Chapter Nineteen
Nineteen
As soon as I read the note, I grabbed my phone from where I’d left it beside the grocery bags, swiping away a notification from my credit card company before calling Mia. Sent to voice mail. I called Kitty, hoping for better luck, but she didn’t answer either.
“Shit,” I said to my empty condo. “Shit, shit, shit!”
I thought of how Mia had looked before leaving the car last night.
Why hadn’t I immediately gone after her?
Or woken them up when I went inside? Why had I left without saying something?
I should’ve confiscated Mia’s fake ID at least. I covered my face with my hands, struggling to keep the panic from clouding my mind.
Beth had trusted me to take care of Mia and Kitty, but less than twenty-four hours after their escapade on the yacht with Greyson, I’d lost them again.
Greyson. I shoved my phone into my pocket and left the condo, not bothering to slip on my shoes before racing across the parking lot, the asphalt burning my bare feet.
I hesitated in front of Alex’s door, worried about what he might say when he saw me, but if anyone would know where Mia and Kitty had gone, it was Greyson.
I knocked on the door, then stilled, listening for movement from within.
Maybe Alex was ignoring me. I lifted my hand to knock again, but the door swung open.
Alex stood before me, a dish towel tossed maddeningly over his shoulder.
I wanted to reach out to him, to say how sorry I was, but there wasn’t time for that now.
“Jo. Hi,” Alex said. He looked me up and down, his guarded expression giving way to concern. “Are you all right?”
“Is Greyson home?” I lifted onto my toes and looked past him into the living room but didn’t see anyone. Could Greyson be missing too?
“Yeah, she’s here. Do you . . . want to come in?”
“Yes.” I stepped inside, grateful at least one teen was accounted for.
I scanned Alex’s couches, but they were empty.
Part of me had hoped this was one of Mia and Kitty’s pranks and I’d find them here watching TV.
But the TV was off. There was no giddy laughter, only the sound of whatever playlist Alex had on.
I walked to the kitchen, but the girls weren’t around the table eating Alex’s gourmet junk food like I sometimes found them.
Alex followed me with his hands in his pockets. “Are you looking for something?”
I scanned the hall, then turned to him, trying not to let the way he looked now—hurt, upset, confused—distract me. “Mia and Kitty. I can’t find them. Have they been here?”
“No,” Alex said. “Not since I’ve been home at least. When did you last talk to them?”
“Last night in the car. Right after we dropped you off. All their stuff was gone when I came home. They didn’t text me to check in today, but I figured it was because they were still upset.”
Alex took me by the shoulders and steered me to the kitchen table. “We’ll figure it out. Here, sit.” He turned away, and seconds later pushed a plate of lemon cake in front of me.
“I’ll be right back.” He left down the hall and knocked on Greyson’s door, pausing for a moment before poking his head inside.
I stared down at the lemon cake. At least Alex didn’t completely hate me after what I’d said. But then again, maybe he did. He seemed like the type of person who’d bake his mortal enemy a cake.
Greyson appeared moments later with Alex at her heels.
“Hey, Jo,” she said, taking the seat across from me. Alex stood behind her, bracing the back of her chair with his hands.
Greyson chewed on the string of her hoodie—no, it was Mia’s hoodie. The one I’d seen her wearing last night. “Have you seen Mia and Kitty today?” I asked.
Greyson tugged the sleeves of the hoodie over her hands. “They didn’t come over today.”
Maybe that was true, but she’d definitely seen them. How else had she gotten Mia’s hoodie? “But did you see them today? Maybe at my place? Or the beach?”
Greyson shook her head.
I didn’t believe that for a second. Since they’d met, there hadn’t been a single day the girls didn’t see each other.
“They left this,” I said, and passed the note Mia had written across the table.
I watched Greyson’s face carefully. She looked down at the note, the hoodie string still in her mouth.
Alex bent over her shoulder to read it, then took the chair beside her. “You don’t know anything about this?”
Greyson shook her head, and her hands grew still as she stared at the note in front of her.
I leaned toward her, hoping I looked as desperate as I felt. “I’ve called them, but their phones are off. I don’t know where they are, or where they’re going. I just need to know they’re safe.”
Greyson shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
She pushed the note back to me and let the hoodie string drop from her mouth.
“Okay, I saw them, but they made me promise I wouldn’t say anything, and I pinkie promised, and you can’t break a pinkie promise.
Only . . . I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, and if you haven’t heard from them .
. . Well, I thought they’d call you, or at least text.
They came to say goodbye, and I said I thought they weren’t leaving for another three weeks, but they said they had to go right now because they’d messed up your summer enough.
I said I didn’t think that was true. I begged them to stay, but they wouldn’t. ”
Alex went rigid in his seat. “And you didn’t think to tell me or Jo about this?”
Greyson shrugged. “They made me promise.”
“Do you know where they are?” I asked.
“They wouldn’t say.” Greyson looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. “They said it was a secret. I asked them, and Kitty wanted to tell me, but Mia said not to because she knew I’d tell. I would, you know. I’d tell you if I knew where they were.”
“When did you see them?”
“I don’t know, like, four hours ago.”
Four hours! They could be anywhere by now. I hung my head in my hands.
“I’m sorry,” Greyson squeaked. “I didn’t know—”
“You know better than to keep a secret like that,” Alex said sharply.
Greyson kept her eyes on the table.
I felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She’d only done what Mia and Kitty had asked. Greyson and Mia were only a few years closer in age than me and Beth. At thirteen, I would’ve done anything Beth asked of me. I groaned at the thought of her. “What am I supposed to tell my sister?”
“You haven’t called her yet?” Alex said.
I shook my head, then looked up at him. “Maybe she already knows. Maybe she knows where they are.” I walked into the living room, hands shaking as I called her.
“Beth,” I said, relieved she’d picked up. “Have you—”
“I was just about to call you,” she said.
“So you’ve heard from the girls?”
“Mia texted me a few minutes ago.”
I was so relieved I thought I’d swoon onto the floor, like Kitty had last night. “Do you know where they are? They left a note but didn’t say.”
“Look.” Beth’s tone was as angry as it had been the day the girls had arrived and she thought I’d abandoned them at the airport.
“They’re safe at a hotel. They booked flights home for tomorrow morning.
I don’t know how they did all this or what happened between the three of you, but they made me promise not to tell you which hotel they’re at. ”
“Beth, I didn’t mean for—”
“I shouldn’t have sent them. It was too much, too soon.” Too much for them or for me? I didn’t want to know. “They’re fine. No one’s hurt. They promised not to leave the hotel and will go directly to the airport.”
“I can explain—”
“I can’t talk about this right now,” she said. “I’ll text you when they get here.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, but Beth had already hung up.
“Your sister’s heard from them?” Alex said when I took my seat at the table again. “What did she say?”
“They’re at a hotel.” The icing on my untouched slice of lemon cake had melted, making a sticky puddle on the plate.
I thought of Kitty, who loved lemon everything—lemonade, Lemonheads, the lemon-flavored Girl Scout cookies—she would’ve devoured it whole.
“They made her promise not to tell me which one, but they’re safe. They have flights home in the morning.”
“I’m sorry,” Alex said.
I shook my head. How could he feel sorry for me about anything after what I’d said to him that morning? “It’s my fault.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“No, it is. You didn’t hear what I said to them after you left. I went too far.”
“How can we help?”
What was there to help with? They’d left, and it was my fault. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do.”
I stood to go, and Alex walked me to the door. We lingered awkwardly on either side of the threshold, our fight from the morning hanging between us.
He drummed his fingers along the doorframe. “You’ll tell me if you need anything?” he said. “If you hear from them?”
“Yeah, I will,” I said. I avoided looking him in the eye. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but what could I say that would be enough? My words had already hurt him. And so I left, crossing the parking lot to my empty condo, where three pints of melted ice cream were waiting for me.
—
I was half-asleep on the couch when a knock on my door roused me. I sat up, disoriented when I realized it was dark outside. As soon as I’d come back from Alex’s, I fell onto the couch and watched episode after episode of My Super Sweet 16.
Mia and Kitty. I moved the blinds aside but didn’t see the girls or their oversized suitcases.
Instead, there was Greyson, still wearing Mia’s tie-dyed hoodie, though it was over eighty degrees out.
Greyson perked her head up when I opened the door, and I felt a surge of hope. Maybe she’d heard from them.
“Dad thought you might be hungry,” she said, and held out a Tupperware to me.
“Oh, thanks.” I took the Tupperware from her hands, its warmth spreading through my fingertips. “Good leftovers?”
Greyson shook her head. “It’s pizza night, but Dad said you looked like you needed comfort food.”