CHAPTER 19Throckmorton spent Friday afternoon focused on his date with Nancy tomorrow night. Maybe he wouldn’t do anything stupid with Jen this evening if he kept that in mind. A plan emerged. He’d cancel his late afternoon appointment and pick Ben up early at school in case Jen went there first. That would be like her. If she didn’t show up at school, on the way home he’d tell Ben that there’d be a surprise—just in case she didn’t show up at all, which was also like her. A trip to Rockburg’s new ice cream shop would be an alternate “surprise” if that happened.
He drove past the row of parked school buses and checked the other end of the line. Jen wasn’t in any of the parked cars, nor on the sidewalk. Good, so far. He parked his car and waited for the kids to come out.
He collected Ben a
