Page 4 of The Fate of Us

She snorts. “Because that girl was head over heels. I tried to tell her but she just wouldn’t listen.” She takes a sip of her coffee as she tries to find her next words. “I don’t even know why he proposed. Maybe things changed over time. I stopped talking to him after I confronted him. Only words I exchanged were cordial ones at family gatherings. I should have pushed it on Anna again. But she was so in love. And I thought he might have changed. Realized he truly loved her and not what he could get on the side. I was wrong.

“And Becca played that damn one-night stand lie so well.” Jess looks up at me as she talks. “That’s what she told everyone when she got pregnant. Even Anna thought it was true. Anna was there holding Becca’s hand when Becca had to tell her parents. Breaking the news she had sex out of wedlock. Anna even let Becca crash at her and Kyle’s place when Becca’s parents kicked her out.”

Fuck, this shit gets more fucked by the minute.

“I can’t even imagine how much those two fucked behind Anna’s back while she wasn’t home. I bet you anything that is why Kyle quit playing music with her. It was around the same damn time Becca moved in. Eventually Becca’s parents agreed to let her move back home. It was a few weeks before Anna and Kyle were supposed to get married. And then we all know what happened.

“I feel so bad for my sister. That this was all happening under her nose. I waited for years for her to tell me but she never did. I thought maybe she never knew. But after seeing her face when she saw Becca’s kid, I knew she knew an affair had happened.” She rubs her hands over her face and takes a deep breath. “I wish I had been honest with her sooner.”

“I think you both could have been.” I think back to Rosie and how I wish she had told me or Carson or Everett about what she was going through. Opened up to us for support rather than tumble down a dark path. “But you two are still here, you two can still make amends over the secrets you kept.”

“I hope so.”

I give Jess’ hand one last squeeze before rising from my chair. “I’m going to make some phone calls. See if I missed anyone that might know where she is.”

3

Noah

I takea seat at a local bar in town just in time for happy hour. The first one goes down easier than I expected. I don’t even think as I order my second, foregoing my rule of one beer in public. I press my face into my palms and groan. I feel like I have gone through every resource to try and find Anna.

Seraphina hadn’t heard from her but checked on all the places she thought she might go. Luckily all her stuff including her car was at her house, so she didn’t up and run.

Mason said she hasn’t been by the studio.

I was even able to get ahold of her friend Liam from The Beer Garden and he hadn’t heard from her either.

The police here in Hartswell can’t help because they don’t think she is a missing person. Which I have to agree with.

But I just want some clue, some kind of answer that can lead me on the path to her. I don’t want to outstay my welcome here but I worry if I go back home to Asheville, I’ll miss her along the way.

I just don’t know what to do. I’m torn inside, not over just Anna but my past. I don’t know what to think. The effort I have spent looking for her is more effort than I feel like I put in looking for my ex-wife. I don’t know what that says about me. Are my feelings stronger for Anna than Claire? We haven’t been together that long. Should I be feeling this way? Is it too soon?

Fuck, these thoughts are going to make me need whiskey. And I don’t think that’s a good choice right now.

I take another sip of my beer but before I can let the thoughts fog my brain again, I hear the scrape of a stool next to me. I sneak a glance to my side and see a young man. The bar is nearly empty, he could have chosen a different seat.

He orders a beer from the bartender and takes a sip before he turns my direction. “Noah, right?”

I turn to face him, not sure how he knows who I am. He must be in his late twenties. He’s wearing an EMT shirt. When I meet his copper eyes, I know he must be related to Kyle.

He reaches his hand out to me. “I’m Jed, Kyle’s brother.”

I shake his hand but don’t say anything.

He runs his hand through his hair before taking a sip of his beer. “I… ugh… I ran into Anna yesterday.”

I tighten my fist. He is the first person to admit he has seen her and failed to let her family know after hundreds of phone calls to neighbors and friends.

He must see me begin to fume because he holds a hand up in front of me. “Look, I know you’re pissed. I know her family is looking for her but I promised her I wouldn’t say anything. Which isn’t like me. I’m not my brother. I’m a good guy. And I upheld my promise to her.”

He has my attention now.

“Anna told me to give her twenty-four hours. So I did.”

“What did she say?” I blurt out.

He bites his lip before talking. “She needed time after what I told her and she needed to be alone. She told me to find you. She knew you would be looking for her.”

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