Submerged

She eyed the garage and the door into the house. She never locked that door, except at night. It made her nervous, knowing the house had been left unsecured. There had been a couple of break-ins in the neighborhood lately—mostly the larger, newer homes. But even though her open garage was an invitation to every thief and vandal in the area, she doubted anyone had bothered. The outside of the house was plain and unassuming, and with few luxuries, the inside screamed “hockey mom.” Not exactly the best place for delinquents to shop for electronics, drugs or money.

She opened the car door. “Wait here. I’m going to check the house. Then I’ll come get you.”

“Aw, Mom,” Colton said with a groan.

“Colton, watch your sister. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Okay, but I’m timing you.” He grinned. “Starting now.”

Rebecca went inside the small bungalow that Wesley had convinced her to buy. “A great fixer-upper,” he’d called it. She’d grown accustomed to calling it “the money pit,” even though her husband had promised he’d handle all the repairs and finish everything the previous owners had neglected. Like baseboards. There wasn’t one to be found anywhere in the house. Who lived in a house with no baseboards?

On the main level, the master en suite toilet was a constant annoyance, plugging the instant anyone flushed more than three sheets of toilet paper. And the fireplace in the living room leaked into the window casing, causing tiny puffs of smoke to enter their home. This was of great concern to Rebecca since Ella had been recently diagnosed with asthma.

“Note to self,” she mumbled. “Get fireplace leak fixed next week.”

Then there was the family room in the basement, which had no ceiling. Wesley had insisted that the raw wood beams and pipes made it feel rustic, like a “man cave.” She’d told him he was welcome to it.

As Rebecca walked through the rooms, she looked about for anything missing. She hesitated near the table by the living room window. The family photos appeared disturbed. She frowned, examining the dust trail on the table. Was she imagining it, or had the photo of her and the kids been moved?

She repositioned the picture, stared at it a moment, then gave a nervous laugh. One of the kids probably knocked it over.

Shrugging off her paranoia, she hurried back to the garage and waved at the kids. Colton climbed out on the side with the good door, while Rebecca fought with the damaged door and helped Ella with her seat belt.

“Why’d we have to wait in the car?” Ella asked, scowling.

“Case there were burglars,” her brother answered.

Ella’s eyes grew wide and fearful. “Burglars?”

“You know, bad guys. Like The Fog.”

“Colton,” Rebecca warned. She turned to Ella. “There are no burglars in our house, honey.”

“What about bad guys?”

“Nope. None of those either.”

“You sure?”

Rebecca nodded and took her daughter’s hand. “I checked everywhere.”

“Everywhere?”

“Yes, honey. Even in the fridge.”

Ella laughed. “He’d be pretty cold.”

“And stupid,” Colton said. “Maybe he’s hiding under Ella’s bed.”

“Nope,” Rebecca said. “I checked there too.” Over her shoulder, she threw her son a scolding look. I’ll deal with you later, mister.

“It’s just us chickens,” she said. “Cluck, cluck.”

This set Ella off into a round of clucking and flapping her arms.

Rebecca grinned. “Homework before pizza. Go! Both of you.”

The “chicken” raced down the hall, her scowling brother plodding behind.

Rebecca ordered a pizza for the kids.

Not in the mood for such high carbs, she pulled a container from the refrigerator, lifted the lid and sniffed. “Good God, what was this?”

Whatever it had been, it wasn’t identifiable anymore, and she scooped it out into the garbage can under the sink. On the bottom shelf of the fridge, she found the leftover Greek salad from last night. That’ll do.

She settled into the armchair in the corner of the living room and polished off the salad while taking in the chaos of the living room. Wesley had always loathed coming home to a messy house, so she’d spend hours tidying up before he came home. Since he’d moved out, she’d become lax in her housekeeping. It was kind of liberating.

“We gotta clean sometime,” she muttered, strolling into the kitchen and setting the empty salad container in the dishwasher.

Back in the living room, she gathered up Ella’s sweater and Colton’s hockey uniform and threw on a load of laundry. She put away Colton’s Xbox and gathered up Ella’s half-naked Barbies that were scattered over the sofa. She also wiped what looked like dried peanut butter off the coffee table.

Then she turned on the laptop that sat on the desk in the corner of the living room. Planning to pay the electricity bill, she logged into the joint checking account. “What the―”

The account showed a negative balance. Wesley.

Rebecca wanted to cry. Next week the mortgage payment was due. That meant they’d be going into the overdraft again.