Look Again - Lisa Scottoline [48]
“Ow, too tight, Mommy.” He looked up in surprise, stiff in his puffy blue coat and snow pants, his arms sticking out like a gingerbread man.
“Sorry.” Ellen eased her grip, shaken. She looked up and down her block, worried about running into her neighbors.
Two doors away, Mrs. Knox, an older woman, was brushing snow from her sidewalk, and on the far side of the street, stay-at-home moms Elena Goldblum and Barbara Capozzi were talking while their kids played in the snow. All of them could have seen the white card, especially the moms. Ellen stood frozen on the sidewalk.
“Mommy?” Will asked. “Are we going?”
“I’m just looking at the street. It’s so pretty with the snow, isn’t it?”
“Go!” Will tugged her hand, but Ellen’s thoughts raced ahead. They always went sledding a few blocks away at Shortridge Park, and the place would be packed with Will’s friends, their mothers, and the occasional stay-at-home dad, probably Domenico Vargas, who usually brought an old-fashioned plaid thermos of Ec ua dor ian coffee. All of them would have gotten the white card.
“Will, guess what?” Ellen knelt to see him at eye level and held him by the shoulder. His face was a circle of adorable features—those blue eyes under a pale fringe of feathery bangs, upturned nose, broad smile—framed by the drawstring of his hood. “Today, how about we go to a new place to sled?”
“Where?” Will frowned.
“Valley Forge. I used to sled there when I was growing up. Did I ever tell you about that? I loved it there.”
“What about Brett?” Will’s lower lip puckered. “Is he there?”
“No, but we can tell him how great it is. It’s good for a change. Why don’t we give it a try?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Let’s try it. We’ll have fun.” Ellen straightened up, took him by the hand, and walked him over to the car before he could object. She got her keys from her pocket, chirped the back door unlocked, hoisted him into his car seat, and locked him in, kissing his cold nose. “This will be an adventure.”
Will nodded, uncertain. “We didn’t say good-bye to Oreo Figaro.”
“He’ll forgive us.” Ellen closed the car door, stuck the saucer in the trunk, and was going to the driver’s side when Mrs. Knox appeared from nowhere in her black down coat, cackling.
“I know what you’re up to!” she said, pointing with a red leather glove. “You’re playin’ hooky!”
“You got that right.” Ellen opened the car door and got in. “It’s a snow day for grown-ups, too. Gotta go!”
“Why’re you drivin’ to Shortridge? It’s only around the corner.”
“See you!” Ellen shut the door, started the engine, and backed out of the driveway, giving a disappointed Mrs. Knox a last wave.
“Mommy?” Will said from the backseat.
“What?”
“Connie doesn’t like Mrs. Knox.”
“Really?” Ellen backed out of the driveway and adjusted the rearview mirror to see him. He looked stuffed into the car seat, immobilized. “Why not?”
“Connie says Mrs. Knox is a busy-busy.”
“A what?” Ellen steered the car down the street. “You mean a busybody?”
“Yes!” Will giggled.
Ellen hit the gas, hard.
Chapter Thirty-six
An hour later Ellen was still driving through Valley Forge Park, trying to find the sledding hill she remembered. She’d checked her BlackBerry at a few traffic lights on the way, but Amy Martin hadn’t emailed yet. The road wound through snow-covered log cabins and lines of black cannons, passing George Washington’s encampment from the Revolutionary War, but she had stopped pointing out the historical sites to an increasingly cranky three-year-old, kicking in his car seat.
“I’m hot. My coat is hot.” Will pulled at his zipper, and Ellen steered right, then left, and finally spotted a packed parking lot.
“We’re here!”
“Yay!”
“This is gonna be great!” Ellen turned into the lot and found a space next to a station