Page 70 of Indigo

I laugh because I know even if they weren’t, the woman would never say a bad word about any of her kids. She loves them like her own and every year, when they move up a grade, she grieves as if she’ll never see them again.

She really found her calling. I couldn’t imagine a better teacher than my mum.

“Anyway, I’ve got to scoff this down and get back to it. We’ve got art next, and I need to set all the paints up and make sure we’ve got enough smocks.”

I smile as I remember how often she’d come home from work covered from head to toe in paint and glitter. “Okay, Mum. Love you.”

“Love you, Indie-girl.”

As I hang up, Ana walks into the office, biting into an apple. “Lana?” she asks.

“Mhmmm,” I reply, opening an email from a customer asking for Pax to call him personally. I quickly forward it on and turn to Ana. “She dropped in some brownies earlier. They’re in the fridge in the break room if you feel like something a little less healthy.”

Her eyes widen and within seconds her apple is tossed into the bin under my desk and she’s practically sprinting down the hall, her red hair bouncing around her shoulders.

Everyone knows how good of a baker Mum is, and her brownies have been the cause of far too many fights.

I shake my head after watching Ana disappear, and laugh to myself as I hear her tear into Callum for trying to take the brownie tin away from her, but my smile falls as soon as I read the email in front of me.

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Good morning, Indigo

I have been informed of your employment at Shep Auto Repairs, and as I do not have your current personal email address, I was left with no choice but to contact you via this one.

Michael has been unreachable for almost a week, and I am beginning to worry. As you know, your relationship took a toll on his mental health, and he has been struggling ever since your sudden disappearance.

I ask that you please let me know if you have any information regarding his whereabouts or if you hear from him directly.

Kind regards,

Dr Robert Harris

General Practitioner

Harris Medical

+61 08 8302 0000

Immediately, I close the email, lock the computer, and take off down the hall.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. He’s not going to come up here or do anything. It’s been so long…” Whispering to myself as I walk does nothing to calm my nerves, but the second I reach Pax’s door, something inside of me settles.

I open the door without knocking, considering the last time I did, he scolded me for acting like an employee rather than his girlfriend, and close it with a soft click. I rest my forehead against the flat surface for a moment before taking a deep breath and turning around.

“Blue?” Pax asks, his expression morphing from excited to concerned in an instant. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

He slides his chair back quickly, making the backrest hit the wall with a thud, and in a few long strides, is in front of me, his hands tangled in my hair so he can pull my head back and look into my eyes.

His touch calms me more than any amount of breathing or meditation ever could. “I got an email, and it just freaked me out.”

Frowning, he asks, “From who? What’d it say?”

Rather than explain, I pull his hands from my hair. As he releases me, I move around him and head for his desk, quickly logging into the emails from his computer.

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