A Weekend Getaway (6 page)

CHAPTER
FIVE

A few hours later, Beth snuck upstairs, careful to skip the
fifth and seventh steps that always creaked. While her boyfriend softly snored
in front of the TV, she searched for the phone number of the Loving Solutions
Adoption Agency on the office computer. Zero search results. Her heart sped up.
Did she mistype it? She tried again. Nothing.

After closing and locking her bedroom door, Beth dug a box
out of her closet that had been shoved in the very back of the top shelf. It
was labeled “school” and was heavier than she remembered. Sitting on the floor,
she rummaged through her old management textbooks until she found her diaries.
They started in sixth grade and stopped her freshman year of college. The last
one fell open where she’d tucked the paperwork. Bingo. She scanned the forms for
the number.

Grabbing the phone, she punched in the digits and waited. A
recording announced “The number you have reached is no longer in service.”

Her hands trembled as she hung up the phone. For so long,
she’d wished away all memories of that place, and now…now it really had disappeared.
Seconds felt like minutes. Had she lost track of the only child she’d ever
have?

What should she do now? After staring into space for a few
minutes, she dialed Sarah. “The agency’s gone. I don’t know how to contact...”
She couldn’t even say it. Her baby? She wasn’t a baby anymore. If Beth passed
her own child on the street, would she even recognize her?

“Calm down. Breathe.”

Even though Sarah paused a beat, Beth couldn’t catch her
breath. “I’m freaking out!”

“Just slow down and tell me what’s wrong.”

“The phone number for the adoption agency is disconnected.”

“Do you remember the name of the family that adopted her?”

“Taylor.”

“Oh. That’s a pretty common name. Wasn’t he a doctor or
something?”

“Yes. I’ll go look them up.” She carried the phone with her
as she went back to the office computer and did a search. “Dr. and Mrs. Taylor
in Bloomington” didn’t provide results. “Nothing. Oh
my gosh
.
What if they changed their minds? Decided not to tell her about me. Moved away
so I could never find them.”

“People move. That doesn’t mean anything.” Silence lingered
over the line. “I think the agency was associated with a church. Remember?”

“You’re right. But which one?” All she remembered was it
wasn’t associated with her father’s ministry. “There was a church across the
street.” A picture of a white clapboard building with a bell tower formed in
her mind. “Holy Cross maybe.”

“So call them. They might know where the records are.”

Realizing how Sarah had once again talked her down, regret
pushed its way inside her. “Thanks, Sarah.” Tears came to Beth’s eyes. Before
this weekend, she and Sarah hadn’t talked in ages. They’d stayed in touch
mostly through e-mail, but little else. It wasn’t because of geography, either.
Sarah only lived on the other side of town. The thought made the tears well up
even faster. Why had she given up on their friendship so easily? Sarah had
always been there for her. She still was. “I’ll let you know how it goes. I
promise.”

Another quick Internet search and Beth had the number for a
church. A woman whose voice cracked answered, “Hello?”

Beth’s throat went dry. She struggled to find the words.
“Um. I’m wondering if you know what happened to the records for the Loving
Solutions Adoption Agency across the street?”

“Oh, dear. There was a fire. What’s left of them are here in
the church basement. Why do you ask?”

Beth clutched the phone tightly. “Um, I have some
information that I think an adoptive family should know. Some medical
information about their child.” Her cheeks grew warm, just as they had every
time she’d discussed her unplanned pregnancy all of those years ago.

“You’re welcome to come search through what we have. They’re
in total disarray, I’m afraid. It could take you hours to find what you’re
looking for. Or you might not ever find it.”

“So no one is still handling the cases? If I wanted to leave
information and have it passed on...”

“No. The agency closed. Like I said, you’d have to search through
the files yourself.”

Frustration built inside Beth as she dug her fingernails into
her free hand. She’d just been there that weekend. Now she needed to drive
back? And what would she tell Drew she was doing? She certainly couldn’t tell
him the truth. Not after his expression of disgust toward Missy’s unplanned
pregnancy.

The woman’s voice quavered over the line. “Dear? Is that
something you’d like to do? If so, you’ll have to do it between the hours of
eight and three. Those are my usual hours.”

“Okay.” She thought about her calendar for the upcoming
week. Every day was always crazy busy. So much so that she couldn’t afford to
call in sick or take vacation days. And tomorrow was that big meeting with her
boss to discuss her goals. “I’ll have to get back to you.”

As she disconnected the line, Beth thought about giving up,
but this was too important. Her child’s life was at stake. Her daughter needed
to know she might have Huntington’s. Maybe science would find a cure or a way
to prevent the disease from developing. She’d need to know the risk so she
could get early treatment.

Like an unfaithful spouse, Beth closed the browser and
cleared the computer’s history. She not only had to drive to Bloomington ASAP,
but she had to hide her tracks from Drew. Could she tell him she had a training
seminar she had to go to? Since he worked at Healthy Habits, it was risky. But
if she didn’t explain why she would be out of the building, he’d definitely
notice. Besides, he’d need to take Emma to and from daycare, which she usually
did.

Should Beth finally tell him the whole sordid story? Panic flooded
her veins. Her palms grew moist.

No, not yet. Once they got engaged, at the very latest. Then
she’d definitely come clean.

She blew on her hands to dry the perspiration. Lying to Drew
unsettled her, but she had no choice.

That night she had nightmares of boxes stacked higher than
her head threatening to topple over like on one of those hoarding shows. She
burst awake. After staring at the blackness, she realized she couldn’t do this
alone.

The digital alarm clock glowed 2:05 a.m. Next to her Drew
breathed heavily with sleep. Carefully she lifted the covers and slid out of
bed.

After tiptoeing to the office, she wrote Sarah an e-mail.
“The records are piled in the church basement. Could take days to find what I
need. Would you be willing to help?”

# # #

Monday morning Bethany walked into her boss’ office and took
a seat across from him. Luke was thin, marathon-runner thin, with cropped hair
that she suspected he dyed to hide the gray. Image was everything at Healthy
Habits Vitamins and Herbs.

Luke sat in the chair behind his desk. “Looks like you took
my advice and tried the Healthy Habits appetite suppressants.”

She crossed her arms, uncomfortable talking about her body. What
she didn’t tell him was that she was so hungry, she could gnaw on his leg right
now. Not that he had much meat on his bones.

Beth smiled politely. “I’ve been watching what I eat.”

“It’s not fair, I know, but society views overweight people
as lazy and unmotivated. Even more so at Healthy Habits. I’d deny this if you
ever brought it up, but I truly think your career here has suffered because of
your weight. Now that you’ve proven that you can tackle that, we should work on
getting the brothers’ attention. I plan on moving up in this company and I can
see you taking my place.”

Unlike her previous supervisor, Luke wasn’t related to the
family that had turned a small shop into a national success story. Its founder
had four sons who now headed up the mail-order company. Rumor had it that if
you were a woman, you’d never make it past middle management, the place where
she’d been for the past decade.

Beth allowed hope to bubble within. “I’d like that.”

Finally someone cared enough to be straight with her. She’d
worked long hours and taken the projects that no one else wanted, but it never
resulted in a promotion. It was as if she didn’t know the secret handshake or
she’d offended someone somehow. Earlier this year, when Luke had hinted her
weight might be the problem, she’d already been worried about having a double
chin on her wedding day. She’d decided to kill two birds with one stone.

“We need some new ideas. The brothers want to offer
something different than the competition. They want Healthy Habits to be
unique.” As he talked, Beth forced herself not to stare at the small mole
beneath his right eye. For some reason it was hard not to look, but today she
wouldn’t allow the distraction. “I figure since you hear all of the customer
complaints, you’d have some suggestions on how to improve things around here.”

“Uh…of course.” Beth tried to hide her surprise. No one had
ever asked what she learned from the calls. All they cared about was that she
managed to placate dissatisfied customers so they didn’t rant about the company
on Twitter or Facebook or even to their friends over coffee. Somehow she
managed to turn most negative situations around so that the customers remained
content. “I have lots of ideas. We could do rewards for repeat customers or
include samples of other products with each order.”

Luke tapped his pen on his desk. “All valid points. But none
of that is going to cause an explosion in sales. We need something dramatically
new.”

She tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear, a habit
she’d had since she’d been a little girl. She thought of the elderly man she spoke
with on Friday, the one with a German shepherd named Bruno. “Some of our
capsules are hard to swallow. We get a lot of complaints about how big they
are.”

“Uh-huh.” The pen kept tapping.

“My mother can’t swallow pills, no matter what size. I think
there are plenty of people like that.”

Luke put down his pen, suddenly interested in raking in the
miniature sandbox on his desk.

Beth ignored his fidgeting. He always fidgeted. “We need
another delivery method. Like a piece of gum or candy.”

“Gum would still need to be swallowed and the candy has
already been done. Ever heard of Viactiv? Brilliant. Calcium wrapped in
chocolate. We need something like that, Beth.”

“What about a spray?”

“What?”

“A good-tasting supplement that you spray in your mouth.”

“Hmmm. Interesting.” Luke put the miniature rake down and
looked at her. “Do some research on
that.
Find out
what percentage of Americans can’t swallow pills. Check patents and see if
anyone else is doing vitamin sprays. Get back to me ASAP.”

Grinning, Beth sprang from her chair. Maybe this was it.
She’d finally climb up the career ladder at Healthy Habits. If she didn’t
starve to death first.

# # #

A meeting reminder popped into Beth’s inbox: Rordan
Photography appt. 5:30 p.m.

“Crap.”

She’d forgotten all about it. Rordan was one of the most
sought-after photographers in town and she’d scheduled this weeks ago. These
were supposed to be her engagement photos. The ones she’d dropped all of those
pounds for. The ones that would have naturally come after her tie tack
engagement to Drew.

Grumbling, Beth dialed the studio. “I’m afraid I can’t make
my appointment tonight.”

An adolescent girl’s voice answered. “Since you didn’t give
us forty-eight hours’ notice, you’ll still need to pay us $200 for the time
slot.”

“Can’t you schedule someone else? I mean, these were
supposed to be my engagement pictures, but...I’m not engaged yet.”

“I’m sorry.” She sounded contrite. “This is my uncle’s
studio and there’s nothing I can do.”

Beth couldn’t stand the idea of throwing away $200. Growing
up, she envied the kids who got a new box of Crayolas every school year. As a
preacher’s kid, she had to use the same worn-down nubs of wax year after year.
Sometimes she’d have to borrow her friend’s Elmer’s because her glue had
hardened. Appreciating the value of a dollar was as automatic as breathing. For
$200 she could replace the drafty window in Emma’s room or buy her a flower
girl dress. No, she couldn’t give away $200 for nothing. “I’ll figure something
out.”

She hung up the phone. Perhaps if she went in person, she
could negotiate a credit toward their future sitting fees. She shut down her
computer, turned out her office light and headed toward the on-site daycare
center.

As soon as she saw Emma’s baby blue eyes, she had the
answer. She’d get the little girl’s picture taken. It would be great to have
professional photos of Drew’s niece. Undoubtedly, Missy had never invested in
any, frittering away any extra cash on cigarettes and beer for her boyfriends.
She’d already missed her chance to capture the adorable baby-on-a-pink-blanket
shots. Beth wasn’t even sure if Missy had snapped any candids at home.

That woman didn’t appreciate how fleeting childhood was.

The jagged edge of her car keys dug into Beth’s palm. Registering
the pain, she dropped them into her purse, then reached out to embrace Emma.
“Guess what? We’re going to get your picture taken.”

“Why?”

Not wanting to block the door for other people picking up
their kids, Beth waved to Amy, the lean brunette who ran the daycare center,
and steered Emma toward the exit. “This way Uncle Drew and I can keep a picture
of you on our desks at work. And we’ll give one to grandma and grandpa so they
can look at it when they miss you.”

“What about mommy? If you give her one, will she miss me?”

A tug at her heart. Hoping to offer some comfort, Beth
stroked Emma’s fine hair. “Your mommy misses you all the time, I’m sure.” They
took a few steps without speaking. “Do you want to give your mommy a picture?”