Page 117 of Misfortune and Mr. Right

I have half a mind to leave work to go looking for her.

Leaving without saying anything to me is not like her.

Charlie walks over to me.

“Olivia left,” he says. “I jokingly asked her if she had a hot lunch date and she said, ‘Something like that,’ and then she mumbled something about explaining later. She was in a rush.”

“A hot lunch date? We were going to lunch.”

It doesn’t make sense.

Charlie’s explanation makes me more concerned, not less.

Suze walks up to me and Charlie. “Something was off about Olivia. She said she had to pick up her niece. When I asked if her niece was okay, Olivia said yes. But she was rattled. I know my girl, and she was unsettled about something. She said she would text you and call Lydia.”

“She didn’t,” I say, more to myself than anyone else.

“She probably got caught up in whatever’s going on with her niece. I’m sure she’ll text when she has a minute.”

I should feel appeased. Suze’s explanation makes sense. Olivia acts as a backup for her sister all the time. She did step out to take a call from Lynette. She’s picking Cassidy up from school. That’s it.

But why didn’t she text or call me, or pop her head into the conference room to say she wouldn’t make our lunch date? That’s not like her—at all. Something isn’t adding up. And why would she have been rattled if Cassidy is okay? The longer I think about it, the more certain I am that there's something else going on. Olivia is not okay. Suze wouldn’t say she was rattled if she had been calm.

“I’m taking an early lunch,” I tell Charlie and Suze. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Of course,” Suze says. “Go find her. Make sure she’s okay. I’m sure seeing you will help—whatever it is.”

I put my phone to my ear as I hurry out of the room toward the elevator. I call Olivia again.

Her voicemail answers after the first few rings.

“Hey! You’ve reached Olivia. If that’s who you were looking for, leave me a message. If you’re looking for someone else, I hope you find them.”

I chuckle. The phone beeps. “Hey, Olivia. It’s me, Logan. I am looking for you. Literally. I thought we had lunch plans. I searched all over Barnes for you. I may have even mildly overstepped by shouting into the women’s restroom. Suze said you left to pick up Cassidy. Is she okay? Are you okay? I’m leaving work now to try to find you. Call me if you get this.”

I click the end button. The elevator doors open. I walk to my car and get into the driver’s seat. Then I close my eyes in an attempt to clear my head. Where would she be? Her apartment? Probably. At least that’s the most reasonable place to start hunting.

I turn the ignition and drive to The Serendipity.

In the lobby, I take the elevator, figuring it’s faster than I’d be able to run up the stairs. I hit the button for the second floor and watch the doors shut slowly. Too slowly.

Something plinks on my head. I look up. Then I look at the ground. A fortune cookie is sitting near my feet. Did that thing literally drop out of the sky and hit me on the head? Was it taped to the ceiling of the elevator?

The doors open to our floor. I bend to grab the cookie and step out of the elevator.

I start to walk toward Olivia’s apartment, and I step on another cookie.

What is going on?

I pick up the crunched remnants and hold both cookies in my hand.

I carry the cookies with me and walk into the lounge. Another cookie drops from above me and pings off my nose. I look up, ready to confront whomever is either throwing or dropping these things. No one is around.

I pick the cookie off the floor where it landed.

“Okay. Okay,” I say out loud for no apparent reason. “I’ll open them.”

I shove two of the cookies in my pocket and open the one from the elevator.

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