Tightening the Knot (9 page)

           
Meredith ran back inside and slipped on some shoes and a jacket.
 
Where was the leash?
 
They’d only had the dog a few days so there was no usual place for it.
 
She surveyed the house and found it on the floor in a corner.
 
She bunched it up and ran outside.
 
Meredith was not much of a runner.
 
The December air burned her lungs a bit, but the adrenaline kept her going.
 
Until she came to the spot where they had caught Katie the last time.
 
This was when Meredith realized she had no idea where she was going.
 
Neither Greg nor the dog were anywhere in sight.
 
She stopped for a moment and listened.
 
There were cars going by on a nearby street and someone somewhere was using some sort of power tool.
 
She had hoped to hear Greg calling for Katie.
 
Maybe he had already caught her.
 
Maybe he was too out of breath to call for her.
 
Or maybe he simply sensed how fruitless it would be.

           
Not knowing what else to do, Meredith decided to go back for her car.
 
She could cover more ground that way and Greg would probably appreciate the ride back, assuming she could find him.
 
She jogged home, looking up side streets and between houses.
 
Her bag was on the counter.
 
It
had a usual spot.
 
She flung it over her shoulder and hurried to the door, then stopped.
 
She scribbled a quick note to Greg, saying she was in the car and asking him to call her if he got back first.
 
It was unlikely that he had his phone on him already this morning, but she dialed his number just in case.
 
A familiar ring started in the closet and reminded her that her husband was also running around without a coat.
 
She rushed to the car, feeling the whole time as though she was moving in slow motion.

           
She drove serpentine through the neighborhood until she found Greg, walking awkwardly with his hand on Katie’s collar.
 
She pulled over and he put the dog in the back seat before opening the door to the front.
 
But she jumped over the front seat and back through the open door before he could get in.
 

           
“Stupid dog!”
 
He lunged after her and managed to grab hold of her only about ten feet from the car.
 
This time, he asked Meredith for the leash and got into the back seat with Katie.
 
Greg didn’t drop his end of the leash until they were safely
back
in the house.
 
And with the door locked.

           
“Where did you catch her?”

           
“
Holmes Street
.
 
Only a block or so from where you picked us up.
 
I waited for you for a few minutes before I started walking back.”

           
“Sorry.
 
I lost sight of you and didn’t know which way to go.
 
That’s why I came back for the car.”

           
“It’s cold out there.”
 
Greg was rubbing his hands together with the laptop still sitting next to him on the couch.

           
“Yeah.”
 
Meredith hung up her jacket, feeling badly that she had taken the time to put it on while Greg was waiting out in the cold.
 
She thought she had handled the situation as best she could, but Greg seemed a little annoyed.
 
Was he upset with her or just kicking himself for bringing the dog home in the first place?
 
She sat back down to her now soggy breakfast without the newspaper.
 
If he was annoyed with her, flaunting that she was the reason he had gone outside in the first place would probably not be the greatest idea.
 
Still, wouldn’t he be more bothered that he had chased the dog after fetching the paper and now she didn’t even seem concerned with reading it?
 
And there was always the possibility that she was imagining his mood.
 

           
By the time she finished her cereal, Meredith had done a complete job of working herself up.
 
She was convinced anything she said to Greg would be the wrong thing and kept her jaw tight.
 
She wondered what he was thinking about the paper.
 
It was calling to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to pick it up any more than she could bare the thought of Greg getting to it first.
 
She should have been the one to chase the dog.
 
She should have insisted on getting the paper herself.
 
Why did she even ask Greg about it?
 
She wasn’t suggesting he should get it for her.
 
It was just a question.
 
There was hardly ever anything interesting in the paper anyway.
 
Why didn’t they put anything interesting in the paper?

           
Her funk was interrupted by her phone.
 
It was Mercy.

           
“Guess where I am?”

           
“Oh
my gosh
!
 
Are you at the hospital?”

           
“I am.
 
It’s a boy!”

           
“Congratulations!
 
I want details.”

           
“Well, my water broke only about a half hour after I got home last night.
 
I guess I just made it.”

           
“Oh my.”

           
“Yeah.
 
He wasn’t born
until a little after
1 am
so his birthday is today.
 
His name is Jackson Xavier and he weighs 6 pounds and 10 ounces.”

           
“
Jackson
?
 
I like it.”
 
Meredith felt that this was one of those acceptable lies, and the name would likely grow on her.
 
Mercy had lots of calls to make and so hung up after a brief account of how tiring it was to have all these people lining up to bring her gifts.
 
She didn’t mention Meredith visiting the hospital, even though she had been making her promise to do it for a month.
 
Meredith was too polite to invite herself.
 

           
She hung up the phone and took her empty bowl to the sink.
 
She didn’t really want to talk about babies with Greg and he had probably gotten the gist of it from her end of the conversation.
 

           
He had.
 
“Mercy had the baby, huh?”

           
“Yeah.
 
Early this morning.
 
Or late last night, depending on how you look at it.”

           
“I better get going if I’m
gonna
meet Dave on time.”

           
“Okay.”

           
He moved toward the closet and stopped.
 
“Hey, the dog made us forget all about the paper.
 
Here you go.”
 
He put it on the table and left Meredith feeling somewhat less confident in her mind-reading skills.

╣ Chapter 11 ╠

           
Judy
Donnor
was an accomplished conversationalist.
 
If the situation warranted it, she could hold up both ends at once with one hand tied behind her back.
 
Meredith contributed the story of the dog’s second escape during one lull and otherwise passed the afternoon alone with her mother-in-law by smiling, raising eyebrows, and even throwing in one or two winces at just the right times.

           
When Greg returned, he drove them to his in-laws as planned.
 
Meredith noticed, as soon as she walked in the door, a big white box sitting on the coffee table.
 
She recognized this as the box containing her mother’s wedding dress.
 
It didn’t appear to have been opened, yet no one mentioned it.
 
Meredith cornered her mother in the kitchen while she was putting the finishing touches on dinner.

           
“What’s going on with the dress, Mom?”

           
“Nothing.”

           
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?
 
It’s just sitting there.”

           
“That doesn’t constitute ‘nothing’ to you?”

           
“Well, yeah, but… I mean, has Ellie tried it on or anything?”

           
“No.”

           
“Have you showed it to her?”

           
“No.”

           
Meredith was getting a little frustrated with the lack of information, particularly after having spent the earlier part of the day with a woman who would elaborate on anything.
 
“She didn’t say anything when you got it out?”

           
“Look, it didn’t come up again after you left last night.
 
I was up first this morning so I went to the attic and brought it down.
 
It’s been sitting right there in the living room all day and no one has said a word before you.
 
I don’t know if she’s changed her mind and hopes I’ll forgot or what, but I know she’ll hate it and I don’t want her to feel she has to use it and I just don’t know if I should be the one to bring it up so I haven’t.”

           
Jeanette turned around quickly at the end of her speech as Tom had just come in.
 
He was alone.
 
Meredith decided to try this new source for information.
 
“Why hasn’t Ellie looked at the wedding dress?”

           
“What wedding dress?”

           
“Mom’s dress.
 
She said last night she wanted to wear it.”

           
“I don’t know.
 
I assume she’s waiting for Mom to get it out.”

           
“Get it out!?”
 
Jeanette fumbled a little with the stack of plates she was carrying.

           
“It’s sitting on the coffee table!”
 

           
Tom poked his head around the corner, then back to his mother and sister.
 
“In the box?”

           
Meredith rolled her eyes.
 
“No, Tom.
 
It’s an invisible dress sitting on top of the box.”

           
“Well, how is she supposed to know it’s in the box?
 
You said it was in the attic.”

           
“It
was
in the attic.”

           
“I brought it down this morning.”