The Best Is Yet to Come (62)

“Milk or soda?” he asked.

“Milk goes better with peanut butter,” Callie said.

Spencer agreed.

“Did I tell you Ben didn’t go to school this morning?” Callie mentioned this casually. “Which means he shouldn’t be allowed to play, but we both know that Coach will let him.”

Spencer paused from removing the carton of milk from the refrigerator. Ben not at school? Coach Simmons must be freaking out.

As a wide receiver, Ben was Scott’s favorite target. Ben had the ability to catch almost every pass from Scott. With him out sick, the team might lose the game.

“It’s Friday. The game’s tonight,” Spencer said, thinking out loud.

“Yeah, I know.” Callie’s legs continued to swing, as if this news was insignificant.

“Ben must really be sick. What’s the problem?”

Callie gestured weakly with her hands to suggest she wasn’t sure. “I don’t know, I’m mad at him.”

“Why, what did he do?”

She hesitated before answering, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to explain. “We got into it this morning before I left. I told him I blamed him as much as I blamed myself for what happened to your car. He might not have personally started the fire, but he might as well have.” Spencer focused his attention on Callie. She hadn’t mentioned any of this earlier, although when she’d first arrived, she had seemed preoccupied and out of sorts. It was only when they became wrapped up in the video games that she became herself.

“Did Ben say anything?” he asked. Although he’d never said anything to Callie, he was convinced Ben was somehow involved in the car fire.

Callie frowned, as though perplexed. “He told me to stay out of this and to leave him alone. Funny, you know. Ben’s always had a quick temper, and even more so lately. I was surprised when after a couple minutes, he just stood there and let me go off on him. Exasperated, I walked away in a huff, and then a few minutes later he came into the kitchen and said he wouldn’t be going to school because he had stomach cramps.”

Spencer hadn’t been friends with Ben in a long time. But the thought that Ben would skip the game out of any sense of guilt troubled him. “The team needs Ben.”

Callie appeared unconcerned. “I gave him something to think about. My guess is he’ll have a miraculous recovery before the game tonight.”

“So it’s not because you pointed the finger at him and he feels guilty?”

“I doubt it. If I gave my brother something to think about, then all the better. He needs to own up to his part in all this. Besides, knowing Ben, he could be staying home to avoid taking a test.”

Spencer intuitively felt Ben missing school was far more than stomach cramps, especially on a game day. Something was up, something they couldn’t ignore.

With his mind buzzing over Callie’s one-sided fight with Ben, Spencer brought out the bread and peanut butter.

“We should call him,” he said.

“Why would I do that? He’s the last person I want to talk to right now.”

“I think there’s more going on here than the football game.”

In response, Callie tossed him an exasperated look.

“Just text him,” Spencer pressed, more adamantly this time.

“He’s perfectly fine,” she groused. “I wish I’d never said anything.”

“Fine, if you won’t text him, then I will.” Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved his phone.

“All right. You win.” Callie grabbed her own phone, unlocked her screen, and then dialed before holding the phone to her ear.

Spencer could hear it ringing. No one answered.

“See,” she said with a pout. “He’s most likely at school. I knew he’d have a miraculous recovery in time for the game tonight.”

“Try texting.”

“If you insist,” she said.

Reading over her shoulder, Spencer watched as she typed. Call me ASAP. Important.

“There, are you satisfied?”

Spencer nodded.

“You know if he’s at school, he won’t be able to respond.”

“School or not, if you say it’s important, he’ll find a way to answer.”

She reluctantly agreed with a short nod. “I think you’re making much more of this than necessary.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think so, Callie. The Ben I remember has a conscience, drugs or not. I can’t imagine him standing by and seeing other people hurt. Your fight with him this morning might have triggered something inside him.”

“Are you saying you are more familiar with my brother than I am?”

“What I’m saying,” Spencer said, quickly losing his patience, “is that you’re making assumptions. I don’t know Ben the way I once did, I’ll admit, but my gut tells me something is up and that we need to find out what it is.”

“You’re overreacting. Ben’s at school.”

“Do any of your friends have first lunch?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Call and ask if anyone has seen Ben at school.”

With a huff, Callie reached for her phone a second time. She went into her contact list and then held the phone to her ear once again.