Page 69 of Never Fall Again
His mom picked up on the first ring. “Cal?” The relief in her voice hit Cal hard. He hadn’t meant to worry her or anyone else.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Were you really with Landry?” His mom’s relief had morphed into unveiled curiosity in the space of half a second.
“Yes. Eliza was pretty shaken up, and she wanted me to follow them home, so I did. But once she got home and went through all her candy, she went to bed easy. Landry’s pretty anxious, but she’s home and behind locked doors for the night. I’m on my way to Gray’s office.”
“Chad said the man specifically asked the girls for their names.” His father’s voice came through the speaker.
“That’s what they told Gray. And I don’t get that at all. They don’t look alike.”
“They don’t look alike toyou,” his mom corrected. “They were dressed in identical costumes, they both have brown skin, they’re similar in height, and with those hard hats on, the difference in their hair would have been hidden.”
Both girls had brown skin, brown eyes, and eyelashes that their mothers envied. Cal had never thought about eyelashes until Abby came home and every female in the Quinn/Shaw family lost their collective minds over hers. Then they did the same thing when they met Eliza.
Despite those similarities, no one who saw them without hats would ever confuse them.
Abby’s hair was black and straight and reached to her midback. She frequently wore it in a long braid and desperately wished for curls.
Eliza’s hair was dark brown with glints of bronze threaded through bouncing curls. She sometimes wore it in a pouf on top of her head, and she desperately wished for straight hair.
Tonight, the girls had told him that Naomi and Landry had promised to curl/straighten their respective hair over the Thanksgiving break. They were ecstatic.
Cal knew better than to comment on the topic, but he didn’t want Eliza’s hair straightened any more than he wanted Abby’s in curls. Cal wasn’t ignorant of the girls’ ethnicities and didn’t want to be, but as far as he was concerned, they were each perfect exactly as they were.
Abby had been adopted from an orphanage in India. No one knew anything about her birth family, but there was no reason to think she was anything other than Indian.
Eliza didn’t have a clearly defined ethnicity. Eliza’s birth father had also been adopted, and according to one of the few things Landry had told him about the man, no one knew for sure what his genetic makeup was. His adoptive family was white and Latino. They’d assumed he was some combination of Latino, African American, and Native American.
Landry had told Cal she’d never given it much thought until she was signing Eliza up for school and realized she had no idea what to check on the “race” box.
Abby’s skin was darker than Eliza’s, but in the dim light of the playground...
Had the gun-wielding stranger been looking for Eliza? Or Abby? Or someone completely different?
But the man didn’t ask anyone else for their name. Just the girls.
“I’ll talk to Gray about it.”
“Good. Let me know what he says. Good night.” His dad signed off.
“Cal.” His mom wasn’t quite done with him. No surprise. “What do you know about Landry? Before she came here.”
“Not much.” Not enough. He pulled into the police station. “Mom, I’m here to talk to Gray. I need to go.”
“Okay, honey. Just one more question.” She didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“Mom?”
“Honey, I try to stay out of your business—”
“Mom—”
“Is she important? I mean, I know she’s important. But is she important...to you?”
“I’m not sure what she is to me, but yes, she’s important.”
“Okay, sweetheart. Talk to Gray. And while you’re there, tell him if he cancels another checkup with me, I’m going to make an office visit and check him out at his desk.”