Page 108 of Love…It's Complicated

“Any word?” Her green eyes flit in worry.

“No,” I state with a fright that is threatening to pour out of my eyes. “I don’t want to think the worst. She’s only been gone a short while. Maybe she ran away in a fit of preteen dramatics but will come back when she realizes there’s nowhere to go.” I grab my coat. “Can you and Ainsley stay at the house and call Tyler’s phone if she comes home? I’m going back out on foot. She couldn’t have gone far. I just want to find her before it gets dark. I don’t even know if she has a jacket on.”

The coat Izzy’s been wearing this season is in the foyer. If she is wearing another, I can’t for the life of me think of what it is.

“Why would she run off?” the officer asks. We all shrug and shake our heads. “Is there marital strife?”

“We’re divorced,” Tyler explains, sliding his hand in his pocket and rubbing his forehead. “I think she was hoping we’d get back together.”

“Wonder why,” I say and then close my eyes, annoyed at myself for being so childish with him when there are more important things to focus on.

Will’s car pulls up to my house. He bolts out of the driver’s door and runs up the stairs.

Of course, the man who I’m pretty sure just broke up with me is back here the second he heard my family is in trouble. I give him the eye that lets him know I’m scared. The kind that’s probably frantic and wide-eyed. I want to run to him, have him hold me and tell me everything will be okay. I lost that right.

His eyes turn down as he pulls the officer to the side within earshot. “Officer Bronson. Valor County Police Department. We’re putting an APB out,” Will announces.

The second officer on the scene holds his arm up and shakes his head. “That’s unnecessary this early. The child hasn’t been gone an hour.”

“What’s an APB?” Tyler asks, and the responding officer seems annoyed.

“It’s a police broadcast, alerting all law enforcement personnel in the area to look out for her. We haven’t even checked with all her friends and the usual places she might have gone. The kid is eleven and knows the neighborhood. She’s probably hiding out nearby. Maybe she’s doing this for attention from your divorce.”

In an act that surprises me, Will leans into the officer. The sharp lines of his face are granite as he clenches his jaw and lifts a finger to his face. “This isn’t just some kid. She’s not the type to run away for attention, and even if she did, we are pulling out all the stops on bringing her home safe and sound before the sun goes down. Put out the fucking APB on Isabella Landish now.”

“Do you know this family personally?” the officer asks.

“Just make it happen,” he declares, forcefully.

The officer takes a step back. “Fine. I’ll go to the car and call it in.”

If my head wasn’t spinning a million miles an hour, thinking about where my daughter could be, I’d take a minute to think about Will and how good he is to my family and what a shit I was to him just an hour ago. I can’t let my mind wander there because I need to get back out and look for Izzy.

“Ainsley and I will stay here,” Jillian states, now holding her child in her arms.

I give her a hug and then head out the door. Will and Tyler follow.

“What’s the plan?” Tyler asks as we walk down the stairs.

Will gives him orders. “Call Maisie and have her keep an eye on the house. I know it’s far, but it’s possible she went to your home. If it’s the divorce that has her upset, she might be on her way back to what felt normal to her.”

“Maisie already closed her shop, and every employee is out, looking for Izzy. She’s a wreck. Once she heard the police were involved, she said her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t work even if she wanted to.”

I hug my arms around me and feel my brows furrow. “Do you really think Iz would try to get back to Tyler’s? Why not just tell him she wanted to go there when she was home?” My questions come out with pauses between each word.

“I’m thinking off the cuff. The library, movie theater, her favorite pizza place … it’s all a possibility,” he adds and pulls his keys from his pocket. “I’m going to drive down all pedestrian roads from here to Greenwood Village. The ABP will cover all of Valor County.”

“Let them know she’s sick. She came home with a stomachache from school. She might be in distress,” I add and take a deep breath and start walking down the sidewalk. “I’m heading out to the woods. I don’t think she’d venture in there alone, but it’s the next logical place, and if she’s lost, then I need to find her within the next hour.”

Tyler is quick at my feet. “I’m coming too.”

I push back on the idea. “You should go look somewhere else. Maybe she’s walking the streets.”

Will takes a step forward and interrupts, “Tyler’s right. He should go with you. It’s not safe for you to be in the woods alone. Search parties are better in pairs. Plus, you don’t have a phone. You can’t be out there alone and without contact.”

Tyler nods his head to Will in a thankful, albeit surprised way.

“Take flashlights and keep the phone locator on,” Will commands, and we follow his instructions.

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