Page 61 of Endlessly Yours
I shrugged because he wasn’t wrong.
“You have dark circles under your eyes, bro. You want to talk about it?”
I nearly shook my head but sighed. “I had a dream about Amara last night, and then somehow it turned into Rory having cancer, so not really.”
Wyatt’s face paled, and he cursed. “I’m sorry. Fuck.”
“Pretty much. There’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have to do too much dream searching and therapy to figure out why I had the dream. But it still kicked me in the ass last night. And then Alice had a nightmare about her parents, and here we are, with Cameron calling people names, sobbing far away, and I’m standing here, talking about my feelings. Which you know I love doing.”
“The fact that you’re even talking to me at all is progress.”
“I’m fine. Yes, I’m a little lost sometimes, but it’s not like it was yesterday. It’s been years. I’m always going to miss her. I’m always going to think about her. But I know now that I’m not stepping out on my wife by being with Rory.”
“Good. Now, are you going to tell us what you feel about her?”
“Not even a little,” I said softly as I stared out to the soccer field and frowned.
“Hey, do you see Alice?” I asked, slight alarm tingling down my spine.
Wyatt looked towards the field and shook his head. “Maybe she’s over the ridge? I see the other kids, though.”
“Yeah, maybe she’s there. Faith is at Eli’s place, right?”
“Yeah, the littles wanted to have a play date, but I knew Rory wanted Alice and Cameron close.”
“Let me go find Alice. I don’t know, maybe she went and followed Rory and Cameron?” I asked as I picked up my pace, jogging towards the field.
“I’ll go check,” Wyatt said as he ran towards the building.
I looked over the field, past the ridge, past the hill, but couldn’t see the little girl.
I stopped the closest kid and did my best not to scowl. “Do you know where Alice went?” I asked.
“No,” the kid said, but he raised his chin.
I raised my gaze. “You’re going to want to change that answer.”
“I don’t have to answer to you.”
“Excuse me, that’s my son,” a clipped voice said from my side, and I turned towards a woman with a scowl on her face and her phone in her hand.
“Sorry, I’m looking for Alice. She was out here playing. I’m one of the Wilders that owns this place, and Alice is one of ours.”
“Oh. The little girl with pigtails? She was right here.” She frowned, searching the field with me.
This time, a cold sweat began to trickle down my back, and I looked down at the little kid. “Do you know where she went?”
“Some of the older kids were making fun of her and called her an orphan, so she ran off. I’m sorry.” His little lip quivered, his eyes filling, and I wanted to shout, to do something, to find those kids and shake them, but instead, icy cold fear slammed into me.
“Jacob.” The woman looked at me. “I’m so sorry. I’ll help you look. And I’ll have a talk with him.”
“I don’t care,” I said as I kept moving, searching for Alice.
I pulled out my phone, dialing Wyatt. “Is she there?” I asked as the other man answered.
“No. You find her?”
“No. Some kids picked on her, and she went running. I don’t know where.”
