Kota: Ignore them. I’ll handle it.
Kota might be able to handle things, but there was no need to do it alone. Sean stood up, taking the phone with him. “Have to make a call.”
His mother finally raised her head, her dark eyes curious, but said nothing.
Sean went into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it as he hit a few buttons, getting all five of them on a group call.
North was the first one to answer. “We don’t need everyone in there every night. I stay up at night. I’ll do it.”
“You don’t need to be the only one,” Silas said quickly. His deeper voice was strained and croaky, which often meant he’d been yelling recently. “I haven’t seen her for two days.”
“You saw her yesterday. At camp. And just today. I was here for that.”
“For five minutes.”
“Guys,” Kota said, his voice sharp. “This isn’t about who saw her last.”
“Let me go in,” Gabriel said. “Besides, Luke and I are the lightest people. We should be doing this. You guys are too loud and noticeable.”
North grumbled. “I was there last night. I was fine. I’ve slept all fucking day so I could be ready tonight.”
“I need to talk to her,” Kota said. “I’d appreciate—”
“Wait,” Silas’s voice boomed over Kota’s. “I need to talk to her, too.”
An eruption started of each one of them talking at the same time.
“Hey, hey!” Sean called into the phone. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tight. “We can’t all go in.”
“Right,” North said. “Only one. I go at night. You guys can go in during the day.”
“You’re going to be needed at the security trailer, aren’t you? With Silas. To hook it up properly.”
“Someone else can do that.”
“I’d rather you did it. And Victor will need to get stuff hooked up for the laptops. Kota”—he emphasized the name to be sure Kota heard him—“we need you to watch their backs to make sure no one sees how much stuff is going into that trailer. We don’t want to draw attention to it.”
There was silence. They weren’t arguing with him, but they weren’t happy with the decision.
“What is wrong with you all?” Sean asked. “We’ve been doing this for a while. And suddenly we’re not able to come up with a plan and stick with it? She’s not dying in there. She’s just sleeping tonight. She’ll be out again tomorrow.”
“He’s right,” Kota said quietly. “I know I’d prefer to talk to her, too...”
“If you want to talk to her, text her,” Gabriel said. “She’s got a phone.”
Kota mumbled, “I...I don’t...”
Kota rarely fumbled with words. He must still be trying to seek some sort of rectification with Sang.
Or perhaps he was still thinking he needed to win her over, to regain her affection after yesterday.
Sean turned from the door, pacing across the bedroom floor as he spoke. “If you want to keep in touch with her, text her. Except tonight at dinner. She’ll be busy. And she needs sleep. She’s been very stressed, and she had her blood drawn. I was worried about doing that, that it might cause her to pass out again. So maybe it is better to wait until tomorrow. It’s one night, guys.”
“This is so stupid,” Gabriel said. “She hates it. We hate it. Let’s get her out.”
This started an avalanche of all of them talking at once again, most in the affirmative.
“We’re trying,” Kota said. “I know we’re all frustrated.”
“Especially her,” Gabriel said.
“Then the best thing we can do is push the private school issue,” Kota said, his voice a little steadier than before. “I have a couple of the same brochures I altered from old Academy files. New phone numbers that simply redirect to Dr. Roberts, since he’ll give them the spiel.”
“How do we get Sang to convince her to even make a call?” Gabriel asked.
Sean switched ears with the phone, thinking. “I think we should push how dangerous Ashley Waters is.”
Kota spoke. “If we push that, she’s going to want to send her son somewhere else.”
This did make things a little complicated, but like with Jessica for Kota, or Theo for Silas, there was always something they could do. “Which we were probably going to look at anyway. If she’s more interested in her son’s interests, then getting Sang may mean dealing with Jimmy.”
Kota spoke. “I’ll pull up his school records. Maybe we can get him into accelerated testing and pull some strings at the college.”
“Get on it,” Sean said. “But the rest of you, stop thinking about tonight. Start thinking about this week. The trailer is our best place to have her go to for the next two weeks while she’s working, and possibly in the future, until we figure out when we can get her out permanently. Make it comfortable for her.”
He hung up, although he wasn’t sure if things were truly settled with them.
They had to find some sort of control with the guys, especially with this new situation. Perhaps because they’d resisted giving Sang any attention for so long, and now everyone knew the others were interested. Now everyone wanted time with her.
Only their time was now under the control of Carol and her whims.
It sucked, but for the moment, it was the only thing to do.
He found the suit and tie on the bed, the one his mother had left for him.
Gray suit. Red tie.
Be like Owen.
He rolled his eyes. He’d wear it out of the house, but he’d switch the tie out and wouldn’t wear the jacket.
Wasn’t being Sean Green good enough?
Dinner
At six twenty-eight, Sean stood on the front porch of the Sorenson house. The wide concrete porch was lit by the yellow glow of an outdoor wall sconce to the right of the door. The bushes in the front had been cut back neatly. The only thing that had changed from the last time he’d been here was a new doormat, blue with snowflakes. There hadn’t been one before.
He cradled the roses in his arm. Owen had tied them neatly and wrapped them with red-and-white paper and a twine bow. Simple paper, so as not to distract from the flowers.
Would roses be a little forward? Should he have gone for something like carnations? He disliked the thought of using Owen’s roses, but he hated to waste them.
While he’d hoped to impress Carol, was impressing on her that he was very eager to date Sang going to be a problem?
Sean pushed the doorbell. The chimes sounded.
His fingers tingled.
He held his breath, anxious.
A moment later, the door opened.
Carol stood in a pair of dark slacks and a maroon top, billowy around her body. A smile plastered her face. Not totally sincere, almost too fake.
Was there tension in the house? He hadn’t checked in with anyone about what was going on inside. He anticipated someone would have sent him a text if there was a problem.
“Welcome, Sean,” she said and stood back, leaving him room to enter.
He wiped his feet a little on the mat and stepped inside. The foyer was bright, with lights on over the stairwell in front of him, above his head, and a lamp had been placed on a side table. It made the white walls shine.
The effect was like he was under a spotlight. It was a little too much, as if to make the small space appear cleaner.
Carol instantly noted the bouquet. Her hands went to her cheeks, and her mouth made an O shape. “Th
ose are lovely,” she said.
He presented the roses to her. “Thank you for inviting me.”
She received them into her arms and then nodded toward the living room. “Would you please come and sit with us?”
Immediately to the right, the living room was overcrowded with furniture. A couple of chairs from the dining table had been added, sitting across from the couch with a coffee table between them.
In one of the dining chairs sat Mr. Sorenson. He wore dark slacks and a white collared shirt a little too big for his frame. His graying dark hair appeared wet and combed down.
Sean combed his own sandy-blond hair over his forehead nervously. He’d tried to get it to behave so he appeared a little different, hopefully a little closer to Sang’s age. He nodded to him. “Hello.” Would he possibly recognize him?
Sean had carried his wife out of the house on a stretcher. But his appearance might not have been noticed that day. There was a lot going on.
Mr. Sorenson nodded and partially stood up, offering a hand. “Welcome,” he said. “I’m Mr. Sorenson.”
I know exactly who you are. Sean forced a smile and did his best not to recoil from shaking his hand. He let go quickly. “Pleased to meet you. Sean Green.” He hadn’t planned on having to exchange pleasantries without Sang being in the room.
Where was she?
Mr. Sorenson motioned to the couch. “I hear you’re going to become a doctor.”
The couch had faded flowers and appeared to have been in the family longer than Sang had been around. He’d seen it a few times in the house before. When he’d sat on it, the cushions had sunk into the wood shortly. It was as if he was sitting on wood by itself.
“I hope so,” Sean said. “I’ve already taken a number of prerequisites, and tested out of a few classes to get ahead.”
“It’s a good choice,” he said. “I went into engineering. Electrical.”
Sean feigned being impressed, widening his eyes just a little. Not that engineering wasn’t a good career, but he couldn’t get himself to be interested in him. “Yes, I believe Sang mentioned it.”
At the mention of his daughter’s name, he seemed to go a shade paler, but recovered quickly.