Short Story-A Writing Surprise-Day 4

Thanks so much for joining us this week to read my birthday gift to you, a short story. If you need to catch up, the first day is here, Tuesday is here, and yesterday is here. Have fun!

If it were any other ringtone, Chris would ignore it. After all, he had a fifteen-year-old he had to set an example for, and breaking the law wasn’t the way to do it. However, it was Rachel’s song, and with her on the road, he didn’t want to risk missing something important.
“Hey Rach.” He pushed the button to send the call through his car’s speaker system.
“Chris, where are you?”
“What?” He glanced around, making sure she wasn’t actually in one of the cars nearby. “Why?”
“Maddie just called and said you didn’t come back to pick her up after practice.” Rachel’s voice was near tears.
“Calm down. I talked to her about the plan earlier and she knows what it is. She’s not stranded. I promise. She probably forgot it would be a different vehicle and looked for yours.” He searched his brain to make sure he hadn’t said anything he wasn’t ready to reveal yet.
“So, you picked her up?”
“It’s taken care of.” He hated that he was having to phrase things in a way it was almost a falsehood, but she’d understand soon enough.
“Okay. I just worried. I mean, she was supposed to have left half an hour ago and she just called in the last ten minutes ...”

​Chris stifled an aggravated huff. She didn’t trust him to take care of their children. Granted, Maddie should have been picked up before that. But she also should have remembered to look for her grandmother in the parking lot instead of him. And definitely shouldn’t have called Rachel.
“You still there?” Rachel’s voice interrupted his scattered thoughts.
“Yes. I’m here.”
“You sound far away. Am I on speaker?”
“I was driving.” He cut a quick glance at his GPS and made sure there weren’t any turns coming up soon so she wouldn’t hear the directions. “I assumed you’d be driving right now, too.”
“Kathy wasn’t quite ready when I got to her house, so I’m waiting on her porch while she finishes packing.”
Good news for him. It extended his cushion.
“Ah. Okay. Well, don’t worry about the kids. They’re taken care of. You go have a good time, okay?”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded uncertain.
“Rach, you’re going to have a blast. Soak it all in. This is what you’ve been working for.”
“I know. You’re right.” Doubt still lingered around the edges.
“I love you. Can’t wait to hear all about it.”
“I love you, too. Oh. Kathy’s ready now so I guess I need to hit the road, too.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
He cringed as his GPS started announcing the next turn before the call completely disconnected. Had she heard? Too late now. She’d find out soon enough anyway.
Hopefully, his plan wouldn’t backfire or disappoint her like the coffee and card had that morning. You’d think after twenty years, he’d know how to make her happy.

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One more day to go! Be sure to stop back tomorrow to read the conclusion. How do you think it will end?