Page 60 of Capitally Engaged

I’ve never played a worse game of softball. Every female figure who walked near the game caught my gaze, just in case they were Jax showing up with a smile and a story. In retrospect, I should have left when she was fifteen minutes late and hadn’t answered my three phone calls or Laurel’s two more after the game had started. I just kept expecting her to show up, with some explanation for her delay and a smile flashed my way. All my worries forgotten.

Except my worries grew and grew. As soon as the other team recorded the final out, handing us a loss, I jogged off the field. Laurel handed me my stuff. “I kept trying to get ahold of her. She said she needed to go home to grab a different pair of sneakers this afternoon. I’m sure she’s fine.”

I nodded, unable to consider anything else. I jogged the whole way from the field to our place, not able to remember the journey or if I stopped to wait for walk signals like I should have. I jammed my finger on the elevator button, trying to tell myself Jax would be waiting on the sixth floor for me. The sinking feeling in my gut told me otherwise.

I tried the door, finding it locked and dug my keys out. “Jax?” I called, finally getting the door open, throwing it against the wall with too much force. We’d laugh about that dent later, right?

I spun around in the middle of the room, as if I expected her to pop up out of a corner when I faced the right direction. On the second rotation, the bright white of the bed caught my eye. The blues and purples from Jax’s quilt were gone.

“No, no, no,” I said, rushing over to the dresser and pulling open her drawer. Empty. I wheeled around, looking at her bedside table. The outlines of dust from where her stack of books sat stared me in the face. I grabbed my hair, pulling on it, trying to engage my brain to think, to understand.

That’s when I saw it. A blue velvet box in front of the TV. I walked over and picked it up, my hands trembling. The engagement ring sat nestled inside. I snapped the box closed, clutching it in my fist before setting it back on the TV stand.

When I gave the ring to Jax three months ago, I didn’t think anyone would ever wear it for real. That I’d ever want to open myself up again. But boy, did Jax prove me wrong. That ring belonged on her finger. Maybe not now in this fake, set up sort of way. She was it for me. I just needed to make her see it too.

But first, I had to find her.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Hayden’s number. Why she would leave me without any clues to her whereabouts and tell my brother, I had no idea. But I needed to start somewhere.

Hayden answered, sounding distracted. “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Have you seen Jax?”

“No? Should I have?” I heard what sounded like the fridge opening, a glass clinking.

“Do you know if she’s texted or called Charlotte?”

“Charlotte’s gone this week, visiting a store outside Pittsburgh. Oh, that reminds me, can you ask Jax what that margarita place is her friend Michelle likes? I guess she told Charlotte about it and Charlotte’s dying to go. Thought I’d surprise her when she gets back.”

I rolled my eyes at how off topic Hayden got so quickly, obviously not picking up on my distress. But he was also a genius, because now I knew exactly where Jax fled.

“Yeah, sure thing. I’ll make that my first priority when I find her. Okay, gotta go now.”

“Wait!”

Hayden’s voice blared through the phone. I put it on speaker so I could talk and move at the same time.

“Yeah?”

“What do you mean when you find her? What’s going on?”

I let out a scream-groan of frustration.

“Jax has a secret identity that’s going to get revealed tomorrow. There’s a possibility it could be a strike against any future political career I have. I thought we were going to talk things over tonight. Instead, when I got home, she and all of her stuff were gone.”

“Wait, so she’s like a spy?”

Could I reach through the phone and strangle someone? I stopped to consider, pants half on.

“No, you numbskull. It’s her secret to tell and the whole world is going to know tomorrow, so I’d rather not participate in that, which I know is dumb, but I just...” I stood in the middle of my apartment, one pant leg on, shirt off, not sure what to do next, feeling like I might cry.

“Preston. Just breathe. Do you know where she is?” Hayden’s voice sounded calming and concerned.

“I think she’s at Michelle’s. She doesn’t have a ton of places she could go. So I’m going over there now to try to talk somesense into her.” My words shocked me back into action. Maybe I should have showered first? No time.

“Prez, wait. I know you want to see her. I can only imagine if I got home and Charlotte’s stuff was gone and I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure where she was... Well, I’d want to burn the whole world down too. But if she left without saying anything, she probably needs some time.”

I started to make sounds of protest, but he continued.

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