Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Alex
I went out the back door and down to the beach. I needed to cool down. For her not to believe I loved her killed me as nothing ever had. We wouldn't be having this argument if she had never seen Bella and me. I would have told her today why she was there, and she would have understood. She was hurt by what she saw, but to doubt that I loved her was crossing the line with me. I had given her everything I had. My heart, my soul, my world, and in one lousy fucking moment, she doubted me. That right there hurt me to the very core of my existence.
About a mile up the beach was a waterfront restaurant. I needed a drink to calm down and to think, so I walked there. Sitting at the bar for a couple of hours, sipping on the same drink, something hit me. I told her to leave. Panic settled inside me because that was exactly what she’d do. I should never have walked away from her, and I shouldn’t have been so stubborn and not told her the truth. I threw some money on the bar and ran up the beach back to my house. I ran as fast as I could as the wind swept across my face and the ocean roared. I flew in the back door and up the stairs to our bedroom. The door was open, and Emerson wasn’t in there. I looked in the closet to see her suitcase gone and empty hangers hanging where her clothes hung. Slamming my hand against the door's molding, I yelled, “Emerson!”
Jenna came running into the bedroom and looked at me. She knew something. I could see it in her sad eyes.
“Where is she?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know, Alex. She just said that she needed to think and clear her head.”
“She can’t fucking do that here in California?”
“Calm down. You don’t know if she left the state. Maybe she went to Adam’s house.”
“Maybe she did. I’ll give him a call.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed Adam.
“Hey, Alex, what’s up?”
“Adam, have you talked to Emerson by chance?”
“No. I was going to call her later to find out how she was feeling. Why?”
“Are you home?”
“Yeah. What’s going on, man?”
“We got into a huge fight, and her suitcase and some of her clothes are gone.”
“Shit, Alex. What the hell happened?”
“It’s a long story, and I’d rather not get into it right now. Could you do me a favor and give her a call? If I call her, she won’t answer.”
“Sure thing. I’ll call you back.”
Suddenly, I heard her phone go off. I looked at Jenna, and she looked at me. It sounded like it was coming from the nightstand. I walked over, opened the drawer, and saw her phone sitting there. I answered the call from Adam.
“It’s me. She left her phone here.”
“Ah, fuck! Find her, Alex. Do whatever you have to and find her. I don’t trust that she’ll come back, especially if she’s hurting.”
“I will. I’ll keep you posted.”
Looking over at Jenna, who was shooting me a nasty look, I walked over to the closet and took the map she had stored up on the shelf. Laying it on the bed, I said, “Let’s see if we can figure out where she went.”
As we looked over the map, nothing was looking right. I sighed as I sat down on the bed. Suddenly, the song she sang at karaoke last night crept into my mind.
“Jenna, Emerson sang a song last night at the club, and she was staring at me the whole time she sang it. Something about Boston.”
“Hmm. Let me google it. Hold on.”
She pulled her phone out and looked at me. “Is this the song she was singing?” she asked as she played the song.
“YES! That’s it. I will bet my life on it that’s where she went. She’s heading to Boston. Pull up the flight schedule and see what the next flight is. There’s no way she got on a plane already.”
“It says here that the next flight leaves in thirty minutes,” she spoke.
“That’s the one she has to be on. Is it nonstop?”
“Yes, and it’s a five-hour flight.”
“Okay. If I leave now, I can catch her at the airport in Boston.” I ran to the closet, pulled out my carry-on bag, and packed a few things. Pulling out my phone, I called my pilot.
“Get the plane ready NOW! We’re going to Boston.”
“It’ll be ready and waiting, sir.”
Emerson
What am I doing? I thought to myself as I sat on the sand in Venice Beach. I watched as couples walked along the shoreline hand in hand, laughing and kissing. Looking around, I took notice of the families all around. Parents were having fun with their kids, chasing them around and helping them build sand castles. I knew Alex would make a wonderful father someday, even though we never once talked about children. Hell, I didn’t know if he even wanted any kids. But I did. I wanted a family like the one I grew up with. It was something that Emily and I had always talked about before the accident. We’d talk about how we would get married, and our children would grow up together. That dream died the day of the accident but resurfaced when I fell in love with Alex.
God, I was stupid for acting the way I did. I didn’t doubt that he loved me. I really didn’t. I was so deeply hurt, and in some way, I wanted him to feel my pain. Two wrongs didn’t make a right, and I was a fool for saying what I did. I had planned to spend a couple of days here in Venice Beach to clear my thoughts and my head, but I changed my mind and hadn’t made a room reservation yet because I first stopped at the beach. Digging through my purse, I noticed my phone wasn’t in there. When I reached the car, I looked to see if maybe it had fallen on the floor. I looked under the seats, and it wasn’t there. Shit. I didn’t remember taking it out of the nightstand drawer because I was in such a hurry to get out of there. I hopped in the car and drove back home to apologize to Alex and beg for his forgiveness. Okay, I wasn’t going to beg, but I was surely going to make him see how sorry I was.
Alex
Sitting on the plane, my phone was almost dead, so I turned it off, pulled out my charger, and plugged it in. There was no need to have it on since Emerson didn’t have hers with her. She probably left it on purpose, so I couldn’t contact her, which made me angry. But I didn’t blame her. I was nothing but a douchebag. No, actually, I was a fucker, and I was going to make things right the minute I found her in Boston. I promised her that she would never travel alone again, and I broke that promise when I told her to leave. I just prayed to God that my plane got in before hers so I could catch her at the airport. She had to be on that flight. It was the next available one, and the time frame worked out. She would have had plenty of time to board the plane before it took off. I rested my hand on my forehead and closed my eyes.