I'm back! Thank you guys all so much for your reviews--you're completely awesome and you make this so much fun. ;) Princess Oats, I understand your failure to accept my error in musical judgement. At least I've reformed, right? To a degree? And Rachel, if your "HINT HINT"-ing was referring to me reading one of your stories? I'd be delighted! Let me know what I can do. ;) This chapter title belongs to Spoon and that's really all I have to say. Leave me some reviews and the next chapter could be up pretty quickly. ;)
xoxo
Chapter 26: Don't Let It Get You Down
As soon as she finished her meeting she locked herself in her office and dialed Sandy's cell number.
"Honey! He's back!" She smiled at his enthusiastic greeting.
"He's alive," she corrected dryly.
"So he fed you all that shtick about staying in Pittsburgh, too?"
"What are we going to do, Sandy? Just allow him to live in...Pennsylvanian anonymity until he gets sick of it, which will be never?"
"No, babe, I called Caleb the second I hung up with Seth. He regularly charges comics to his 'emergency' credit card at a place called Burt's One-Stop. Ryan used his handy computer skills and looked it up for me. Four-twenty-six 17th Street. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My guess is that he's living right around there with Anna's aunt, one Rebecca Stern."
"What? My dad knew about this all along and he didn't even—"
"No, honey. He's Caleb Nichol. You think he ever even looks at his credit card bills?"
"So he's just been paying Seth's way this whole time without even knowing it?"
"Basically. But could we pause a minute to acknowledge the outstanding detective skills I have just displayed?" She couldn't help but smile.
"Yes, sweetheart, I'm very turned on by the Magnum P.I. side of you."
"You know, I always through myself to be more of a Columbo type of guy."
"So be it," she said, grinning. "But Sandy...do you realize what this means? I can call him! God, he was so cocky about his whereabouts and now I know exactly where he is. Sort of. But...god, I can call him!"
"I have a better idea."
"Please don't tell me you want to let him stay there."
"Hell, no. I think you should go pick him up. Sneak attack." She laughed.
"You mean show up? Kidnap him?"
"Hey, he's our kid to nap as we please. Am I right?"
"Just drag him home?"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. We'll show him. Kid thinks he can outsmart the dynamic duo?"
"We're the...dynamic duo?" she asked doubtfully.
"Oh, yes, darling. Unbeatable combination."
Four hours later, she was on a plane. She made an unsuccessful attempt to read—too distracted thinking about Seth—then took a sleeping pill and allowed herself to pass out for the remainder of the flight. She woke up for the landing and her heart was pounding. Not because of the plane—she's flown plenty of times. It was getting off that scared her now. Once she got off she was essentially just a cab ride away from the bitter young man who used to be her fantastic little boy. She left the airport a few minutes later, took a breath of fresh air, and ducked into a nearby phone booth. And there it was, the phone book, the listing of Seth's current address. She flipped to the S section and ran her finger down the page. Steckman, John. Steele, Patrick. Steffen, Julia. Stern, Rebecca. Fourteen-sixty-one Lincoln St. And then she was in a cab, reciting that very address to a man who paused briefly to listen to her, then resumed yelling in Polish into a headset. He finally hung up and smiled sheepishly back at her.
"Teenagers, huh?" She smiled tightly.
"I've been there." Her knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the backseat. She was starting to regret this.
"My daughter, she's fifteen. She wants to go to the mall, meet a boy. But I tell her she's too young to date and she tells me that she's an adult! An adult! Fifteen! Can you believe that?" She laughed weakly.
"Sounds like you've got a drama queen on your hands," she said, feeling phony and spurious. What she really wanted to say was 'Yes, but did your daughter run away clear across the country and conveniently forget to call?'
"Oh, yes. Here we are, ma'am." She absently over-tipped him and climbed out, studying the condominium before her. This was the place Seth preferred to call home over the house he'd been raised in. She took a deep breath. This was her child. She was the parent. The one in change. She maintained her false bravery as she went into the lobby. She approached the intercom, examined the column of buttons next to it. Stern. She reached forward and pressed it down. There was a ring, then some static, then,
"Hello?" She felt slightly relieved to hear a voice other than Seth's.
"Um, yes. Hello. This is Kirsten Cohen. I'm here to see Seth?"
"Mrs. Cohen! It's Anna! Come on up!" There was a click, then a buzz, and Kirsten found the lobby door unlocked. They were on the third floor and she decided to take the stairs, allow herself some time to collect her thoughts. When she reached the top she found Anna leaning outside one of the doors, grinning. "Hey, Mrs. Cohen!"
"Hi, Anna." Kirsten smiled uncomfortably and approached the door. "Is he...?"
"Actually, no. He's working. But he should be home in like ten minutes. Come in!" Kirsten entered the condo, a large, relatively clean place with blue furniture. "Does he know you're coming?" Anna asked, seeming confused.
"No. He doesn't...he doesn't even know that I know he lives here."
"Oh, god. What? He said that he's been talking to you since he came here!" Kirsten looked at her incredulously.
"He did?"
"Yes! He hasn't called you?"
"Ah. No."
"Oh, my god, Mrs. Cohen. I'm so sorry. I told him...the first day he got here, I told him to call you. And I thought he did! I can't believe he would do that."
"Well, don't worry. He's being sufficiently punished, believe me. Thanks for trying to get him to call." Kirsten offered her a reassuring smile even though inside she felt insane, a mixture of fury and anxiety and flat-out fear. "How's he doing?" Kirsten asked quietly, and Anna smiled.
"He's doing well. He's happy."
"That's good," Kirsten said, and realized that she did feel relieved that he was happy. That at least someone could be. "Thanks a lot for taking him in. Your aunt, too."
"Oh, she's in Tokyo. She's never home." She saw the look on Kirsten's face and was quick to explain herself. "We're totally responsible, Mrs. Cohen. I mean, I know Seth isn't in school but other than that, we're totally great. We don't even go out that much."
"And you two are...a couple?"
"A couple of friends," Anna assured her, smiling. "Nothing more. We haven't been since before I left Newport." Kirsten nodded, feeling relieved. Suddenly she heard a key in the lock and Anna jumped up. "Oh, wow. Okay. That's him. That's...my cue, I think. I'll be..." She waved her hands towards a hallway. "I'll be in my room." She sprinted away just as the front door opened. Kirsten stood up slowly, her legs shaking involuntarily. He hadn't noticed her yet; his back was to her, setting his bag down on the floor.
"Seth." Her voice wasn't especially loud but he heard her and turned around slowly.
"Mom?" She was crossing her fingers that he wouldn't bolt out the same door he had just come in through and she breathed a sigh of relief when he burst out laughing and ran over to throw his arms around her. And there they were, embracing in the middle of this big blue living room. He had actually picked her up, her little boy was holding her up in his arms and she was crying again. "You found me," he said quietly, grinning, once he'd set her down.
"I found you," she managed to confirm, nodding. "Oh, god, sweetie, I missed you so much." She took his face in her hands. "You look so old."
"How did you find me?" She smirked.
"Ask your father. He deserves the credit."
"Is he here?"
"Nope. Just me."
"Solo mission?"
"So it seems." She studied him for a minute. "Oh, honey, please come home."
"Wow. You make it kind of hard to say no."
"Does that mean you're saying yes?"
"Hard, but not impossible," Seth said, sitting down on the couch.
"Seth, please don't do this to me."
"It's not about you. I have a new life."
"You have an old life, too."
"It sounds like you guys are getting along fine without me. Long weekends in New York? That's what I call grieving."
"Is it?" she asked, furious. "Is that what you call grieving? Because what I call grieving is your father and I not speaking for three months. Ryan, worried out of his mind about his brother. Me, stressing myself into miscarrying. And Summer? I think that we can file her moving away to Chicago under 'grieving', don't you?" She hadn't meant to bring up the baby, or to rub the Summer thing into his face. Seth looked horrified.
"You were pregnant?"
"I...that's not the point. I mean, yes, but..." She recognized the look on his face as him on the verge of tears and suddenly he hardened, standing up.
"It's not my fault. You can't try and guilt me into coming back." It was like he had stabbed her. She went for the door, feeling like she was going to vomit.
"What happened to you, Seth?"
"People change," he said stonily, and closed the door behind her.