Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I help Mom into the passenger side and climb behind the wheel. The doctors were all smiles, showing me the graphs of Mom’s EKG and results of the bloodwork. I want to believe in their optimism, but there’s a nagging fear that they’re wrong. Or maybe it’s a fucked-up way for my emotions to jerk me around because if she’s well, my obligation to stay comes to an end.
“Have you heard from your command?” Mom asks like she’s reading my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I reply.
She touches the back of my hand resting on the console. “You’re heading back soon, am I right?”
“Sunday.” I could push it to Monday, but what will that buy me except a more painful goodbye?
She turns to gaze out the window, blinking. “I bet you’re excited. You’ve already missed so much.”
Have I? Or is it the other way around, and I’ve missed out on something much more important?
“Thank you for being here, honey,” Mom says.
I try to smile, but my face feels ready to crack. “Of course. ”
“Have you and Ava talked? About how you’ll make it work?”
“Make what work?”
Her eyes cloud with confusion. “Well, you’re leaving, and she’s…staying.”
I focus on turning down our driveway because this conversation is making my head hurt.
“Don’t leave her in the dark, Rye. That’s not fair.”
“You’re right.”
I park next to the minivan belonging to one of our 4H volunteers and usher Mom inside. Beth will be home soon, but I fix Mom a cup of tea with a dash of honey, my thoughts going round and round with the spoon.
Inside my room, I throw a change of clothes and my running gear into my pack, then pause at the entrance to the kitchen. Mom’s sorting canning lids on the kitchen table, her brow furrowed in concentration.
I decide not to disrupt her flow. After pushing off from the doorway, I slip outside. The cooling afternoon air dances across my skin as I hurry to the truck and jump in. Lowering the window as I drive to let in the clean, fresh air, Troy’s words flash through my mind.
I thought I had more time.
Haven’t I secretly been thinking the same thing about Ava? That I’ll have more time to make room for her in my life?
I don’t want to hold back anymore. I don’t want to wait to love her, cherish her, care for her. Time spent waiting is time I’m fucking wasting.
But it takes two to tango. What if Ava’s stubbornness keeps her from letting me in?
I think of my crew gearing up for deployment. Not just the extra hours training, but the thrill that comes from packing up a life to move across the ocean. The anticipation of fulfilling a purpose. A part of me yearns for it, but what’s the cost?
When I pull into Ava’s driveway, a cold flush dances over my skin.
Her car’s not here.
She should be home by now. I park and whip out my phone.
Waiting for her to answer, I tap the steering wheel and scan her yard and house like it has the answers. “Pick up, Ava,” I mutter. When her voicemail kicks on, I hang up and send her a quick text.
Where are you?
I wait a few seconds, but there’s no reply. I call Everett.
“Hey, Hutch. What’s up?”
“Ava’s not home.”
“What? I escorted her there an hour ago.”
Panic pricks my chest. “She isn’t answering her phone.”
“Do you know her plans?”
“I’m meeting her here. We’re supposed to go for a run.”
“Can you get inside the house?”
“I don’t have a key to her deadbolt.”
“Okay. Stay put. I’m going to cruise to her office. Maybe she went back for something. I’ll get Zach on this too. I will call you back.” He doesn’t bother to say goodbye.
I sit there as an icy buzz rattles up my spine.
Something’s wrong.
I dial Sofie’s number.
“Have you heard from Ava?” I ask before she can even get in a greeting.
“Not since yesterday. What’s up?”
“She’s supposed to be home, but she’s not.”
“Lemme text Kirilee,” she says.
I wait for what feels like minutes, fighting what my gut is telling me. Even if Ava drove somewhere, she would be back by now. If there was some sort of emergency, she would have told me. She wouldn’t intentionally make me worry.
“Kirilee hasn’t heard from her either.”
“Shit.”
“Did you call Zach? ”
“Everett did. He’s checking—” My phone clicks with an incoming call “—that’s him. I gotta go.” I hang up and answer Everett. “Is she there?”
“No. I’m heading your way. Zach’s making some calls.”
I toss the phone on the seat and reverse down Ava’s driveway. Like hell am I just going to sit here on my ass. I call Ava’s phone again, but this time it goes straight to voicemail.
“Fuck!” I accelerate out of her neighborhood, tires squealing.
I swerve onto Lakeshore, toward town. But what if she went the other direction? I call the landline at the farm, even though there’s no way Ava could have driven there without me passing her.
Mom answers.
“It’s me,” I say, checking every turnoff as I pass for her car. “Is Ava there?”
“No. I thought you were meeting at her house.”
“We are, but she’s not here.”
“You sound worried.”
“I’m sure she’ll turn up,” I say, forcing my tone to soften. The last thing she needs is to get scared too.
“Well, if I see her, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.” I accelerate through the first traffic light, then slam on my brakes.
To my right sits Ava’s car, abandoned in the middle of an empty parking strip facing a self-serve storage facility. My heart gallops in my chest as I crank the wheel and enter the lot. I throw the gearshift in PARK and race from the cab.
“Ava!” I call out as I scan the windows on the way to the driver’s side door, but except for her purse on the passenger seat, her car is empty. I yank on the door, expecting it to be locked, but it swings open.
This is all wrong. If Ava had car trouble, she would have called me.
And if somehow her phone didn’t work, she would not have left her purse in her unlocked car while she walked to get help .
Especially after what happened yesterday.
I squint against the bright evening sun as panic swims inside me.
There’s only one reason why she’s not here. Cold prickles chew at my insides. I whip out my phone, my fingers shaking as I dial Everett.
“Where are y?—”
“I found her car but she’s not—” my throat clamps shut but I force the rest “—she’s been taken.”