Page 146 of Here and Now
Put it on my tab.
Eloise, Ethan, and Cora make their way to where we’re all sitting.
“No fights yet?” my sister asks.
“It’s only been two minutes.”
She shakes her head. “Slackers.”
I keep my phone in my hand, in case Penelope or Doug calls.
I wait.
And wait longer.
Finally it rings and it’s Doug. “Hey,” I answer on the first ring. “Did you check on her?”
“Miles . . . she’s gone.”
thirty
Miles
I’m in my car, not even caring about the game. As soon as Doug said the words, I was running.
She’s gone.
No. She’s not gone. She wouldn’t leave like this. Not after everything we talked about. Not after all the fucking promises made.
She said she’d come to me. She said she wouldn’t leave.
I slam my hand on the steering wheel, pissed that my worst fucking nightmare is coming true.
My phone rings and I pray it’s her, telling me where she is and to come to her. It’s not. It’s Mrs. Hendrix.
“I had to go,” I say quickly.
“I understand that, but we have a small issue.”
Of course there is. This entire day is coming unraveled. Why not have my job be part of it? However, everything else in the world could crumble, and this is where I would need to be. I need to get to her place, sort out what the hell my brother-in-law thinks is happening, and fix it. “There is an emergency, Lois. I have to deal with it.”
“Okay,Miles, I’m just telling you that the sheriff is upset. I explained there was a situation, but he’s saying if you’re not back in an hour, he’s going to demand we forfeit based on the agreement that both school principals were in attendance as a show of strength. I don’t want to try to explain what will happen if that happens.”
“I’ll be back within the hour. I just ... I need to do this.”
“All right. I’ll stall and give you that hour.”
My foot is heavy on the accelerator, and what should take me fifteen to twenty minutes to get there, takes ten. When I pull into the driveway, Doug is outside with the front door open.
I’m out of the truck, rushing to where he is, ready to search and find her.
“Miles!” he calls, but I shove him aside and enter.
The minute I do, my heart stops.
There is no way to deny what he said is true. Every item that was in this house is gone.
It’s empty.
