Page 49 of Find Me in California

Air fills his cheeks. He blows it out. Yesterday’s high with her was phenomenal. That was some good shit. And she left it behind. He should keep it.

No, he shouldn’t.

He can’t keep it.

The stash belongs to her, and he doesn’t need the temptation.

He also doesn’t have time to return her bag.

But where did she sleep last night? Did her parents show? Could she still be waiting outside, or did she find a way in?

The not knowing will bug him all the way to California unless he does something about it.

With a frustrated groan, he leaves the parking lot, turning in the opposite direction of the freeway and toward Magnolia. He tells himself he’s doing this for his peace of mind, that he’s not intentionallyprocrastinating. He needs to know Magnolia is all right. He’ll return her bag, and then he’ll go.

The drive to her parents’ house is quicker than he remembers from last night. She isn’t out front, so he knocks on their door. He knocks again and again, and he rings the doorbell twice when nobody answers.

She could be in the backyard.

Quick strides take him to the side gate, which is locked. He hollers for her over the fence, growing more concerned when she doesn’t answer.

Where did she go, and what the heck is this fascination with her? Why does he care?

And why does he need to see her again?

She intrigued him.

She aroused him.

She’s unlike anyone he’s met before.

He backs up a step and assesses the fence. He could leap over it in a snap.

Then he notices the security camera overhead and dismisses that idea.

Staring at the lens, he holds up her bag. If she’s watching this live and is here, she’ll come out. He returns to the porch to meet her and notices the next-door neighbor washing his car, watching him suspiciously.

“Hey,” Matt calls out to him and walks over. “Have you seen Magnolia?”

“Who?” The neighbor tosses a soapy sponge into the bucket and meets Matt at the property line on the other side of a low hedge.

“Magnolia Blu ... umm, Ruby Rose Hope. Her parents live here. I dropped her off yesterday. She left this bag in my car.”

“I don’t know of a Ruby Hope. The Sheppards live there.”

“Not the Hopes?” Matt looks over his shoulder at the house.

The neighbor shakes his head. “Don’t know anyone by that name. The Sheppards have lived there for well over fifteen years.”

“Huh.” Matt clasps his nape and turns back to the house. Did Magnolia lie to him? Why would she tell him this was her parents’ house if it wasn’t? Is it possible she was worried enough about seeing her parents again and feared their rejection? Is that why she had him drop her off several houses down or even several blocks over from their real house?

That can’t be it. It doesn’t add up. She asked him to come to the door with him. She’d been genuinely worried.

Maybe her legal name isn’t Hope either. Maybe it’s Sheppard.

Or maybe, she’s in some sort of trouble.

He turns back to the neighbor. “Did you see a woman with long dirty-blonde hair here yesterday? She was wearing jeans and sandals and had a couple pieces of luggage with her?”

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