On Tenterhooks (32 page)

He looked around those gathered at the table.
“But d
on’t let that eat you. Don’t ever let yourself think you aren’t entitled to miss him as much as anybody ever missed anyone else in this world.”

“Yeah, I know.” She sniffled and wiped her
face
. “I know that, deep down, I do.
It’s like you
said .
.
. it’s
just hard to bear sometimes.”

Steve nodded.

“So
,
Martin, last night
,” Abby continued, “y
ou said something when I told my parents about the note
and how I knew it was from Zack
.
Did you get
that k
i
nd of proof when you heard
from your daughter
too
?”

Martin
didn’t hesitate
.
“Yes.
I had a nickname for my daughter: Snugglebug.”

“Thank
God.
I thought you were gonna say
Skunkbag
!”

They all
laughed. To Steve it felt good
.  S
haring an inside joke with this group was some sort of bonding moment, even if they were bonding over death.

“No.
It was Snugglebug, ‘
cause
she always used to sneak into our bed at night and squeeze up between my wife and
me
to get comfy.”

“And she
said
that in her message?” asked Abby.

“Yep.
And until she rang me on the radio, I hadn’t heard that since she was a
little
girl .
.
. probably
15
years
ago
!”

“Wow,” said Abby
.
“That’s probably important somehow
.
Steve, did your wife say anything in the note?”

“Well,
no nickname.
But I will admit, there is a part in there that
is
similar
.
The note quotes
some lines from a Sex ‘N Cigs song
.”

“
Sex ‘N Cigs
?” Abby asked
.

“Seriously?
” asked Steve
.
“
You don’t know who
Sex ‘N Cigs
is?”

“Ummm,
are they a band or something
?”

“Yes. Johnny Cigarello? Janine Sexton?
‘
Better Together
’
?” Steve replied. “It was
on the charts
forever .
.
. about
10 years ago.”

“Ah,” Abby smiled. “Well I wasn’t listening to a lot of music when I was
eight.
”

Martin and
Veronica
laughed aloud. Steve
shook his head
when he saw that she said it in earnest.
He
sighed and shook his head
, and
Veronica
reached over to
touch
his
arm.
“Getting old is a bitch, eh?” she smiled.

“Anyway,” said Steve,
“t
he note quoted lines
from
the song.  It was kinda our song. And it’s also in the nightmare I keep having about her death
.”

“Interesting,” said Abby. She took a notebook out of her pack and began taking notes.

“Hey, question,” she said
.
“Have any of you guys ever heard of Cozumel?”

“Cozumel, Mexico?”
Veronica
asked.

“Yeah,
I guess so,” Abby shrugged.

“Yes,” responded
Veronica
.
Martin and Steve acknowledged it as well. “Why do you ask?”

“I dunno.
It
’
s weird
.
I think I dreamed about it last night.
I’ve never been there
.
In
fact,
I barely even knew it existed
.
But I feel like I should know about it.
I don’t remember anything about the dream itself, except that I was in Cozumel.
Have you ever been there?”

“Yes,” said
Veronica
, “m
any times. My
mother .
.
. that’s
where she died.”

“Oh
,
my gosh,” said Abby. “I am sorry I brought it up.”

“That’s where I wen
t on my honeymoon,” said Martin. “Actually I am pretty sure that’s where
Maggie
was conceived.”

“Okay, whoa,” said Abby, putting her hands up. “That’s way TMI Martin, seriously.
”

Martin was instantly embarrassed
.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said sheepishly
.
“Don’t know what made me blurt that out.”

Steve stepped in to save
his new friend
.
“My wife and I had plans to go there this summer
—
a
quick mini vacation of sorts. I’ve n
ever been there before though.”

“Interesting,” Abby
said again
.
She took more notes.
“Okay, so where do we go next?”

“Go?” said Steve
.
“We were just hoping to talk to you
, y
’know, compare notes.”

“Oh
,
I want to do that
,
too!
But can’t we head out while we’re doing it?”

“Head out?” said
Veronica
.
“Where is it that you think we should go?”

“L
ook ya’ll
,” said Abby
, “y
ou three didn’t
know each other a few days ago
,
and yet now here you are halfway across the country chumming it up with me. Why would we stop now?”

“Because we haven’t figured out
what to do next
,” replied Martin
.
“We were the only four on Steve’s list
.
We were kinda hoping the next idea would come after we got a chance to talk to you.”

“Okay, then, perfect,” said Abby. “Let’s do it!”

“Do what
,
sweetie?” asked
Veronica
.

“Head to Cozumel!” said Abby smiling.

“What?” asked Steve
.
“Seriously?  Why?”

“Come on,” replied Abby. “
You
guys said it yourselves
.
The trail kinda runs cold here, does it not?”

“Well,” started Steve. “
yeah
, but
—“

“
Annnnnd
, you just said you wanted to compare notes with me, right?”

“Yes,” Steve replied
.
“But that doesn’t mean
—“

“So, basically,” interrupted Abby
,
“
you
were expecting me to have some answers, right?”

“Yes,” Steve admitted. “Something like that.”

“Okay, so, I say we should go to Cozumel.”

“But why?’ asked Martin
.
“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I have no idea
,” she
shrugged.
“
Call it a hunch
,
I guess
.
Look,
it’s Friday. W
hen I left
the
house
this morning, my
d
ad
had
already gone to work
,
and my
m
om was still asleep
.
I left a note and told them I was spending the weekend at my best friend’s house
.
She gave me a ride over here
and she
promised to cover for me.
I used to
spend the night with her
all the time
,
so I think they’ll be happy about it
.
The
school
doesn’t
bother
to check up on you
when
one of the
‘
good kids
.’
A
nd
if
I call to check in every once in a while with the cell phone, I think I can pretty much do whatever I want
.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not in the habit of lyi
ng to my parents
.
But Cozumel
just feels right to me right now.
Think about this:
Veronica
, you’ve been there before, with your mother.”

“
Well, not
with
her, exactly,” said
Veronica
. “But yes, I suppose so in a manner of speaking.
”

“And Martin,” Abby continued
,
“
you’ve
been there as well with your daughter
,
in a manner of speaking.”

Martin nodded.

“
Steve, you
had plans to go there with your wife
, and
I’ve
sort of
been there too now, with this dream I had last
night. So
basically, we’ve all been there
.
It ties us together.”

“Wow,” said Steve. “
We’re gonna travel internationally based on a vague dream?
Now that
might be just about
the biggest stretch I’ve ever heard
of
.”

“Is it Steve?” asked
Veronica
crossly. “Do I need to remind you again that we are all here right now
,
thanks to another big stretch?  I mean
,
why is
going to Cozumel
any different? 
This whole
trip
we’re on is based on
a
series of coincidences that make Abby’s line of thought seem logical to me
.
And wasn’t it you who kicked this whole thing off
,
based on little more than a note and a hunch?”

“Yeah, okay, fine,” he confessed
.
“I admit
what I’ve done, even what we’ve done
,
hasn’t been by the numbers. But are we seriously going to jaunt to a foreign country because of a dream and a hunch?”

“Wait,” said Abby
,
“I
have
an
easy way to resolve this. You
can’t
get
in
to Mexico now without a passport
.
You can’t get anywhere these days without it
.
I had to get one a couple
of
years ago when we took a roadtrip up to Canada. So, how about we make a deal?
”