Amelia drove her new food truck home. As soon as she pulled into the driveway, Meg came running out of the house.
She squealed and jumped up and down. “What is this?”
“We’re getting too big for our britches.” Amelia smiled as she climbed out of the driver’s seat. “I had to go buy another truck. We’ll have to get her painted, and she’s been sitting still for a while, so she’ll need a tune-up and some fresh air in the tires, but I don’t think she looks half bad, do you?”
“Another truck? Wait until I tell Katherine! This is so great, Mom.” She wrapped her arms around Amelia and squeezed.
“It is pretty great, isn’t it? Where’s your brother?”
“He’s in his troll cave,” Meg said, pulling away to hop around the truck and inspect everything. “This just has two ovens. Will that work for us?”
“I think it will,” Amelia chuckled.
“You’ll need to get a fire extinguisher. This one doesn’t have one. And I might be wrong, but it looks like a bolt is missing at the bottom of the shelving unit. But that can probably be fixed easily.” Meg put her hands on her hips and peeked into the service window. “Other than that, it looks good.”
“I should have brought you with. I probably could have had another few dollars knocked off the price.” Amelia couldn’t have been prouder of her daughter.
“You should have. I’ll come with when you go to buy the third truck.” She folded her arms and leaned on the windowsill. “What does Dan think of it?”
Amelia didn’t want to tell Meg that she hadn’t spoken to Dan since the night he canceled on dinner. That was over a week ago. She’d tried to call and left a message or two. But when that got her nowhere, she stopped calling. Instead, she busied herself with work, the purchase of another truck, and making all the financial adjustments needed to incorporate a new addition to the business.
“I haven’t told him,” Amelia said.
“You haven’t told him? Call him. Call him right now.” Meg came bounding off the truck. “He’ll drop everything to come see it. I know he will.”
“Well, honey, I haven’t heard back from Dan in a few days.” Amelia swallowed hard as she watched her daughter’s face transform from happy to worried.
“Is he sick?”
“I don’t think so,” she replied honestly.
“He’s not breaking up with you.”
“I’m not sure what is going on, Meg. But I don’t want you to worry about it. We’ve got too much on our plate now with this puppy.” She pounded on the side of the truck. “I can’t be worried about a few days without a phone call.”
Just then, Adam came out of the house, scratching his head.
“Is this yours?” he asked before giving his mom a peck on the cheek.
“It is now. I’m thinking of setting up on the opposite side of town from Food Truck Alley. Or maybe this will be our catering truck. Just use it for catered affairs.” Amelia tried to change the subject, but Meg wouldn’t let it go.
“Dan hasn’t called Mom. He doesn’t even know about the truck,” she blurted out.
“What do you mean, Dan hasn’t called?” Adam looked puzzled.
“It’s nothing. Your sister is just worried…”
“Dan hasn’t called mom in over a week. And he canceled the last time he was supposed to come over,” Meg said with worried eyes.
“Is that true, Mom?”
“He’s a cop. They are different from normal people. You guys both know that.” Amelia smoothed her son’s hair to no avail. It went back to the mop-like, wavy mess it always was. “Besides, sometimes things change, and you don’t have any control over it. So there is no use worrying about something that is out of our hands. Especially when our hands are going to be filled with twice as many cupcakes.”
Amelia smiled and turned to walk into the house. Her gut knotted, and she didn’t want to think about Dan breaking up with her, if that was what he was doing.
“Dan would be stupid to break up with you, Mom,” Adam said as he followed Amelia inside.
“Yeah. What does he think? He can do better? Hardly,” Meg said, running up behind them. “There isn’t a woman in Portland who has what you have.”
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Amelia held the door open for her children.
“Us,” they both said in unison, making Amelia laugh and hug them both.
“You are right about that,” she said.
After feeding the kids some roast beef sandwiches, chips, and a frozen apple pie for dessert, she went upstairs to wash up. She really just wanted to be alone. The kids had done their best to cheer her up, but they voiced what had danced around her mind for the past several days.
She’d never known Dan to not call it as he saw it. He wasn’t the kind of guy to play games. But he had said those words. Those three little words that had the ability to send some guys running for the hills had been spoken.
Maybe he was having second thoughts. Maybe he wished he hadn’t said them. Tears came to her eyes, and Amelia hated herself for acting this way. She’d cried over John for how long while they were still married? And she stood by and waited until he asked for the divorce, which she knew all along was coming.
After splashing some cold water on her face and smoothing the hair at the nape of her neck, Amelia decided to take some action. She changed from her worn blue jeans and T-shirt to a crisp white blouse, black slacks, and a tricolored scarf around her waist.
“I’m going out for a little while, guys,” Amelia said as she quickly made a couple of sandwiches and a slice of pie and put them in a big paper bag.
“Okay, Mom,” Adam said.
“You look nice,” Meg added.
“Thanks.” She didn’t want to tell them where she was going. “I’ll be back in about an hour.” Amelia decided she wanted an answer from Dan. She’d bring him some food, and if he were breaking up with her, she’d know and hope he choked on every bite. But if she were wrong, if something else kept him away, well, at least he’d have some food in his belly.
When she pulled up in front of the police station and got out of her car, she saw his beat-up old sedan parked in its usual spot and felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she should just go home.
But as two uniformed police officers gave her the onceover and an enthusiastic “Good afternoon, ma’am,” when she walked by, she decided she wasn’t going to let him off the hook. Whatever his issue was, she would find out.
In only a matter of minutes, word had spread throughout the precinct that a woman was asking for Dan Walishovsky. The expression on his face as he came out of his office was all Amelia needed to know the answer to her question.