Chapter 87

ARTHUR

I got out of the shower in the locker room. I just finished getting back into my suit when my cell phone rang.

“Hi, Boss.”

I laughed. “You’re literally my boss now, if anything,” I said. “Nathan, you’re the CEO of the biggest, most successful financial company in New York City, maybe the world. You don’t need to call me boss.”

“Old habits die hard. I don't think I’ll ever stop that habit. Besides, I kind of like it.”

“You are a sick, sick man. What can I do for you?”

“We’ve got big problems with that Taiwanese company. I think you better come into the office.”

I thought again about how I had a premonition that something bad was going to happen at the pharmaceutical company while I was running on the treadmill.

The last thing I wanted to do was go into AmeriCapital’s main office to put out some fire about a company halfway around the world. I almost told Nathan it was his problem now and he should deal with it.

“All right, I’ll be there in about 10 minutes.”

“Thanks, Boss,” Nathan said with an extra cheeky emphasis on the last word.

The problems with the Taiwanese deal were much more in-depth than I could ever imagine. The company was in a political uproar.

The president of the company had retired. The wife of the company was making a big stink. We had already paid in advance for half of the acquisition of the company. The situation couldn’t be worse.

Because of the 12-hour difference between Eastern Standard Time and Taiwanese Time, the representative from the company was staying up late. He got grumpier and grumpier as our negotiations went on and on.

By the time we got everything ironed out, it was 9 PM. All I could think about was I couldn’t wait to get home, check on Mia for two seconds, and then get Doris into my arms.

The walk from exiting the elevators to the penthouse door seemed longer than ever after the press conference.

I was exhausted. Cathy ambushed me at Rockefeller Center. I ran over 10 miles at full speed on the treadmill. I spent almost 9 hours negotiating a deal. I was definitely ready to crash.

“Baby, I'm home,” I said, taking off my suit jacket. I walked to Mia’s bedroom door, which was open a crack. She was sleeping, holding her big stuffed unicorn.

I went to my bedroom. It took less than one second to notice something was wrong, but it took me another second to realize what it was. I ran to the closet.

None of Doris’s clothes were there.

I texted her, but she didn’t answer. I called her but it went straight to voicemail.

No, that’s not true. It made the quick beep that phones make when they are getting a call from a blocked number and then went to voicemail. Which means she wouldn’t even get my voice message.

What the hell?!!

I ran around the penthouse, but it only confirmed what I already knew. Doris had left.

I began to hyperventilate. I felt like somebody had stabbed me in the heart. This made no sense.

Where was she?

I couldn’t think. I stared out the large penthouse windows but my vision wouldn’t focus. I felt like someone had hit me with a ton of bricks.

I picked up my keys and ran out of the penthouse. I took the subway directly to Doris’s old apartment. I knocked on the door. Loudly, and then louder.

Noah answered, rubbing a hand through his messy hair. He blinked a few times and yawned.

I had obviously woken him up. I pushed past him.

“Where is Doris?”

“Huh?”

My heart sped up. “Where is she?”

“Isn’t she with you?”

I burst past him into the living room, turned in a quick circle, and then ran to each room in the small apartment. Doris wasn’t there.

I ran back into the living room and grabbed Noah by his T-shirt.

Noah blinked, waking up faster by the second. He’d probably spend a long day at his medical school and then ridden around in the ambulance, shadowing an EMT for practice.

“Arthur, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know!”

I had to let out a deep breath and try to calm myself. “I have to find Doris. I came home from a long day at work, and she’s cleared out her closet.”

Noah blinked again. Like it didn’t compute for him either. “She didn’t say anything? She didn’t leave a note? Nothing?”

“She’s just gone. No note, no hint of anything, no nothing."

“What?”

“I thought she’d come here.”

Noah shook his head. “This is the first I’ve heard about it.”

I fisted Noah’s shirt harder. I had to make myself let go. Part of me deflated. I went to sit on the couch.

“When did she leave?” Noah asked.

“She was there when I left for work in the morning. I didn’t get home until a few minutes ago, a little after 9 PM, so I have no idea when she left.”

“She’s my daughter, and even though I might not know what she’s been through that much in the past five years, I had a big hand in raising her. Doris is a rational woman. She wouldn’t be totally fine in the morning and then pack all her stuff secretly in the afternoon. Something must’ve set her off. Did you say something to upset her?”

I shook my head.

“You didn’t have a fight?”

I shook my head again.

“Think, Arthur. Think there has to be something that would make Doris pack up and not tell you."

I was so tired I couldn’t think straight. I pinched the bridge of my nose for a minute and then rubbed my fingers over my 5 o’clock shadow.

All of a sudden, the morning came back to me, Cathy.

What if Doris had come to the press conference wanting to surprise me? I hadn’t seen her, but what if she had gotten there just as Nathan and I had been wrapping up?

Nathan wanted to go to Nina to celebrate. What if Doris came wanting to congratulate me and saw Cathy plastering her body all over me?

But surely Doris would know it was Cathy throwing herself at me, not anything else. I mean, surely Doris would know that, right?

“You don’t know why she left or exactly how long she’s been gone?” Noah repeated. There was no condemnation or judgment in those questions. It was more like he was just as perplexed as I was.

I thought about what Doris might’ve seen. Cathy kissed me. Doris might’ve thought I enjoyed kissing Cathy.

Even worse, what if Doris thought I had planned on kissing Cathy? The thought made my stomach churn.

It was hard to think straight.

I began to hyperventilate.

Noah led me over to the sofa and, with a firm hand on my shoulder, pushed me down until I was sitting.

“Put your head between your knees and breathe slowly. In through your nose, out of your mouth."

I did what he said. After a few deep breaths, I just felt sad, not sad and like the world was spinning.

Without moving too much, lest I become dizzy again, I tilted my gaze to Noah.

“AmeriCapital had a press conference that ended late morning. If Doris left soon after that, that would’ve been about 10 hours ago. She could be halfway to Canada by now."

One corner of Noah’s mouth checked up slightly. “I doubt she’s in Canada."

“She’s not here. Where would she go?”

Noah shrugged.

"You’re her dad. Come on, help me out here. Where would she go?”

Noah seemed as clueless as I was. He spent five years in a coma. I had to remember that. He wasn’t necessarily going to know what Doris would do now.

I knew it was unlikely that she’d left the city, but the thought that she might have been so distraught that she just packed a suitcase and took the next flight to South Africa, Guatemala, or Argentina to get away from me made cold sweat break out on my forehead.

Noah went to the kitchen and got two bottles of beer. He offered me one, but I declined.

I looked at Noel with one last fleeting gaze of desperation. “If she’s at some city motel that only accepts cash, I’ll have no way to track her. Please, Noah, think. Does she have any friends from high school? Someone she might run to if she needed a place to crash?”

Noah shrugged, and I resisted the urge to strangle him. “She was kind of a loner in high school, and her best friend moved to Beijing and never came back. I’ve been so busy trying to get into life again with my nursing classes. I haven’t caught up with who her new friends are now.”

I jumped up off the couch. Of course, Nina. Why didn’t I think of that before?