Chapter 57 Cold welcome
Christopher, who was it at the door? Andrew’s mum walked into the living room wearing an apron, she appeared to have been cooking and Joana could have sworn she almost fainted upon seeing her seated in their living room.
“Joana!” She gasped. “Is this really you?”
“Yes, Felicia, it is,” Joana said to her.
“Hold on just a second,” Felicia said. “I just finished preparing the food, you’ll join us for lunch, won’t you? Then we can talk over a good meal.”
“I’m sorry,” Joana apologized. “I can’t stay to eat. I only came here to see Andrew, is he around?”
Felicia, looked over at her husband, Christopher, they appeared to be hiding something from her. She tried reading their thoughts but their minds were as blank as paper. They couldn’t even think of what they were going to tell her.
“Is there something wrong?” Joana asked them.
“No,” Felicia said. “But honey, I’m just not sure you’d be able to see Andrew now, in fact we don’t know if you can stay here anymore, Andrew isn’t here right now, and we think it’s best if you’d leave.”
“I don’t understand, I just came here, and now you’re sending me away?”
Trust me dear, it’s for your own good, we’re not sure if you’d be able to handle seeing him right now, and if he’d even want to see you.
Joana didn’t understand what was going on, she looked at Felicia, and it was like she was seeing a different person, different from her favorite mother-in-law to-be whom she had always admired. Why were they now sending her away? She needed someone to tell her what was going on, anyone. And now grandma Jen wasn’t around.
She left Andrew’s house in tears and headed for Sandra’s. She just hoped she would receive a warmer welcome at her best friend’s place.
***
“Joana, oh my god!!! Where have you been?” Sandra asked, hugging her and welcoming her into the house.
“It’s a long story, Sandra.”
“You’re not a ghost or anything are you?” She asked again, touching Joana’s face and pulling her cheeks to confirm her suspicions.
“No, I’m not a ghost, and you can let go of my cheeks now.”
Sandra did so.
“Sorry, it’s just so surprising to see you after so long, everyone thought you were dead.”
“Really, how come?”
“Well, you have been gone for over a year, and nobody, not even the police could find you or your body.”
“Like I said, it’s a long story, and I have come back here to stay, but I came over to see grandma Jen and Andrew first and there’s been no sign of them anywhere. I was wondering if you knew where they were.”
Sandra sighed and put her head down. Joana feared that her mentioning Andrew’s name would make her send her away like Andrew’s parents did. But she needed to know the truth, she needed to know where grandma Jen was and she needed to know what was going on with Andrew. Why was everyone acting so strange?
Sandra continued speaking.
“Joana, I’m not sure if I’m the right person to tell you this. But I’m also not sure that there’s anyone else you were so close with that can tell you this but me.”
“Tell me Sandra, please, I’m dying to know the answers, where is Andrew and where is my grandmother?”
Sandra looked into her eyes; she saw the desperation to find those answers. She knew them but she was thinking of the best way possible to break it down to her. It was going to be very hard for her to say what she had to say but Joana needed to hear the truth, and she was the only person who could give her that.
“We’ll start with grandma Jen,” Sandra told her.
