The Lifeguards(70)

“My dad’s going to send me away,” says Robert. “We have to say we don’t know her!”

“We don’t know her,” says Xavier.

“Promise me,” says Robert. “We don’t know her. We just found her.”

His friends stare at him. In the center of their triangle is Lucy. She is dead. Robert touches her face with the back of his hand.

“Jesus Christ,” says Xavier.

“Please,” says Robert. “Please. Promise me?”

They are his best friends. They are the Three Musketeers. They promise. And then they run to the trailhead, get their bikes, and ride.





-1-


    Whitney


WHEN SHE OPENED HER eyes on the morning after Roma’s arrest, Whitney realized she felt rested. Somehow, miracle of miracles, she had slept. She felt amazing, lush, heavy with relief. There was so much to be done, from calling Roma’s lawyer to managing the PR disaster sure to come, but for a few, blissful minutes, Whitney turned on her side and curled back into herself. She clutched her sister’s gold heart locket in her palm.

She went to check on Xavier. Before taking the key from around her neck, Whitney decided, on a whim, to try his door. The knob turned in her hand, unlocked. She pushed the door open, there he was: her beautiful boy, sleeping late.

Whitney picked up Xavier’s phone, entered his passcode. It was hard to see without her reading glasses.

She sent the text to Charlie.

Biting her lip, she deleted the message so her son would never know what she had done. Then Whitney placed the phone quietly back on Xavier’s bedside table.





-2-


    Annette


ANNETTE’S MOTHER ARRIVED AS Annette was lying next to Robert in his bed, scratching his back even though he was already asleep. Annette saw her mother’s face on her front-door surveillance app and rushed to the door. “Who is it?” called Louis.

Annette did not answer, just slipped outside.

“What’s going on?” said Maya.

“Not here,” said Annette. Louis could watch everything. Annette placed her phone in the mailbox and took her mother’s hand.

At El Borrego de Oro, Maya ordered chilaquiles with beans. When Annette said, “Just coffee for me,” Maya raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She had driven straight from Laredo to get to Austin as soon as Annette called and said she was in trouble. Now, Annette told her mother the story from the beginning: the arrest, the coyote, Robert’s release.

“I thought once I got my papers…” she said.

Her mother sighed. She looked old and tired. “Only God can keep us safe,” said Maya.

“Do you believe that? Really?” said Annette.

“Yes,” said Maya. “And so do you.”

“Oh,” said Annette. “Well, that’s good.” She stared out at the lot in front of the café, where every parking space but theirs was filled with a truck.

“God will protect you and Robert.”

“OK, Mom, I get it,” said Annette, picking up her fork and taking a bite of her mother’s breakfast.

“But being an American?” said Maya.

“Yes?” said Annette.

“It means you can leave,” said Maya.

Annette met her mother’s penetrating gaze. “Where would I go?” she said, tears filling her eyes.

“Wherever you want,” said Maya.





-3-


    Liza


I HAD FINISHED JAMMING whatever I could fit into the Mazda 5 and went to rouse Charlie. My initial plan was to drive to San Antonio, about an hour and a half away, and get on one of the buses to Mexico. I’d considered a rural town high in the mountains called Real de Catorce, but then I remembered a woman for whom I’d ghostwritten a cookbook called Love from Oaxaca: Paulina’s Perfect Mole Sauces & Stews. I’d visited Paulina and fallen in love with Oaxaca. Charlie and I could make a life in that small Mexican city, I imagined: He could join the children kicking a soccer ball around one of the picturesque town squares. Of course the kids I remembered were elementary school age and Charlie didn’t speak Spanish, but it was a start. I knew the first-class buses were very nice, with movies and food, but the cheaper tickets might not require a passport…and if they did, I hoped the written ledger would never find its way to Detective Revello.

Detective Revello! The more hours I went without sleep, the more I remembered the night we’d shared. I’d snuck out of his West Campus condo at dawn—I wasn’t ready for a lover. I thought anything that diverted me from Charlie was dangerous. There would be time for me, I thought. Now I wondered what my life would have been like if I had kissed Salvatore instead, curled around him that morning.

It didn’t matter anymore.

But I thought about it anyway.

I stepped into Charlie’s room. “Honey?” I said, approaching his bed.

There was a pile of blankets, and as I got close, my heart began to race. “Charlie?” I said.

I touched the blankets. The bed was empty.

“Charlie?” I cried. I moved around the house, looking everywhere. I called his phone, but it went straight to voicemail.