Chapter 89- Miscommunication
Felicia climbed out of bed and got dressed.
"Good morning." Mac yawned and stretched. "I slept much better being back in bed with you. How did you sleep?"
"I didn't sleep too well," Felicia said. "Not because of you. I missed you when you slept on the couch. Esme texted me late last night. She wants to come home and asked me to pick her up this morning."
"Hey, that's great."
"It is. I'm relieved. But I couldn't stop worrying about her last night. I was tempted to go right over there and get her, but I didn't want to push because she said this morning. But I can't shake this feeling about Nelle."
"Yeah, well, at least it should all be over this morning," Mac said.
Ding.
"Oh, she texted me again." Felicia opened the text and her heart sank. I changed my mind. Don't come get us. We want to stay with Nelle.
"What is it?" Mac asked.
"She… changed her mind. I'm going to call her." She pressed her phone to her ear and it went to voicemail. "Frankie, it's Mom. I just got your new text. Can you please call me?" She ended the call and looked at Mac. "I don't understand."
Mac sighed. "Well, she has been back and forth about everything all along. She'll probably change her mind again and again."
"But she and Ace can't stay with Nelle." Felicia tried calling her again, but it went right to voicemail. "Should I go over there and talk to her in person?"
"If you do that, she'll probably resist. I would just give her some space and wait for her to contact you."
"Okay. I just hope Nelle doesn't do anything in the meantime."
GHGHGH
Esme's eyes fluttered open. She glanced around the room and realized she was still at Nelle's. Ace was sitting up in his crib, looking out at her.
She smiled at him. "Are you ready to go home, buddy? Are you excited to see Grandma too?"
She looked down and noticed she was wearing the necklace Nelle gave her.
"I thought I took this off last night." She sat up and removed the necklace. She set it on the night table and reached for her phone, but it wasn't there. She got up and searched the drawers, then under her bed. "What did I do with my phone?" She unzipped her backpack, but there was no sign of it. "Maybe Nelle's seen it." She quickly dressed and changed Ace's diaper, then grabbed her backpack and took Ace downstairs.
Nelle was sitting in the kitchen with Wiley. She smiled up at her. "Good morning, Esme. The waffles are almost ready."
"Thanks, but we're leaving soon," Esme said. "I'll pass on the waffles. Have you seen my phone?"
"No. I can't say I have. Did you lose it?"
"I put it on my night table right before I went to sleep. But it's gone now."
"That's very strange," Nelle said. "Did you check your room?"
"Yeah. I checked my backpack and everything."
"You need to be careful with anything valuable like your phone," Nelle said. "Come have some waffles and we can look for it after."
"But my mom's picking me up in ten minutes," Esme said.
"There's plenty of time. You need something on your stomach. Felicia can wait a few minutes."
"But we're ready to go now. We'll wait by the door." Esme turned and headed down the hallway.
GHGHGH
"Hey Lucas, how did it go last night?" Michael asked over the phone. "Is Wiley okay?"
"It was very creepy," Lucas said. "I'm very concerned about Wiley. Nelle doesn't seem to know how to care for him at all. She says she's not taking him to his follow-up and wants a second opinion on whether to get him a brain scan."
"Oh my gosh. She is unbelievable. Does she not understand that he was shot in the head and just had brain surgery?"
"I offered to stay there a few nights, but she said no. We're invited for dinner again on Sunday though. I'm going to try to keep on her good side."
GHGHGH
Esme held Ace in her arms and stared out the window.
"Esme, your waffles are getting cold." Nelle walked over to her.
"We're not eating, I already told you. We're waiting for my mom."
"It's almost 10 o'clock," Nelle said. "She's not coming."
"She said she'd come."
"I'm sorry, Esme. She lied to you. Where's your necklace?"
"Maybe something came up," Esme said. "Maybe she's trying to get a hold of me. Can I borrow your phone so I can call her?"
"My phone died," Nelle said.
"Can't you charge it?"
"I need to get a new charger," Nelle said. It got cut amongst the move."
"How?" Esme asked.
"One of my employees did it by accident. Come on, Wiley's waiting for us. And you need to put on your necklace."
"I'll just take the bus," Esme said.
"Oh, but the buses aren't running today. They're on strike and their services will be down for quite a while."
"Then can I use your computer?" Esme asked.
"It isn't set up yet."
"What about your laptop?" Esme asked.
"I don't have a laptop and it would've do any good anyway," Nelle said. "The Wi-Fi hasn't been set up."
"Okay, then I'll go ask a neighbour to use their phone." Esme grabbed the doorknob. "Or I'll walk home."
"Esme, stop." Nelle placed a hand over hers. "You need to let this go. Your mom isn't coming. I tried to warn you about her. I'm so sorry she's doing this. But she's made her choice. She loves Mac and Georgie more than you. She doesn't care about you at all."
Esme's lip quivered and she ran upstairs with Ace.
Nelle pulled out Esme's phone from her pocket. She ensured the ringer was turned off and deleted the messages and missed calls from Felicia. She then returned to the kitchen and found Wiley with his head down on the table.