A beat of silence, then her voice softened. "I've been thinking I didn't consider your feelings enough the other day. Open the door, sweetheart. Let's sit down and talk it through properly."
Matthew chimed in right on cue. "Jeanette, we were out of line the other day. We're sorry about that."
Caroline perked up at the sound of her grandmother's voice and started toward the door. I caught her around the waist and carried her back to the bedroom.
She looked up at me, confused. "Mommy, aren't we going to open the door?"
I pressed a finger to my lips and smiled. "Grandma's playing hide-and-seek with you! You can't make a sound, okay? If she catches you, the punishment is no snacks for the whole day."
Caroline clapped both hands over her mouth and nodded solemnly.
I opened the app and watched the camera feed.
They kept ringing the bell. No one answered. After a while, Matthew lost patience.
"They're obviously not home. I told you we should've called first, but no, you two wanted the element of surprise." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, surprise—nobody's here. I'm not standing around waiting. It's not like they're going to disappear."
He turned to leave. Leila grabbed his arm.