“Well, you know it wasn’t me,” Elliott assured her as they sat next to each other about an hour later on the plane Aaron had sent. “Until Christian can hook me up with another IAC, I’m completely cut off from the world.”
She just nodded. At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter who had told Aaron about her faux pas, but when she’d exited the guest room to try to determine who the snitch was, everyone was gone except for Elliott and Cale, and the doctor insisted that he hadn’t even noticed, though Cadence didn’t believe him. He was looking at her even funnier than he had been the night before. And Cadence had no idea who else had even been in the room since she was horrible with names and faces and hadn’t stopped to look around.
“Cheer up! It could’ve been worse,” Elliott said, nudging her with his shoulder.
While she could definitely think of some scenarios that would’ve been worse, she was still embarrassed. “Have you ever walked into a crowded room in just your underwear?” she asked.
“Hell, no,” he said too quickly, clearly an attempt to be funny. “No, but I did walk out of a porta-potty once at a Grateful Dead concert to find a crowd of people at least three deep holding their hands over their noses, just staring at me in awe and disgust.”
She began to giggle, imagining it in her head. “You did not,” she said, assuming he was just trying to make her feel better.
“True story. I’d had cheap Mexican food before an outdoor concert in the dead heat of August in Oklahoma. Now, people usually think of Texas or Arizona when they think hot, but don’t let the reputation fool you. Oklahoma can get hot. It was not pretty. And, little did I know, the band was taking a break, leaving the area eerily quiet. Except for my gaseous interpretation of ‘Brown Eyed Woman’ played on the ass flute.”
Cadence could no longer contain herself and burst into a fit of hysterical laughter which ultimately left her wiping tears from her eyes. “God, you’re such an idiot,” she finally got out, shoving him with her forearm hard enough to knock him against the window.
“Hey, you asked,” he replied, righting himself and rubbing his shoulder.
“Not about that,” she reminded him. “Okay, I guess it could’ve been worse.”
“Sure the hell could’ve been,” he agreed. “Besides, you look damn good in a T-shirt and skivvies. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You own that, girl.”
“That’s a little creepy coming from you,” she giggled, “but thanks.”
“Damn straight. I’m not your real brother, you know?”
She nodded, still trying to control her laughter, thinking about how icky it would be if he was. Her sister was in love with his son after all. But he didn’t know that. Not yet. “Right,” she finally managed. “Still… yuck.”
“I love you, too,” he said, shaking his head and looking out the window.
“You know I don’t mean it like that.”
“Whatever,” he said with a fake sniffle. “I know I’ve put on a few pounds since I put myself back together again.” He was squealing by the end of the sentence like an overly emotional woman at an unsuccessful Weight Watchers meeting, and Cadence found herself shoving him once more. “You seriously need to get control of yourself, woman,” he said, rubbing his shoulder again. “You are much stronger than you think you are.”
“Sorry,” Cadence muttered, wondering if he was right or if he’d just gotten a little soft hanging out in the urn for the last several months. Before she could say anything else on the subject, she realized he was staring out the window quite contently. “What’s up?” she asked, leaning over so she could peer out, too.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “I just don’t feel like we are going the right direction.”
“How can you tell?” she asked. The ground looked the same to her as it always did from this high up—patches of brown, patches of green, occasional body of water.
“I can’t,” he said with a shrug. “Could you call Aaron and see if he’s changed our itinerary?”
“I could,” she replied, though she was reluctant to do so. “Or we could ask the captain.”
“Or you could just ask your beloved and save us some steps and potential lies.”
“What makes you think he won’t lie?” she muttered as she sent him a message.
“Hey,” he said, his voice calmer than she’d remembered hearing it in over a week. “Change of plans.”
“Yeah, we thought maybe we were going another direction,” she said aloud, nodding at Elliott as she did so.
“We?” he asked, chiding her since he was certain she hadn’t actually noticed anything geographically speaking. He didn’t wait for her to respond. “I asked the pilot to bring you directly into Des Moines instead. I’ll meet you at your grandma’s house.”
Cadence was alarmed. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied, and she believed him. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of her for a few hours and haven’t gotten a response. She didn’t tell anyone she was going anywhere, and it’s not like her not to answer.”
Cadence felt Elliott’s hand on her arm and realized he had no idea what was going on, but he could see she was concerned. “Okay,” she said. “That is odd.”
“It’s probably nothing,” Aaron attempted to assure her, but she could hear an undertone in his voice; he didn’t believe that himself.
“All right. Will you get there first?” she asked.
“Probably. I’m not sure.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Cadence said, “Well, let me know as soon as you get there, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, but she could tell by his response that he wasn’t planning on telling her anything bad over the IAC. “Don’t worry, Cadence. I’m sure Janette’s just out for the day… or something.”
“Right,” she said, hoping he was correct. She couldn’t imagine losing her grandmother. The idea was unthinkable. She disconnected the conversation and turned to find Elliott’s expectant eyes staring at her. “My grandma’s not answering her phone.”
“Oh,” Elliott said, his eyebrows knitting together as he dropped his eyes to his folded hands. “Well, I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about.”
Cadence nodded, but she couldn’t find the conviction to voice an agreement.
