𝔇𝔞𝔴𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔇𝔲𝔰𝔨 (The Legacy Duet - 2)

Perdita

𝕿he burning rays of the late July sun streamed into the rusty kitchen, bathing it in gorgeous golden hues. With the heat of the sun on my face, delicious coffee in my hand, and the fact that the house was silent, I should have been feeling great. It was a Saturday, I was looking forward to a long night of peaceful uninterrupted, guilt-free book reading. A night with just me, alone in my room with only the book in my hand and the thoughts in my head.

Heaven.

Well, it would be as soon as Mama stopped peeking out of the windows and into the street every few seconds. It was getting late and surprisingly, Dad wasn't home yet. Putting off daydreaming and, looking at the hour hand pointing at four, I hoped he'd walk in the door with a bag of takeout and his signature, albeit absent, bright smile.

"You have to stop going in there," Mama called from the living room to where I was standing in the kitchen, staring into the sink like it was magically going to give me a plan for putting food on the table when anything could be happening to my father. "He's not going to appear out of thin air."

I paced back out to the living room and checked the street for signs of an approaching car. Nothing.

"He probably got stuck with his work. You know how he is. Time is an elusive concept to him."

"Probably," I looked at my mother with a raised eyebrow. "I called Natasha. He left the office four hours ago."

"Did he tell her anything?"

"Nothing. She was surprised that he hadn't gotten home yet considering he's been out since eleven."

Out since eleven. Where could he be? And for so long? At this rate, he could have driven himself to Lahore or Peshawer.

"We have to do something."

"There's nothing to do."

Nazia rubbed both of her hands over her hair and sagged back against the couch, neck cushioned by tensed arms. "Not until he comes home. Unless you want to report to the police and that will make everyone wonder about what Dad was doing."

"I'm not saying we report to the police," we did not have a lot of options for doing that, anyway. "I'm saying we do something other than sitting here. Let's call the tracker company and ask them where the car is. Maybe that would help us know about his whereabouts."

"You haven't been sitting," Nazia pointed out. "You've been walking back and forth from here to the kitchen for two hours."

She did not even pretend to look at her laptop. I've been pacing, but Nazia has been holding her empty coffee cup for the better part of forty-five minutes.

"He'll come back," Mama muttered her fingers flying over the home phone, calling the tracker company, answering their questions in a hushed tone.

"I don't think he will. You know how he is," my feet headed for the stairs to his office before I realized what I was doing. Footsteps came along behind me.