Page 20 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Sean’s probably so freaked out wondering where we are. Aunt Ashley said he was excited to play at his little friend’s house, but that’s only going to last so long.”

“Let’s deal with one thing at a time, yeah?” I asked as she let go of my waist. “For now, Sean’s good. When he isn’t, one of us can go get him.”

We turned toward the rest of our family, and that seemed to be the signal they needed to get up from their seats and head toward us.

“Okay drive?” Saoirse asked as she wrapped her arms around me.

“Don’t remember,” I replied honestly, hugging her back.

Ronan pushed in next, hugging me tightly before pulling away. “You made good time,” he said roughly. “Don’t drive so fast.”

“No traffic,” I replied, gently pushing the side of his head with my palm. “I’m always careful.”

“We know that’s not true,” Aunt Ashley said jokingly, giving me a squeeze. “Just careful enough, right?”

“Right.”

We made our way over to the seating area, and I watched as Aoife stood behind one of the chairs, her hands gripping the back.

“I can’t sit,” she said quietly. “I need to be up.”

“Do what you need to,” I replied, just as quiet.

“She must not have her phone,” Ronan said, his own phone in his hands. “She wouldn’t just ignore all the messages. No fucking way.”

“She could’ve lost it,” Saoirse agreed, glancing around at us. “It happens.”

Aoife walked away, and we let her go. My poor sister looked strung out. She was shaky and disheveled, moving around manically, her arms crossing and uncrossing over her chest like she wasn’t sure how to hold herself.

Time slowed to a crawl as we waited for any news of Richie or Aisling. I paced with Aoife. Talked to Aunt Ashley about the property. Asked Ronan about school. We sat there for hours before I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Saoirse,” I said, looking over at her. “Call every hospital and give them Aisling’s name and description. See if they’ve got anyone.”

“We called earlier today.”

“Call again,” I ordered.

“Okay.”

She walked to a corner of the room and pulled out her phone.

“You’ve talked to the police?”

“They’ve been here on and off all day,” Aunt Ashley replied. “Checking to see if Richie’s awake yet. They know Aisling’s missing, but they don’t seem too interested. Said she’s an adult, and she’s not technically missing.”

“Idiots,” Ronan murmured.

“Call around to the police stations?” I asked Aunt Ashley. “See if anyone’s picked her up in the last twenty-four hours. Could be why she doesn’t have her phone.”

“Good idea,” she said.

As soon as she’d left, I looked at Ronan. My brother’s normally pristine clothes were wrinkled, like he’d rolled out of bed and threw on some dirty ones off the floor—which I was guessing wasn’t far from the truth.

“You know who she’s been hanging with?” I asked quietly. Ronan and Aisling were only two years apart. When they were little, the gap had been significant enough that they didn’t really hang out together much, but as they’d gotten older I knew their friend groups overlapped.

“I’m not sure,” he said with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been so busy with work and school, I haven’t been out much. I pretty much go home and sleep.”

“You haven’t heard anything?” I prodded. “Not even in passing?”

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