Chapter 90

DORIS

I let myself have a good cry. I drank a lot of water to keep hydrated.

I took out my phone and pulled up some videos of Cathy’s band. I watched her rock it a club in Berlin, singing to happy, screaming fans.

I scrolled through my phone and deleted all my pictures of just Arthur. I couldn’t bring myself to delete any of Arthur with Mia or the three of us together.

I went through an entire box of tissues.

I found a channel playing sappy Hallmark movies from the 80s. I took off my shoes, lay down on the couch, and watched Michael J. Fox charm his way through a southern town and into the leading lady’s heart.

Somewhere before the male and female leads’ first kiss, I fell into a fitful sleep.

ARTHUR

Ethan called me again at lunchtime. He had looked at more CCTV footage from more of the intersections and had studied both pedestrian traffic and cars.

“So far, I haven’t caught a glimpse of her on camera. It could be she was wearing a big hat. Maybe we just missed her. It could be she wasn’t walking on past the main streets we checked. I’ll continue to have my guys canvas the area. We'll ask around.”

I went into Heritage Properties and stared at Doris’s office. I sat in her chair for a minute. From this position, I could see a picture of Doris hugging Mia in front of the Cheesecake Factory.

At least Doris hadn't packed up her office.

I went to my office on the top floor. I remembered the day Doris stood in front of me, protecting me from Andrea’s wrath. That was the day I knew we were more than just some temporary fling.

That was the day I understood Doris wasn’t just some fragile, hurt flower. She had some inner strength.

I hoped that strength was helping her now.

I sat at my desk. I looked over some real estate agreements. I thought working would distract me, but I couldn't concentrate. The letters blurred.

All I could think about was my own hurt and disappointment. What could I have done differently? This wasn’t my fault, yet I felt like, somehow, I had come up short.

At five o’clock, Ethan called me again to tell me he still hadn’t found anything. He didn’t sound worried, and assured me again that in cases like this, most often, the woman came back on her own when she was ready.

I wanted Doris to be ready soon. I wanted Doris to be ready now.

I went to a steak and ale house. I hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch, so I ordered a big plate of steak and potatoes, but I couldn’t eat.

I ordered a beer but quickly changed the scotch. I drank one glass of scotch after another, not a smart move on an empty stomach.

Nathan called me, but I ignored it; then he texted me asking if I had found Doris, and I had to answer.

No.

When Nathan found me two hours later, I'm sure I looked dejected. I had a cold plate of food in front of me and a glass that was just ice because I had drunk so much; I had had the bartender just add more ice in the glass and nothing else.

“Looking good, Boss."

I looked up at him, and I could feel the malice in my gaze. I wanted to shoot him the middle finger, but I didn’t have the energy.

“Talk to me. Tell me what happened."

“No offense, Nathan, but I really don’t feel like telling you the story. Not when you’re blissfully getting banged.”

His face lit up briefly before he looked somber again. He sat down and gave me a patient expression.

“Doris left me. I don’t know where she is. The private investigator doesn’t know where she is. I don’t know how I’ll explain it to Mia. If I can’t get her to come back, I don't know what I'll do. I can't imagine how I'll explain to Mia that her mom disappeared."

Nathan's eyebrows went up so high they disappeared under his bangs.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you that part? Yeah, after she thought I was a stripper and then propositioned me, I turned around and said I would pay her to pretend to be my daughter's biological mother."

I picked up my glass, swirled the ice around, and listened to it clink before I took a sip of the scotch-flavored water at the bottom.

“That was a great plan, yeah, really great until I fell in love with Doris, and she left me.”

Nathan took the glass out of my hand temporarily. "How many of these have you had?”

“I’ve lost count.”

"Man, that’s not good. I get it. I get that you are upset. Doris is a great girl. She'll come back. You can’t drink yourself into oblivion."

I took my glass back from him. “I think I can.”

Nathan took my glass away from me again. “Well, you could, but it won’t help. How about we take a walk to sober you up.”

“No, thank you." I reached for the glass again, but Nathan held it out of the way.

“Listen, Boss, this isn’t like you."

“I’m worried about her."

Nathan was my best friend. I let me see all my vulnerability. “If it was just that she dumped me, that would be one thing. She left me. The second thing is now I have to do something to explain this horror to Mia.”

I took a deep breath and looked longingly at my empty glass before I looked at Nathan again. "The Mia situation is going to be a problem, but worse, I am seriously worried about Doris. If she’s walking around partially in a stupor because of some misconceived slight, she could get hurt."

“I think you need to give Doris a little more credit than that," Nathan said. "This is a woman who grabbed onto a famous actress in the middle of a kidnapping and kept her safe until we could come to the rescue. This is the woman who stood up to your crazy mother. The woman who is able to consistently pretend to be your daughter's mother without ever letting a false clue slip."

Nathan signaled the waiter and asked for a couple of glasses of water for us.

“Doris convinced you to start a pharmaceutical company. She’s become one of the top real estate agents at Heritage Properties in a short period of time while managing a relationship with you, your daughter, and her rising singing career. And she's done this all while taking the awakening of her foster father in stride.”

Nathan pauses for a second as the waiter drops two glasses of water on our table. Nathan motions for me to take a sip as he continues.

“I think a woman who can juggle all that can handle one or two days on her own. Give her some space, Boss. If she has any sense of justice, after some time, whether it be a day, or a week, or, knowing women, maybe a few weeks, she’ll calm down, and she’ll come to talk to you."

Nathan slid my plate across the table until it was in front of him and took a bite of my steak. He made a "ick, yucky" face.

“This is cold,” Nathan said, pointing at the steak.

“Well, I’ve been here for a while.”

“And I can tell it’s done you a lot of good.”

Nathan pulled out some bills and put them on the table to pay for my meal. “Come on, sad sack. Let’s get out of here."