Chapter 4

The morning I left, Mom was awake unusually early.

She was making oatmeal when I rolled my suitcase out of my room.

She paused when she saw it.

"Business trip?"

I nodded.

"Yeah."

She didn't ask much else.

"How long?"

"A while."

With her back to me, she stirred the pot twice.

"Work is fine, but don't forget you have a family.

"Aren't you and Grant going shopping for outfits for the courthouse next week?"

"Mm-hm."

She didn't hear anything strange in my voice.

Chloe slept late.

When I was putting on my shoes, she poked her head out of her room with her hair everywhere.

"Leah, come back early tonight.

"I bought that pistachio cake you like."

I paused.

She immediately became defensive.

"I'm serious this time. No prank.

"I swear."

Dad laughed from the breakfast table.

"You've fooled her so many times she doesn't believe anything now."

Chloe snorted.

"Not my fault she's so easy to trick."

They laughed.

Grant came in at the same moment.

He saw my suitcase and barely reacted.

"Client trip?"

"Yeah."

"When are you back?"

"I don't know."

He let out an impatient sigh.

"Lately, every answer from you is 'I don't know.'"

Then he accepted the coffee Mom handed him.

Nobody asked where I was going.

Nobody considered the possibility that I might actually leave.

Halfway to the airport, Chloe called me.

She was sobbing so hard she could barely speak.

"Leah!

"Dad fell down the stairs. His head's bleeding everywhere."

My grip tightened around my phone.

My heart still reacted before my mind did.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"Do you need to turn around?"

I was silent for two seconds.

Then I asked Chloe, "Did you call 911?"

She stopped.

"What?"

"If Dad's head is bleeding that badly, why haven't you called 911?"

There was half a second of silence.

Then the line exploded with laughter.

Dad's voice joined in.

"Look at that. She's finally wised up."

Mom laughed too.

"I told you that one's gotten old."

I closed my eyes.

Even on my last morning in Toronto, they were still playing games.

Chloe could barely breathe from laughing.

"Leah, where are you?

"You actually didn't fall for it this time. Grant and I were betting you'd turn around within ten minutes."

Grant spoke in the background.

"I said fifteen.

"She acts tough, but if it's about your parents, she never lasts long."

All their familiar laughter blended together.

And suddenly I laughed too.

"Then keep betting."

Chloe stopped.

"Leah?"

I ended the call.

Ten minutes later, Dad texted me a question mark.

At fifteen minutes, Grant started calling.

I didn't answer any of them.

The boarding announcement came over the airport speakers.

A colleague from Vancouver texted, [Message when you land. Someone will pick you up.]

I replied, [Okay.]

Then I turned off family location sharing.

I left the family group chat I'd been in for more than a decade.

As the plane began moving toward the runway, my phone lit up one last time. It was Grant.

[Leah, enough.]

[Your parents are waiting for you to come home for dinner.]

I watched the message for two seconds.

Then I powered off my phone.

Toronto shrank beneath the clouds.

They were still waiting for me to turn around.

Waiting for me to worry.

Waiting for me to rush back the way I always had, even when some part of me knew I might be getting tricked again.

Not this time.

This time, they lost the bet.