someone started on packing a bag and then I call my mother.
“Leighton, where are you? Flo says you’re going somewhere.”
Flo is our housekeeper and the sweetest woman I know, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut even if her life depended on it.
“Mom, I’m on my way home now. I’m going to Chicago. That’s why I’m calling.”
Given I’m headed home, I could have this conversation face-to-face, but I doubt it will go smoothly. My parents are still in the thick of TIFF, and this means Margot won’t have much time for anything else.
“Chicago. Why?”
“I need the jet.” I can’t get into all of this with her right now. “Could you please call Carmine to get everything ready so I can leave as soon as possible?”
Carmine is our pilot, and while I could call him myself, he’d then call my parents to get their approval. I’m trying to skip all that and the inevitable waste of time.
“Leighton, why are you going to Chicago? And what if your father needs it?” Bewilderment blankets her voice though her last question is rhetorical.
We all know if my father needs the plane, he gets it, and that’s as it should be given he paid for it. But this scenario doesn’t have any legs and she knows it.
“Dad won’t need it. He isn’t going anywhere with TIFF still on for the next several days.”
