Page 51 of Liberating Love

I shrug, finish making my note on my laptop, then shut it down and stand up to stretch. “Jesus, we really didn’t move at all today, did we?”

He’s doing his own stretches as he waits for his computer to shut down as well. “No, we didn’t. You coming to the gym in the morning?”

I nod. “That’s the plan.”

He hesitates, then says, “I think Jameson invited my dad, too.”

“Oh… okay.” I bite on my cheek for a second, then ask, “Is it okay if I still come or did you guys want me to skip tomorrow?”

His gaze snaps to mine. “What? Of course you can come. Don’t be an idiot.”

I try to bite back my smile, but it comes out anyway, and Jovany rolls his eyes and shakes his head at me.

“Finally,” he says. “This piece of shit laptop takes forever to do anything. Ready?” He grabs his jacket and heads for the door, so I follow behind him. “See ya tomorrow.” He waves before jumping in his car, so I get inside mine and head for my apartment.

The whole drive home, I chew on my cheek because I can’t decide if I should invite Delaney over for dinner or not. I want to—to be honest, I always want to—but he came over last night, and I don’t know if it’s weird to invite him two nights in a row.

By the time I’m walking into my apartment, I decide I’m being stupid. Of course I should invite him. If I want him here, I should let him know, right? He can always decline if he’s busy or doesn’t want to come over again. I’ll leave it up to him.

Pulling out my phone, I set my wallet and keys on the table and call out, “Hey, Ma! I’m home.” When she doesn’t answer, I frown and look into the living room but she’s not there. “Mom? You in the bathroom?” I walk down the hall, but the bathroom door is open and she’s not in there either.

With a furrowed brow, I push her bedroom door open, calling out, “Mom? Where are you?” Since she doesn’t answer, I call out her first name. “Everly! Everly… Mom?”

She doesn’t answer so I walk inside her room, finding it empty, and even look inside my bedroom, but I don’t see her anywhere. I frantically run to the kitchen, calling out her name, but she’s not in there either. “Oh god, oh god, oh god.” I rush back out the door and run up and down the hallway, then the stairwell, into the laundry room, and the storage in the basement, but I don’t see her. I can’t find her.

Not sure where else to look, I run outside and walk up and down the sidewalk and around the building, yelling for her the entire time with no luck. I even run the block over to the coffee shop she likes in case she went to get a muffin, but she’s not there, and no one’s seen her there, either.

When I rush back up to my apartment, I check all the rooms one more time, then I run back out and knock on my neighbor’s door. As soon as she opens it, I say, “Have you seen my mother? She’s not in our apartment.”

Her eyes widen as she takes in my frantic state and says, “No, I haven’t seen her in weeks.”

Closing my eyes, I mutter, “Shit,” then say louder to her, “Thanks. Will you call me if you see her?”

“Of course.”

I nod and pull out my phone to dial 9-1-1. When the operator answers, I explain the situation, and she tells me they’re putting out a silver alert right away. The entire time she’s talking to me, I’m still walking around searching the apartment as if she’ll magically appear right in front of me. I even look inside each and every closet, even the ones I know she could never fit into.

The text with the silver alert comes through my phone with my mom’s name and description while the operator is still talking to me.

By the time I hang up, my hands are shaking and I feel a panic attack coming on, so I do the only thing I can think of.

“Hello?” Delaney answers his phone.

“D…” Tears fill my eyes and no words come out because I know I’m going to start sobbing if I say anything else.

“What’s wrong, Aiden?” Delaney’s voice is full of so much concern, it breaks the dam and my tears come without permission.

“I… my mom… I came home and she wasn’t here… D, she’s missing.”

I don’t know how he can even understand me through my blubbering, but he must because he says, “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Stay where you are in case she comes home. You called the police already?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Good.” I hear rustling on the other side of the phone and a car door shuts a moment later. “Stay there. We’ll go looking for her when I get there. I don’t want you driving.”

I open my mouth to argue, then just nod because I can hardly see a thing, so of course he’s right, driving right now would be a huge mistake. “Okay.”

“Alright, baby, I’ll see you in a couple of minutes. Let me get off here so I can concentrate on driving and keep an eye out.”

---