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Contemporary Women's Fiction/Family Drama
Chapter One
It had been a hectic Monday morning at the Harrison
household. Especially for Maggie. Her nineteen-year-old son, Kyle, had overslept,
which meant he was late showering and would be tardy to one of the four college
courses he was intent on failing. Because he was running behind, her
fourteen-year-old daughter, Kaia, was also late getting ready for school. That
meant Maggie’s husband, Andrew, had to rush to shower for work. And, of course,
Maggie then had to rush, too, since she was always the last one in the family to
use the bathroom.
Kaia was pouting and stomping around because she’d wanted to
get to school early to “hang” with her friends. Kyle rolled his eyes as he went
out the door to his rusted pickup truck, muttering that it didn’t matter if he
made it to class or not. And Andrew ran through his schedule with Maggie before
he rushed out the door to work.
“Remember, I have a seven o’clock meeting tonight—make sure
dinner is on time so I’m not late,” he instructed Maggie and was gone a second
later.
All Maggie had time for was one long sigh as she slipped a
light sweater on, pulled on khaki pants, grabbed her red coat and purse, then
ran out the door, hoping Kaia wouldn’t be late for school.
Maggie stole a glance at her sulking daughter as she
maneuvered her minivan through the morning traffic. Kaia was a pretty girl,
with long, thick auburn hair and brilliant-blue eyes. Her clear skin was still
lightly tanned from summer vacation. She’d
be even prettier if she’d smile once in a while. Maggie couldn’t remember
the last time she’d seen Kaia smile. Or joke, tease, or giggle. Much less
laugh. It seemed as though she’d gone from a happy, young girl to a sulking
teenager in the blink of an eye. But Maggie couldn’t complain. Despite Kaia’s constant
irritation with her, she was a good student, had nice friends, and wasn’t a
troublemaker. Maggie knew she was fortunate. Both of her children had turned
out to be decent people, even if they were a little confused about life. But
who wasn’t confused at their ages? Being fourteen or nineteen wasn’t easy.
Though Maggie tried to be understanding and give both Kyle and Kaia room to
figure out their own lives, doing so was difficult sometimes. Kyle had gone
from being a high school honor graduate to a flunking college student, and he
didn’t seem to care one bit. He enjoyed his part-time job at the local
motorcycle shop more than he did college. Evidently, earning seven-fifty an
hour was fine with him. He had no financial obligations other than keeping gas
in his pickup and going out with friends. Maggie sometimes wondered how he
thought he’d make it on his own without a decent education, but she forced
herself not to obsess over it. She had so many other things she could choose to
worry about.
The northern Minnesota town of Woodroe was small—only twenty
thousand people—yet the morning traffic was heavy as everyone rushed off to
school and work. Maggie sighed again as she followed the parade of parents in
minivans and SUVs rushing to drop their children off. It was only the third
week of school, and she was already weary of the morning traffic in and out of
the middle school parking lot. Maggie had always maintained that parents in
minivans and SUVs were the worst drivers on the planet. She found herself in
near accidents at least three times daily upon entering or driving through the
parking lot. Everyone had somewhere better to be and needed to get there faster
than the next person. It was the same old story, year after year.
Maggie waited her turn to drop Kaia off at the front
entrance. Country music blared from the minivan’s speakers—Kaia’s choice.
Maggie always let her choose the music when they rode together. It was easier
than fighting about the radio. Maggie could pop in the CD of her choice on her
way home.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get here earlier,” Maggie said as
they pulled up in front of the school and stopped.
“Whatever.” Kaia gathered her book bag and tennis racket. “Remind
Dad to pick me up after tennis practice tonight” were her last words before she
slammed the van’s door and stormed off. She didn’t even give her mother time to
say good-bye.
Maggie tried not to take Kaia’s rudeness personally, but her
heart felt heavy as she switched AM on the stereo to CD and listened to Bob
Seger sing “Roll Me Away,” a song about escaping down a Western highway. Maggie
had bought the CD on a whim two weeks ago, remembering how much she’d loved
listening to Seger in the years before marriage, before kids—before life took
control of her instead of the other way around. His music had a freeing effect
on her, and she'd been listening to the CD continuously for the past two weeks.
Maggie dutifully followed the line of cars out of the
parking lot to go home. She was relieved she didn’t have to work today. Three
days a week, she worked at a group home with developmentally challenged adults.
She found it gratifying working with the residents, but it was exhausting to meet
their needs all day, then go home to care for her family. Lately, she’d felt
overwhelmed by it all—home, work, Andrew, and the kids. There never seemed to
be a break in everyone’s needs and wants.
Maggie glanced at her camera and laptop in the backseat—she
took them with her everywhere—and smiled. She loved photographing Kyle’s and
Kaia’s sporting events, school activities, and even her friends at the group
home. Sometimes, her photos made it into the local paper. She’d been an art
major in college and had fallen in love with photography. That was the one
thing that made Maggie happy in between all the must-dos. She just wished she
had more time to devote to taking photos . . .
Once, a long time ago, Maggie had dreamt of becoming a
professional photographer and owning her own shop, where she could sell photos
and artwork by local artists. When she and Andrew were newlyweds, they’d talked
about this often, and he had said that once they were settled and had some
money, it might be a possibility. But the years went by, and Maggie became so immersed
in the children’s lives, and in Andrew’s, that her dreams had been put on the
back burner, long forgotten. As Maggie sat in traffic behind other parents
leaving Kaia’s middle school, she thought about her old dreams and wondered if
they would ever come true.
As the music played and traffic crawled along, her thoughts
drifted back to the morning rush at home. Andrew hadn’t kissed her good-bye.
Not even a peck on the cheek. When was the last time he had really kissed her?
She couldn’t remember. Was it a year ago, two years ago? The heaviness in her
chest swelled. Their relationship had changed greatly in the twenty-three years
they’d been married. She remembered when they had first started dating in
college, in Seattle. Andrew had moved there for school because he'd wanted to
experience something different from his small-town upbringing. Maggie’s father
had been stationed at a military base there.
Andrew had been a junior and a communications major, and
Maggie had been a freshman majoring in art. They'd met when they took a
photography class together. He was quiet and serious in those early days, but Maggie’s
impulsive nature had brought out his fun side. She had spent her youth being
the dependable, responsible one, but in college, she had shed her old persona to
become the carefree girl she’d always wanted to be. Even though they were
opposites, something about Andrew had drawn her to him. Maybe it had been his
boyish good looks or the charming smile that she was sometimes able to coax
from him. She wasn’t sure, but there had been something about him that made
Maggie believe there was more to him than hard work and good grades.
With Andrew, Maggie had planned trips on a whim. She dragged
him along with her, camera in hand, to rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, and lush,
green parks on Puget Sound. Sometimes, they drove to Lake Tahoe for long
weekends, enjoying its beauty. They’d married after Andrew graduated, and
Maggie quit school to follow him to Minnesota. She made him promise on the day
they married that they would always allow a little wanderlust in their lives,
no matter how conventional they became. And she’d believed him when he'd said
they would.
Maggie stopped at the red light, where she was to turn north
to go home. She hit the “Back” button on the stereo to replay “Roll Me Away.”
She didn’t switch her right blinker on to signal her turn. She just sat there,
looking straight ahead. The lane she was in headed west, just as Bob did in the
song. West, across the plains, over the mountains, to the ocean. She glanced
again at her camera in the backseat. Wouldn’t
it be fun to drive in a different direction and take a few photos? Just a few
miles, not too far, not for too long. Her heavy heart lightened at the
thought, and a smile lit up her blue eyes. North
or west? One direction meant home; the other, adventure. North or west?
When the light changed to green, Maggie turned up the
stereo, smiled wide, and said out loud to no one but herself, “Roll me away.”
And she rolled clean out of sight.
***
It was just after five o’clock in the evening when Andrew
Harrison stepped through the back door of the family’s 1890s Victorian home
with Kaia close on his heels. He’d planned on taking a quick shower before he
ate dinner and then headed off to the county planning committee meeting he was
expected at by seven.
Andrew was a busy man. He worked full-time as the marketing
manager at Woodroe Communications, the local television and Internet provider. In
addition, he served on several boards and committees in the area. The contacts
he made at these meetings were important to his job, and his community service
work looked good for the company. Besides, he loved the town they lived in, and
he enjoyed being a part of the many decisions made about Woodroe’s growth and
development. Plus, he also had a bigger goal in mind: he wanted to become mayor
of Woodroe someday, just as his father had been. Many of the people he
volunteered with believed he could accomplish that goal in the next election.
Tonight, the planning committee would be discussing the
possibility of developing a large parcel of land as a new upscale neighborhood,
and Andrew was anxious to get to the meeting early to hear how some of the
other members of the committee felt about the proposal. He hoped Maggie would
have dinner ready on time so he could leave right afterward.
But when Andrew and Kaia stepped into the back entryway, he
immediately sensed that something was wrong. Their German shepherd, Bear,
slipped past them and was out the door in a hurry, as if no one had let him out
all day. The kitchen was dark, with only the afternoon sunlight streaming in through
the windows, and there was no aroma of food cooking in the oven or on the stove.
Andrew set down his briefcase and hung his coat on the rack
by the door. He called out, “Maggie, we’re home! What’s for dinner?” to the
silent house. Their two chubby cats, Jazzie and Ozzie, ambled lazily into the
kitchen to see who was there. Maggie was nowhere in sight.
Andrew frowned as he looked around the kitchen and saw that
the breakfast dishes were still sitting, unwashed, in the sink. It looked as if
Maggie hadn’t been home since this morning.
“Great,” he said under his breath, running his hand through
his thick, dark hair in frustration.
Kaia noticed her father’s agitation. “Maybe Mom is at work
and will be home soon,” she offered, laying her backpack on the kitchen table. “Sometimes
she picks up takeout if she works late.”
“Did your mom work today?” Andrew asked. He didn’t keep
track of Maggie’s work schedule and rarely asked her about it. She was usually
home before he was, because she picked Kaia up from school except on tennis practice
nights.
“How would I know?” Kaia shot back. She walked past him and
opened the refrigerator to rummage for a snack.
Andrew eyed Kaia for a moment but held his tongue. He hated
her smart mouth, but Maggie always told him to be patient before he reacted.
Besides, he was more annoyed with Maggie for not being home on time than with
his daughter.
“I’m going to shower. If your mom comes home, remind her I
have to leave soon,” he told Kaia. She shrugged as she grabbed an apple from
the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.
It was after six o’clock by the time Andrew came down from
his shower, and Maggie still wasn’t there. Kyle was home by then, and Andrew
heard him ask Kaia where their mom was.
“Who knows,” Kaia answered irritably, looking up from her
algebra homework.
Now, Andrew was even more annoyed. He couldn’t believe how
irresponsible it was of Maggie not to be home.
“Maybe Mom’s van broke down, and she’s stranded,” Kyle
offered through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie. There were always homemade
cookies in the house, and he usually went for those first when he was hungry.
Kyle’s offhand remark caused Andrew to pause a moment and
Kaia to look up from her homework. He hadn’t considered that something might
have happened to delay Maggie. He picked up his cell phone and dialed her
number, although he realized that she’d have called him if she’d broken down.
The phone rang several times before his call went to voice
mail. Andrew didn’t bother to leave a message. He hung up and stared at the
kids.
“I just got her voice mail,” he reported. He wasn’t overly
worried yet. He knew that there were places in town where there was no phone
reception.
The three of them continued staring at each other until Kaia
broke the silence.
“Do you think Mom is okay?” she asked.
Andrew wasn’t sure how to answer. Maggie was never late
coming home. Not once in twenty-three years of marriage had he had cause to
worry about where she was or what she was doing. He knew she couldn’t say the
same about him. But seeing the worried look in Kaia’s eyes made him want to
reassure her.
“I’m sure your mom is okay.” He glanced at Kyle for support.
“Sure,” Kyle agreed. “She might be in Walmart or at the
grocery store. Cell reception is lousy in those places. Or she may have left
her phone in the car. There could be a thousand reasons why she’s not
answering.”
Andrew nodded, grateful to Kyle for trying to put his sister
at ease. And who knows, maybe Kyle was exactly right?
Looking at his watch, Andrew realized it was getting late
and he had to leave soon.
“Listen, kids, I have to go to my meeting.” He pulled out
his wallet and handed Kyle some money. “Kyle, why don’t you take your sister
out to eat? I’ll leave my phone on so you can call me when your mother gets
home, okay?”
Kaia didn’t look pleased but kept silent. Kyle said they
would call him.
By the time Andrew arrived at his meeting, he’d convinced
himself that Maggie would be home any minute and there was nothing to worry
about. The meeting held his attention, and for the next two hours, he thought
only of property prices, taxes, and zoning permits. It wasn’t until the meeting
ended that he realized it was nine thirty, and Kyle hadn’t called to say Maggie
was home.
