Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Emma
“ O kay, time for bed,” Lily said with a yawn as she shut off the TV, the credits rolling across the screen. “Or at least for me,” she added, giving Dara’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Oh no way,” Dara replied, following suit with her own yawn. “I’m definitely going to pass out the moment my face hits the pillow.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I added, stretching my arms over my head.
“You can always crash in the spare room,” Lily said to me, giving me a smile. “It’s after midnight, so I don’t blame you if you don’t want to make the long drive home—and by long, I mean fifteen minutes.”
I laughed, gathering my things. “While usually I might take you up on that, I don’t think so tonight. There’s nothing like my own bed.”
“Amen to that,” Dara giggled before bounding up the stairs toward her room. “Night y’all. ”
“Goodnight! Love you!” Lily and I both called back, mostly simultaneously. Dara gave us a grin and said she loved us, too, before disappearing.
“She’s a good kid,” I said to Lily as I slung my bag over my shoulder, heading for the counter.
“Yeah, I know,” Lily let out a sigh. “I think I got lucky because she’s a freakishly good kid—and I mean that in the best way.”
I laughed. “I get what you’re saying.”
Lily let out a long yawn. “Yeah, and now I seriously need to get some sleep.”
“Go ahead,” I waved her off. “I can let myself out.”
“Okay,” Lily said, giving me a hug before climbing the stairs herself.
I reached into my bag for my car keys, and then stopped, realizing that I had left my phone on the kitchen counter. I walked to the bar, seeing not only my phone, but also Lily’s. The only difference was…
Hers was ringing.
What the heck?
I picked it up as soon as I saw Mason’s name, and just the sight of it—and the time—sent my heart racing. “Hello?” I answered.
“Emma?” Mason sounded surprised, but also panicked. “Is Lily there?”
“Um, she actually just went to bed, why?” My stomach knotted up as I headed for the stairs, hoping to catch Lily before she made it to the bedroom. Drew had turned in for the night before the movie was over.
“Is Dara there?” he rattled out as I heard the sound of an engine on the other end of the phone—like he had just stomped the gas.
“She is, but she just went to bed. Is there something wrong, Mason?” I asked, peering around the empty, dark hallway at the top of the stairs.
“Yeah, Jess isn’t at home. I caught her trying to sneak off earlier, then we fought, and then I thought everything was fine… But then when I went to check on her before she went to bed, she wasn’t there. Found her window unlocked.”
My heart dropped in my chest, having been that teenager before. “I’m sure she’s fine… She’s just doing what teenagers do…”
“Just find Lily so she can ask Dara where she thinks Jess might be,” he snapped, his tone making me jump. “I get that teenagers do this kind of stupid shit, but I can’t keep her safe if I don’t know where she is.” I couldn’t tell if he was angry or panicked—or maybe a mixture of both. Regardless, I felt terrible for him…
And a little worried about Jess, myself.
“What’s wrong?” Dara stuck her head out of her bedroom, tilting her head in confusion. “You look worried.”
“Um, yeah, do you know where Jess went tonight? She’s not at home,” I said, keeping my voice low. If anyone was going to know something, it was Dara—and based on the guilty look on her face… She had answers.
“I…”
“Just tell me,” I demanded, my voice staying quiet but growing firm. “She snuck out of her house tonight and Mason is trying to find her—to make sure she’s safe, ” I added for clarity.
“Is that Dara?” Mason asked in my ear, but I ignored him, staying focused on Dara, not him.
“She… I think she was going to the Graham’s… His parents are out of town, and he was throwing a party… I… I was invited because of Jess, but I didn’t wanna go—well, I wasn’t actually invited,” she stopped, a frown pulling at her lips. “I don’t want her to get in trouble, Emma… I don’t want her to know that I ratted her out—she’s gonna hate me.” A tear slipped down Dara’s cheek, and my heart sunk in my chest.
“Is there anyone else who might know?”
“The whole school knew about the party,” Dara said, wrapping her arms around herself. “Like half the high school will probably be there. Cody throws wild parties.”
“Okay, thank you.” I gave her a soft smile. “Goodnight, Dara.” I spun around and headed back down the stairs. “She’s at Hudson’s place, I think.”
“I’m outside to pick you up,” Mason said into my ear. “Come on.” He then hung up, leaving me to wonder why the hell I was being dragged into the mess with his daughter. I hardly knew her—how could I possibly help? My hand flew to my stomach as I made my way out the front door, pausing to set Lily’s phone down.
Someday I’ll have a teenager—with Mason.
Tonight was definitely not the right night to tell him, though. Eventually, I would have to, but talk about kid problem overload…
Ugh.
What a story I would have to tell Lily in the morning. My casual tennis shoes padded along the concrete drive as I headed for the old Bronco parked behind my SUV.
“Why am I going with you?” I asked as I slid into the passenger side. “I don’t know why I would be any help in this…”
Mason looked over at me, his face furrowed deeply with worry. “You’re a woman, and I don’t know what Jess is doing at the party… But it ain’t hard to come up with a few ideas. ”
I nodded, letting out a sigh and pushing my hair out of my eyes. “Maybe Lily should’ve gone.”
He shook his head. “Lily would mean that Dara told on Jess. I know all about that girl code shit. I’ll have to come up with the fact that it was a call.”
“Right…” My voice trailed off at the shoddy plan. “I bet she’s smarter than that. Not to mention, why would I be with you?”
“Why were you emerging from my bedroom the last time she saw you?” He cocked his head at me, daring me to challenge that one.
“Touche,” I muttered, relaxing back into the seat. I was exhausted , the first trimester taking its toll on me. I was a lucky one, however, that my morning sickness was minimal, and that was relieving since I worked around food most of the day.
“I don’t know why she’d be going to some party, especially without Dara,” Mason blurted, his eyes still focused on the road. “I just… She’s never done this kind of thing—and how the hell did she get out there? I know how other teenagers act, but that’s not Jess.”
I pursed my lips, giving him a weary look. He might be a great sheriff, but he was clearly in denial about his daughter. “Just because she snuck out and went to a party doesn’t make her a bad kid. It doesn’t mean that she’s not still herself. She’s just… being a kid.”
“It’s dangerous,” Mason snapped at me. “You clearly don’t understand that.”
I fought the urge to bite back but didn’t. I knew he was just acting out of concern for Jess. “I do understand in some ways. I snuck out when I was a teenager—to see a boy. I know that Jess is a good kid, and honestly, I was, too. It’s just easy to get wrapped up in your feelings when you’re young. You don’t think as clearly, and your parents are the enemy. Well, for me it was just my mom, but yeah.”
“And you don’t have a good relationship with your mom now, right?” He eyed me as he pulled off onto a gravel road.
I shrugged. “That has nothing to do with the choices I made in high school. We were close while I was in college. I put space between us because she puts too much pressure on me to be a traditional woman, and you know, settle down.” My hand wanted to go to my stomach, cradling the baby that was going to lead to “settling down”…
Just in a very complicated way.
“I don’t want her to grow up and put a bunch of space between us,” his voice dropped in volume, growing thick with emotion. “She’s all I’ve got—and I know that I ain’t exactly given her the easiest life with me working all the time and her mom running out on us…”
I reached out, squeezing his arm. “You’re not going to lose her, and she’s got a great life. You’re a good father, and she’s surrounded by a lot of people who love her. I didn’t have a dad, and I turned out just fine.” My stomach knotted up, though, and guilt for dodging my mom’s phone calls slipped in—maybe I should call her back.
Maybe I should tell her about my pregnancy.
Not until I figure things out with Mason.
She had expectations about men, and she always told us she didn’t want us to be like her—a single mom. My sister had succeeded in that, but at this rate… I had no idea if I would be a single mom or not. But I did know one thing…
I’d rather be a single mom than trapped in a loveless relationship together because of a baby.
“Almost there,” Mason muttered, turning off onto a gravel road. The Bronco fishtailed as he stomped the gas and I grabbed onto the side of the door, having to remind myself that he could drive.
It was only a few minutes later that I heard the music, the bass thumping so loud that we could hear it before we could see the house. I kept my focus out the window, taking a deep breath as he turned into a fancy asphalt drive. It seemed out of place for the area, which was mostly middle-class farmhouses.
The Hudson’s house was massive, towering over the rolling hills at three stories high. It reminded me of the mansions in Austin and having known a few of those kinds of people there, I easily knew that the house had to be nearly ten thousand square feet.
“This is excessive,” Mason grumbled, throwing the truck in park. “Who the hell needs a house this big?”
“They do, apparently,” I laughed uneasily as I caught sight of teenagers spilling out and around the house. I couldn’t see Jess right off the bat, but with the sheer number of teenagers… I had a good feeling she was in the mix. Millfield was a small enough town that there was really no other place for her to be.
“Come on,” Mason threw open the door and got out. “I’m tired and wanna get back home.”
Same.
I kept a smile on my face as I followed him around the side of the house, ignoring the whispers and looks some of the kids were giving us. They weren’t running off, but I made the assumption that it was probably because Mason was in plain clothes—and maybe the fact that I was with him…
And the fact I was, was definitely going to get around town.
“Jessica Ann Hewitt!” Mason’s shouting startled me, and my mouth dropped as he charged toward her. She was clad in a cropped white T-shirt and jeans, cozied up with a high school boy around her age. He was a cute kid with blonde hair and bright blue eyes—and anyone who had seen Graham Hudson for longer than a minute, would know that it was definitely his son. He was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans, a black T-shirt, and one giant western belt buckle.
Must be Cody.
“Dad!” Jess’s eyes went wide as she pushed off the teenage boy, rushing toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” he shot back at her. “You snuck out of the damn house, Jess!”
My heart stuttered as I saw the scene going down around the two. I had no idea how to help, but I did know that it was not conducive to go making a scene in front of a bunch of gossipy teenagers.
“Dude, just chill out. I was gonna make sure she got home safe.” The kid—who I assumed was Cody—stepped in between them. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Cody, stop,” Jess grabbed his arm, pulling him away. “Just let me deal with it.”
He shook his head, shooting Mason a glare before heading off, corralling his friends away from the scene. The glare was disrespectful, but I was relieved he was taking some of his friends with him.
“Get in the truck,” he barked, pointing behind him. “And you won’t be leaving the house for a very long time.”
She was quiet, folding her arms across her chest as she stormed past him, heading around the side of the truck. Her eyes drifted to me, and when they met mine, a shade of crimson flooded her cheeks…
Poor girl.
I mean, yeah, she shouldn’t have snuck out—that was dumb—but I was certain that she was enraptured by some dumb teenage boy… And I knew how that felt. I followed her to the Bronco, getting ahead of Mason.
Maybe I can talk to her.