Chapter 6 - The Note on the Kitchen Counter| At 5:43 a.m., Adrian DeLuca woke to a silence that felt different from the silence in the hospital.
For the past week, silence had meant the absence of Sophie’s voice. No footsteps racing down the hall. No cartoons playing in the living room. No small person climbing onto his bed because she had dreamed about monsters.
This morning, it meant something else.
Claire was gone.
He discovered it when he reached for the glass of water on his bedside table and noticed the empty space where her phone usually charged. Her side of the bed was smooth. The bathroom counter had been cleared of her makeup and toothbrush.
He called her.
Her phone went straight to voicemail.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then he went downstairs.
The kitchen looked strangely bare. Claire’s favorite mug was missing. The family calendar had been removed from the refrigerator. Sophie's drawing of a house with three stick figures had disappeared from the wall.
A sheet of paper lay beneath his car keys.
Adrian picked it up.
Adrian,
I heard what you said to Vivian at the funeral. I heard everything.
You don't need to explain what happened on the road. I already know enough about your choices.
You told me for years that I was imagining things. You made me apologize for asking questions. You taught me to doubt my own instincts so you could keep living two lives.
But I will never apologize for believing that our daughter deserved to come home safely.
The divorce papers are signed. My attorney will contact yours.
Do not come looking for me.
Claire.
He read it twice.
Then a third time.
“No,” he whispered.
He called her mother.
Ruth answered on the fourth ring.
“Adrian?”
“Where is Claire?”
A pause.
“Why are you calling me?”
“She left. She packed her things and disappeared.”
Ruth's voice became cold.
“Perhaps she finally realized she was alone in that marriage.”
“I'm her husband.”
“You were her husband. That doesn't mean you knew how to be one.”
“Ruth, please. I need to speak to her.”
“You needed to speak to her when she asked why Vivian was calling you at midnight. You needed to speak to her when Sophie told you she was uncomfortable around your secrets. You needed to speak to her before you drove away with our granddaughter in the back seat.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I didn't mean for any of this to happen.”
“No mother ever needs to hear that from the man who brought her child home in a coffin.”
She ended the call.
Adrian stood motionless in the kitchen.
His phone rang again. His attorney's name appeared on the screen.
“Mr. DeLuca, I received a message from Claire's lawyer this morning. We need to discuss the divorce filing.”
“Tell him she can't do this.”
“She can.”
“I'm her husband.”
“Legally, that remains true. Emotionally, I suspect the situation is more complicated.”
Adrian gripped the counter.
“I want her found.”
His attorney paused.
“I strongly advise you not to treat this as a missing-person case unless there is evidence she is in danger. Your wife is an adult. She is entitled to leave.”
“She's grieving. She isn't thinking clearly.”
“Or she has thought about this for a very long time.”
The call ended.
Adrian looked at the empty kitchen.
On the windowsill sat a tiny plastic dinosaur Sophie had brought home from school. He picked it up, turning it between his fingers.
For the first time, he allowed himself to remember the last conversation he had with his daughter.
She had asked whether he would be home for dinner.
He had told her he would try.
Then he had driven toward the airport.
May you like
And now both his daughter and his wife were gone.
The difference was that one of them might still have a choice about whether to return.
Related Stories
