Page 13 of Lost
“Stop throwing your money around like it can fix everything.” But she sighed. Zack heard her pen drop. “I’ll make the phone calls, let them know you’re requesting they look into Alfonzo. I guarantee they won’t be happy about it.”
“Maybe not. But Lysander will.”
And that mattered, Zack realised. It mattered a lot.
“If that’s all, I’ll be getting back to work now,” Maria said, her tone final. “Some of us still have bills to pay, you know?”
“I’ll send you a Christmas bonus. Thanks, Maria.”
“Ciao, Zack.”
Zack plugged his phone in to charge and stepped out of the bedroom, into the empty upstairs hallway. The house was silent bar the sounds of Georgia washing dishes downstairs, and he took a moment to breathe in the quiet. This was going to become a thing of the past, wasn’t it? Once Lysander settled in and Dakota got here, he had no doubt his home would become a revolving door of teenagers. He grimaced. That would take some getting used to.
Georgia had her gloved hands wrist deep in sudsy water as she scrubbed scrambled eggs from a pan. She’d been quiet most of the morning, a stark contrast to the bubbly woman who’d been bustling around the house all weekend, and Zack was eager to get a read on her. She was probably tired. Zack knew he was. Everybody always said being a new parent was exhausting, but he hadn’t figured it would be the same when it came to a teenager!
He came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.
She didn’t pause in her cleaning. “What did Maria say?”
“Said she’ll make the calls.”
“So the girl will be with us soon, too.”
The girl. Zack looked at his wife, at the neutral expression on her face. “You don’t like having Lysander around?”
Georgia slowed in her scrubbing, but didn’t immediately respond. Zack waited silently, his chin resting on her shoulder.
“He seems like a good kid,” she finally acquiesced. “I wish he wouldn’t keep to his room so much, though. It isn’t healthy for someone his age.”
“That’s what kids these days do, isn’t it? Sit in their rooms and play video games?”
Georgia gave him a look. “So that means your son has to?”
It was better than what Zack had been doing at his age, but he was smart enough not to argue.
Georgia drained the water from the pan, shaking it off needlessly before thrusting it into the dishwasher. Zack stepped back to let her work, but didn’t go too far. There was something she wanted to say. He could see it in the way she handled the dishes.
But before he had a chance to find out what it was, the front door was swinging open and his son was stepping into the foyer.
Lysander looked lighter than he had that morning when Zack had dropped him off at the high school. He’d been somewhat tense then, unimpressed about having to attend classes when all he’d wanted to do was focus on finding his sister. But Zack and Georgia had discussed it at length and decided that it was better for the kid to get back into a regular routine. Why keep him out of school when it could take weeks to find his sister?Months?
Looked like it had been the right move.
“Hey, kid.” Zack leaned against the counter beside Georgia, who was tugging off her gloves and grabbing a dish towel to dry her hands. She was all smiles again as she faced Lysander. “How was school?”
“School was good,” Lysander said. He took a few steps into the kitchen, looking between them both. “Did anything happen today?”
With his sister, Zack was sure he meant.
“Nothing yet,” he said, “but Maria’s onto it. She’s gonna start with talking to the Columbus Police Department, and we’ll see how things go from there.”
Disappointment flashed in Lysander’s eyes, but he nodded all the same.
“All right. Thanks. I’m gonna head upstairs and start on m—”
“Stay and sit a while,” Georgia cut in, gesturing to the table. “The weekend was such a rush of you arriving and us trying to finalise things. We haven’t had time to sit down as a family, all of us.”
“Oh.” Lysander rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “I mean…I really do have a lot of homework to get through…”
