Page 58 of Rock and a Hard Place

Garrett nodded to Adam. “You better get Mom. It’s gotta be about Libby.”

Adam took off, darting through the crowd of VIP attendees who sipped their cocktails, oblivious to the crisis. Garrett went after Peter. “Pete, wait up!”

Peter stopped and turned around in the staging area of the restaurant kitchen. Around them, a busy staff of waiters and chefs looked up from their work, surprised to see the superstar guests of honor in their kitchen.

“Is everything okay?” He searched Peter’s face. Peter offered nothing.

“Come on, dude, what’s going on? What was that phone call about? Is it Libby?”

“Yeah, it was about Libby.” Peter stood with his hands deep in his pockets, his voice heavy with emotion.

Their mother entered the kitchen and rushed over. “What happened?”

“She’s gone,” he whispered.

“Peter, everything is going to be okay.” His mother tried to soothe him.

“No, it’s not okay. It’s never going to be okay. Don’t you get it? She’s gone. She ran away. No one can find her.Libby’s hiding and the authorities don’t care. She’s already become a statistic.” Garrett, Adam, and his mother looked at one another, unsure what to say or do.

“She’s out there alone, and she has nothing!” he screamed, fisting his hands in the air, silencing everyone. “I was all she had. Just me. I was it.” He spoke to no one in particular, his body tense, a sheen of perspiration on his brow. “Everyone in her life has let her down, and now you can add my name to this list.”

“They’ll find her, Pete. Just give it time,” Garrett said.

“Don’t be an idiot; it’s been ten days. Everyone she’s ever trusted has let her down. She’s gone!”

The restaurant staff watched his uncomfortable tirade.

Peter slumped forward; his hands gripped the metal counter meant for food service. “Mom, I promised her. I promised I’d get her out of there. We had a plan. I was going to save her.”

“I’m so sorry. We should have done something to help her. I just didn’t realize how difficult her situation is.”

“Of course it’s difficult. Her life was ripped out from under her. She used to be just like us. She lived in suburbia with a happy family, and a dog in the backyard. Then life happened to her and sucked everything away. Damn you. All of you!” He looked from one family member to the next. “All you did was judge her and get in our way.” He gazed down at his Armani suit and designer shoes.

“Look at us, standing around like royalty with more than we ever imagined while she is homeless and alone in the middle of January. She has nothing left. Nothing.” He pounded on the food prep table. “Where can she go? How will she live?”

“She’ll find her way. It’ll work out. Give her credit,” Adam said.

Peter shoved Adam against the wall, knocking stacks of metal pans to the floor, creating a deafening clatter. “Yeah, I’m sure most sixteen-year-old girls alone on the streets do really well.”

He released Adam, his hands trembling. Shock showed on his little brother’s face. “It isn’t like she’ll go back to Rockville. I sure wouldn’t. I know her better than that. They screwed her over.”

“Maybe she’ll find you. Maybe she’ll be at a show one day,” his mother offered.

“Right, she’ll just stand up in her seat and call my name to let me know she’s there. Or maybe she’ll just walk up to the bus and knock on the door. Explain to me how this is going to work.” He faced his mother; sadness filled his eyes.

Suddenly, cheers sounded from the next room. Their manager popped in. “You got it! You got nominated for album of the year! Can you believe it? We’re going back to the Grammys! Get in here!”

They looked at one another, the contrast of their lives and Libby’s painfully obvious.

Libby walked alone, her muscles sore from sitting on a bus too many hours. She liked the bus, though. Once on board, she disappeared in the back unseen. By the time she got off, several states later, a new driver sat up front.

This town was “middle of nowhere Georgia,” as Peter would say. More than anything, she longed to talk to him, but those days were long over.

As she wandered the streets of the small town of Pebble Creek, she wished for an easy solution to her problems. But it was far too late for easy. Her mother used to say, “Life can be an uphill battle, so you better keep your head down and keep climbing.”

Who knew how true those words would prove to be? She thought about her mom a lot on the bus and the drastic changes in her life the past two years. It started as a happy, normal family, then fell into tragedy—a broken family and delinquent runaway. She realized she’d finally accepted her mother’s and sister’s death. The months of debilitating grief were past. Now the loss had become a part of who she was, but it no longer defined her. In fact, she believed they watched her from the heavens with love.

Her stomach grumbled and interrupted her thoughts.

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