Grace

12. Countdown

Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday. It really wasn't long to wait at all, but time suddenly slowed down to a snail's pace. Jordan lived through those three days in a frenzy of impatience. He tried to distract himself by focusing on school, but this just reminded him how boring school was in the first place. He had almost nothing to do with his afternoons now that Grace had finished his picture. On Tuesday he wandered past the soccer fields and watched the rest of his team practicing, but this only served to depress him. He eventually went home with the vague plan of playing Minecraft on his laptop, but the instant he opened the door, his mother pounced on him with a list of chores.

Caleb's return was doing wonderful things to Sage. She had cut back her writing time to a few hours every day and spent the rest of the time bustling around getting things ready for her eldest son's homecoming. She vacuumed the whole house, dusted all the furniture, de-cluttered the kitchen counters, and nagged Jordan to mow the lawn, even though they were well into October and the grass wasn't growing very fast at all.

Jordan eventually gave in and threw himself into the housework, both to humor his mother and to busy himself; if he didn't to something he would go insane. He dug the lawn mower out of the garage and fired it up. When the yard was looking tidy again he went back in and helped Sage overturn the sofas in the living room and vacuum under the cushions.

Wednesday was passed in much the same way, and after a full day of school and housework, Jordan collapsed into bed exhausted but exhilarated. Caleb would be coming the next day, less than 24 hours...

Then Thursday, October 21 actually came, the day on which Caleb would return, and if school was boring before, it was nothing short of excruciating now. Jordan felt like he would explode before the eight hours making up the school day were over. How could anyone sit still and concentrate when their favorite big brother was coming home in four hours... three hours... two and a half hours... two hours...!

Jordan shot out of the school building so fast at the ending bell that he completely evaded Dylan's attempt to kick him and nearly trampled a group of ninth-grade girls who were gathered by the doors. He was on his bike and zipping across the street before the bulk of students had even left the school grounds.

He thought his neighborhood looked even nicer than usual today. As he passed the tree with all the bottles hanging from it, the sun shining through the colored glass seemed to wink at him with all the colors of the rainbow. Jordan felt so good that he just stopped himself from winking back at them. When he reached the top of the steepest hill before his street, he took his feet off the pedals and stuck his feet out in front of him as he coasted down, the crisp Fall air rushing past his ears. He hadn't done this since he and Caleb were little kids, daring each other to see who could take the most hands and feet off their bike. Jordan briefly considered throwing his hands in the air, but remembered the cast around his two fingers and prudently kept them on the handlebars.

He really did feel like a little kid again. All he could think was Caleb's coming home, coming home, coming home! It filled him with the sharp, almost painful excitement he used to get on Christmas Eve. What time was it now? School ended at four, he had been biking for maybe five minutes, it would probably be 4:15 by the time he got home... and Caleb's flight came in at six. Less than two hours. One hour and forty-five minutes, to be exact, until he would see Caleb.

Jordan whizzed up to his house, dropped his bike in the yard, and took the porch steps two at a time to his front door. All he had to do was dump his backpack in his room and he and his mom could drive to the DFW airport.

The sparkling clean house was quiet. Of course, even on this most important Day of Days, Jordan's mom was shut up in her office clacking away like her stupid book was all that mattered. He couldn't shake a nagging annoyance with her as he clattered up to his room and back down again.

His excitement came back when he saw the clock hanging in the kitchen: 4:21 p.m. Only one hour and thirty-nine minutes! He pushed open the door to his mom's office without bothering to knock.

"Hey mom, are you ready..." his voice trailed off. Sage Emmerling was sitting at her desk as usual, but her laptop was closed. She was staring dry-eyed at the wall. Her hands lay limp and lifeless in her lap. Her cell phone was sitting on the desktop, the screen dark.

"Uh... mom?" What was the matter with her? Did the publisher reject her novel or something?

Slowly, Sage looked up at him. Jordan almost recoiled: her face was that of an old, old woman. When she spoke, it was in a strange, hollow voice.

"I just got a call," she began.