Signs Point to Yes (18 page)

“Even as I was saying it, I realized how terrible it would be to live through,” Jane said. “When do you want me to schedule the flight back?”

“I don't know. Just book it one way.”

Jane looked up at him, her face scared. “It's a lot more expensive if we do that.”

Teo shrugged. “I have the money.”

“Fine, a one-way ticket for now.” Jane couldn't hide how upset that made her, but she wasn't sure Teo had noticed. He was lost in his own thoughts. Jane tapped away at the laptop, unable to ignore her shaking hands. It shouldn't feel like she was sending Teo on a futile mission, but it did.

The topic came up again and again as the trip got closer. It was one long, never ending conversation.

“Whatever you find in Illinois could be a million times worse than anything you could expect,” Jane said.

“If this is a pep talk, I need you to know that you're doing it wrong.”

“I'm sorry. I'm just worried. My imagination keeps running off in all different directions.”

“Like the human-trafficker theory?”

“There's that one. And the more realistic one where things go wrong in one way or another and you end up alone in a strange city with nowhere to stay. You're hungry, it's raining, your cell phone dies.”

“Like I'm a stray puppy?”

“Exactly like that,” Jane said patting his head. “A stray puppy with a dead cell phone.”

“I really do appreciate your concern. And I promise I won't sit hungry in the rain.”

“You definitely won't, because I have a contingency plan for you,” she said, pulling a folded scrap of paper out of her pocket.

Teo flipped it open and looked at it.

“That's the phone number of one of my fandom friends. Her name's Mindy. She lives off campus and said you could give her a call if something went wrong.”

“How do you have friends in Illinois?” Teo asked.

“I told you, fandom.”

“I don't understand.”

“It doesn't matter. But you can call that number anytime—she knows about you. I bet she could even help you book a flight home if you're worried about that.”

He put the piece of paper in his wallet. “Thanks, Jane.”

“I had to make sure you had a fail-safe. And don't forget about the time difference.”

“I totally would have forgotten about the time difference.”

“It's going to work in your favor on the way to Illinois, so you should easily get there before his class ends at three o'clock.”

“I'm going to do this,” Teo said to himself as much as to Jane.

“You are.”

A few hours later, Teo whispered a question to Jane as she cleaned up from lunch.

“How do I get to the airport on Wednesday morning?”

“I'll drive you to the bus stop at, like, four thirty. There's a superearly bus to Philly that stops a couple of miles from here.”

“How did you figure that out so fast?”

“Because I knew you would need to get to the airport,” Jane said. “It's all logic, Teo. If you sat down and thought about it, you would have gotten there eventually.”

“You're awesome,” he said.

“Thanks.”

The twenty-four hours leading up to Teo's departure seemed to drag on forever. Jane didn't sleep at all Tuesday night, instead tossing and turning and thinking about what Teo was about to do.

Around four o'clock on Wednesday morning, she got out of bed and dressed quickly. She sat down with her trusty Magic 8.

“Will Teo be okay?” she asked.

Most likely.

“Will Teo be better than okay?”

Cannot predict now.

That was definitely not the answer she was looking for, but there was no time to ask more questions. No matter how she felt about this trip, she couldn't be late picking up Teo. She slipped out of the house and prayed that no one would notice she was gone.

The sound of her car starting seemed like an atomic bomb going off in the quiet predawn hours. She pulled around the corner and found Teo waiting on the curb.

“Morning,” Teo said, getting into Jane's car.

“That's a lie.” Jane yawned. “If it was morning, the sun would be up.”

They drove through empty streets to the bus shelter on the other side of town. Jane parked the car and waited with Teo.

“Thank you again for the millionth time,” Teo said.

Jane smirked. “Just make sure you read all the signs going through the security lines at the airport. Do you have your ID?”

“Yes.” He wiped his palms on his shorts. “I also left my mom a note saying my car wouldn't start this morning and I had someone from work pick me up super early because we were going out for breakfast before active-adult water yoga.”

“Okay, good to know.”

“That means the minivan is blocked in, but that should help you. If the girls go to the pool today, they'll notice I'm not there, and it'll totally blow my cover.”

“What if your mom or Buck tries to start your car this morning?”

“They won't. Mornings are too hectic. They won't try until tonight.”

“Are you going to talk to them at all?”

“I think I'll call later or in the morning, depending on how I'm feeling about everything.”

“Let's go over the plan one more time,” Jane said.

“We know Mateo Rodriguez will be in his office on Wednesday afternoon for office hours. I took today, tomorrow, and Friday off from work. My mom probably won't notice I'm gone until late tomorrow night. I could even tell her I'm staying at someone's house for a couple of days. I could be gone almost the whole time before she would notice.”

“Good.”

“I have your friend Mindy's phone number. And if worst comes to worst, I could take a bus to Chicago that runs every few hours from campus, then wait at the airport until I can get a flight home.”

“I really hope nothing goes wrong,” Jane said.

“Nothing's going to go wrong,” Teo said, rubbing her arm. “You planned it down to the minute.”

“I feel like I should be the one reassuring you.”

“No way. I am totally confident in you and your plan.”

The bus came into view then, stopped at a light two blocks away. Jane and Teo stood.

“Even if I'm not entirely confident in the plan, I swear I support this endeavor and will do whatever you need me to do on this end,” Jane said.

“You have no idea how much that means to me.”

They smiled at each other.

As the bus pulled up, Jane felt a rush of panic. She handed Teo all the money in her pocket. “I know it's only, like, ten bucks, but have breakfast at the airport on me.”

“Okay,” he said.

“And please let me know that you're alive and safe when you get there.”

“I promise.”

“All right. Please be careful. And I don't mean just with the traveling but also with yourself. Take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

“And—”

“Jane, come on, I gotta go.” The bus driver was staring at them.

Jane stepped onto her tiptoes and hugged him tightly, as if she could hug all her feelings and good luck and hope into him if she could squeeze him hard enough.

He squeezed back.

“Bye,” he said, drawing away.

“Good luck!” she said.

He took the seat closest to the front and waved as the bus pulled away.

Jane watched it until she could no longer see it.

She sat down on the bench in the bus shelter, trying to sort out her emotions.

She wished she had kissed him. But kissing him would have opened up a whole can of worms that she wasn't prepared to deal with at 4:48 in the morning. Not to mention that she wouldn't want Teo to have to deal with that kind of crap at this moment, either.

Except that her feelings weren't crap. They were growing every day, and this trip, and the way she felt about it, only cemented them for her.

She knew she needed to get home before anyone noticed her absence, but each of her limbs felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and her brain was clouded with worry. She sat on the bench a little longer.

It was only when she was walking back to her car that she realized she was crying. She could only hope that Teo knew what he was getting himself into.

Jane wiped at the tears with the hem of her T-shirt and drove home.

 

Chapter 20

Within a minute after the bus left the curb, Teo had to stop himself from leaping out of the seat and telling the driver to let him get off.

There weren't very many people on the bus at this time of the morning, and Teo had chosen the seat closest to the driver because the idea of walking much farther down the aisle wasn't appealing. But now he was sitting on his hands like a child whose mother had yelled at him, just trying to keep himself from jumping out the emergency exit.

He could envision the scene if he leaped up and started yelling. The driver's shocked expression, his fellow passengers' faces etched with confusion, the relief he would feel running back down the street to Jane.

In fact, this vision was probably Jane's fault. Her imagination was rubbing off on him.

But he kept himself together, making it to the airport. He started to sweat when he tried to check in at a ticket kiosk and the screen kept saying that his confirmation number was invalid. It took two more tries before he realized he was trying to check in with the wrong airline.

Things went more smoothly after that, even if the whole thing was overwhelming. He tried to take it one step at a time. He found the gate and waited to board. He located his seat and stowed his carry-on properly under the seat in front of him. He gripped the arms of the chair during takeoff and listened to the same five songs on repeat during the whole flight because he didn't feel like finding a new playlist on his phone.

The shuttle was waiting right where Jane told him it would be, and he was on campus in no time. He texted Jane to tell her he was okay and then put his phone on silent. He needed to do this himself.

It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon on campus. He wondered if all campuses were like this in the summer. If they were, it wasn't a shock that his mom would rather spend her time doing work in the campus library rather than at home with his three screaming little sisters.

When he found the right building, he checked the time on his phone and saw a string of text messages from Jane. He didn't even let the words sink in before slipping the phone back into his pocket.

He walked through the main doors and followed the directions Jane had gotten online.

Thoughts of Jane helped him make his way through the halls and up a flight of stairs until he found himself in front of a door that read
MATEO RODRIGUEZ
.

All he had to do was knock.

 

 

Jane was in the midst of the longest day of her life.

When she got to work that morning, Connie showed her the note Teo had left. Jane read it with bleary eyes, even though she already knew the contents.

“I don't have time to deal with his car this morning,” Connie said. “So that means it will be in the way all day.”

“That's okay. I'll find other stuff to do with the girls around the house.”

Connie squeezed her shoulder. “Thank you, Jane. You've been a real asset this summer.”

“It's been a great time,” Jane said, and she wasn't lying.

Connie left, and the girls came tumbling into the kitchen dressed in what Jane could only describe as bathing costumes.

Each one was wearing a normal bathing suit, but with leis and straw skirts, and Keegan had on something that was probably supposed to be a sarong but looked more like a toga. Because she was seven.

“We're going to have a fashion show,” Keegan told Jane.

“Do I get to watch?” Jane asked.

“Yes!” Piper said, taking Jane's hand and leading her to the couch. “You sit here and clap for each of our outfits.”

“I can handle that,” Jane said, settling in for what she hoped would be a full morning of entertainment for the girls. Unfortunately, they tired of it when Rory almost choked herself trying to get her bathing suit off over her head.

It didn't help that Jane was a terrible combination of emotions, and the girls could probably sense her unrest. She was tapping her fingers on any surface she could find and running her hands through her hair, and yawns overtook every other sentence she spoke.

After the near disaster with the bathing suit, Jane persuaded the girls to spend the rest of the morning watching a movie while she snuggled into the corner of the sectional and dozed on and off. It wasn't her most professional decision, but she was beat.

The girls were pulling her from every direction when it was lunchtime. Jane was sleepwalking by that point, making their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on autopilot. Thank God they hadn't wanted soup and grilled cheese, because there was a good chance she would have burned the house down.

She checked her cell phone again and again, without finding any messages from Teo. If his flight ran even a few minutes late, he could lose his window of opportunity. He would have to track Mateo Rodriguez down after office hours, and that could get a little complicated. Jane kept her fingers crossed, in between the tapping and hair touching, because there was nothing else for her to do.

“We want to go to the pool!” Keegan said after lunch. She really was like the union president when it came to her sisters.

Aside from the fact Teo wouldn't be at the pool and she had no way to get them there, Jane couldn't imagine having to watch them in the water this afternoon. Even after slugging two cups of coffee with lots of flavored creamer, she still wasn't at her most energetic.

Jane did the only thing she could think of: She finally made good on her promise to create an at-home sprayground.