28. Tate
TATE
I went out the front gate, hurrying to the food truck Elena had mentioned. It really was just around the corner. I was going to find Paisley any minute now. I was sure of it. She had to be there, still deciding what she wanted. My girl had to be here.
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves.
When I rounded the corner, my whole body went rigid. She wasn't there.
I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other until I reached the food truck.
"Hi. What can I get you?" the vendor asked.
"Nothing. Thank you. I’m wondering if a little girl came here earlier." I tapped the screen of my phone, showing him a picture of Paisley. "She ran off from school."
The guy grimaced. "I'm sorry. She wasn't here."
Fuck. Where is she?
I looked up and down the street. My pulse thumped in my ear. Bile rose at the back of my throat. I called her a couple times. Come on, baby girl, pick up. Pick up .
She didn't answer. Then I remembered that she had a tracking app on her phone. I could use it to locate her.
Adrenaline spiked in my veins as I opened the app connected to her phone. It said she didn’t have a signal.
Damn it.
Where could she be?
I couldn't think straight. But I immediately knew I needed reinforcements. I called Declan.
"Hey, brother," I said. "Listen, I need your help."
"What's wrong?" he asked in an alarmed tone.
"I’m at Paisley's school, and she ran off."
"What? Why?"
"Long story. I'll tell you later. I need help looking for her."
"I'm on it. I'll leave the office right now. I'll take Tyler too. He’s here. And I'll call everyone else, okay?"
"Thanks." I was eternally grateful to my brother, because I didn't even have enough brainpower to think about calling the rest. But I did call Lexi's number. I needed her here with me.
She answered after the second ring. I looked up and down the street as I spoke, not wanting to lose any opportunity to spot Paisley.
"Hey," she said in a soft voice. "I just left school. Where are you?"
"At Paisley's school. She ran off."
"Oh my God. Ran off? Are you sure? That’s not like her."
"Well, I don't know. I can't find her," I snapped. "Sorry. I didn't mean… It's not your fault." I was pacing the street, feeling like I’d lost my wits completely. I couldn’t think straight. "The family's coming, and they're going to help me search for her. Can you come too?"
"Absolutely. I'm on my way."
The tension between my shoulder blades lessened a bit. Knowing Lexi was going to be here calmed me down.
"Thank you, Lexi. Thanks."
Pocketing the phone, I looked up and down the street again. There was nothing else to do except scour every street around the school.
A sheen of sweat dotted my whole body. Where is my little girl?
I walked up the street and then took a sharp right on the street at the back of the school.
I was going to walk along the perimeter once.
I stopped at a bakery and a butcher shop, but no one had seen Paisley.
Where is she? I tried calling her phone again, walking street after street.
Finally, I returned to the school, in the small hope that someone had seen her or that maybe she’d returned. Why wasn't she answering the phone?
As I approached the front gates, I noticed my family: Mom and Dad, Tyler, Declan, and Luke.
Mom was on the phone talking to my grandmother. “Beatrice, I’ll call you as soon as we have news, okay?”
Lexi was here too. She came straight to me, putting her arms around my neck. I kept her soft body against me, drinking in that peace she offered, even though it lasted only a few seconds.
"We'll find her," she promised.
I nodded but didn't say anything. I was drowning in worry.
"Tate, where did you look?" Declan asked. "Point it out on the map."
"I checked the streets surrounding the school in a square and these two adjacent ones."
"Okay. Here's what we're going to do," Declan said.
They were all paying attention. "I’ll call the police, but in the meantime, everyone is going to take three streets, and we're going to look everywhere, and I mean everywhere.
Behind rocks, up in the trees, any place you wouldn't think about checking. "
"I didn't look up trees and in the corners," I said.
"Doesn't matter. We'll redo the whole perimeter anyway, just to make sure we're not missing anything."
"She's not answering her phone," I said in a desperate voice. “And the locator app says her phone has no signal.”
"That's because she doesn't have it with her. I spoke to Ms. McDonald. They confiscated her phone earlier because she tried to use it during class," Declan explained.
"Great. Fucking great." I felt like lashing out at everyone. The teacher, even my family. And it wasn't fair. This wasn't their fault. It was all Nora's and my fault.
"I'm going to stay with you. Okay, Tate?" Lexi said softly, taking my hand. I nodded, flexing my fingers around hers. I needed her. "Come on, let's go. We're getting a bigger perimeter. But between the two of us, we're going to be fast," she promised.
We scoured street after street. I was growing more desperate with every bench we checked, every three we looked under, and every shop where we asked about Paisley, but no one had seen her.
I grew so desperate that I even stopped random strangers, showing them pictures of my daughter. No one saw her.
"Where is she?" I shouted out in frustration. Worry was eating up at me.
"We have one more street," Lexi said, her voice strong. She interlaced our fingers, squeezing my hand.
I was going through the motions, doing everything mechanically. If I thought too much, I was going to lose it.
My phone rang when we were halfway down the street.
"It's the teacher," I said, answering right away. My throat constricted.
"She’s here. She came back," Ms. McDonald said.
"Is she okay?" I asked.
"Yes, yes, she's fine. She got lost on the way to the food truck and went in the opposite direction."
Relief washed over me, relaxing my stiff muscles.
“We’ll be right there,” I replied before hanging up and turning to Lexi. "They found her."
Her eyes watered. I instantly wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. She sobbed into my neck, tugging at my shirt. Her whole body was shaking.
"Oh my God. I was so worried. So worried."
I wrapped my arms around her. My brave, perfect woman. She'd held all this inside her while we were searching, all so she could be strong for me. I kept her in my arms, whispering in her ear.
"It's okay. It's all over. We found her."
"Can we wait for a bit?" she asked through sobs. “I want to calm down.”
“Sure.” I didn’t let go of her, holding her firmly in my arms and giving her all the support she needed. My phenomenal woman. I loved her so fucking much.
A few moments later, she took a step back.
Her eyes widened as she looked at my shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I sobbed all over you."
"That's okay. You're beautiful, even like that," I said, trying to cheer her up.
She half chuckled, half snorted. Then she covered her mouth with her hand and snorted again.
"Okay. Okay. I'm done, I think," she whispered before lowering her hand and drying her eyes. "Come on. Let's go."
I grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it, and then we both went toward the school. Paisley was sitting on the bench near the exit, looking around nervously, clearly realizing something was wrong because we were all here.
"Daddy. I'm so sorry. I went to buy tacos, and I got lost."
I crouched down to her level, caressing her hair. "Elena told us you left because you were upset."
“Just a bit. But I also wanted tacos. They make everything better. I thought for sure I’d be back before you came.”
So, she hadn’t run away, but still, she could have gotten injured.
“Baby, this isn’t right. You can’t go off by yourself. We’ve talked about this.”
“I’m really sorry, Daddy.”
I knew I had to reinforce that point more, but right now I was too relieved that she was okay to scold her.
Lexi lowered herself on her haunches too.
“Why do you have red eyes, Lexi?”
“I’ve been crying.”
"Why?" Paisley asked, looking struck.
"Because I was afraid we weren’t going to find you. I love you."
"I love you too. I'm sorry," Paisley said again.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. It happens," Lexi said.
My daughter went straight into her arms, and Lexi hugged her quietly. We'd found her. She was safe. That was all that mattered.
"You gave us quite the scare, nugget," Declan said.
"I'm so sorry, Uncle Declan."
"No biggie, just don't do it again."
"I won't," she promised.
"Thank you for coming," I told Declan. Then I turned to the rest of my family.
Tyler was leaning against a huge oak tree, his eyes fixed on Paisley.
Luke was pacing the yard, not saying anything.
His shoulders were hunched. He was like me in that regard—it always took him a while to calm down after a scare.
Mom was on the phone with Gran. “Beatrice, she’s completely fine. I promise. She took the wrong turn to the food truck.”
Dad and Lexi were sitting with Paisley. I went straight to them, lowering myself on my haunches until I was eye level with my daughter.
“Paisley, are you ready to go home?”
“Yes, Daddy. Let’s go.” She took my hand and then held her other little one out to Lexi.
I just about proposed on the spot. This woman was my rock—my everything. We were a family. There was no doubt in my mind about it.
I rose to my feet. After thanking my family for coming to help, Paisley, Lexi, and I went to the car.
Paisley fell asleep on the drive home. After parking, I carried her in my arms, bringing her up the stairs.
Lexi went ahead of me, opening the doors as we entered the house, and headed to my daughter’s bedroom, where she threw back the blankets on the bed.
Paisley didn’t nap during the day, and it was far too early for her to go to bed, but she was obviously exhausted from all the commotion.
I laid her on the mattress, taking off her shoes before drawing the covers up to her chin.