Chapter 24
Present Day
It was with renewed resolve and passion—all brought to her from the wise words of her little sister Wren—that Juliet walked down the hall and knocked on Theo’s door.
Within seconds, he tore the door open, looking down at her as though he’d been awake, tossing and turning, thinking of her.
Juliet had been thinking about him, too, of course.
But there was so much more at stake than their budding love—or the loss of their love so many years ago.
Whatever had happened, they could deal with it when Danica was found.
“My daughter,” Juliet finally managed to say. “She’s missing. She’s gone.”
Juliet had never seen anyone pack as fast as Theo that night.
He threw his things into his suitcase, then followed her to her room and helped her pack hers.
Within ten minutes, they were out of the hotel and headed to the car they’d driven here in the first place.
And within forty anxious, blotchy minutes, all lit up with the blistering light of the city, they were out of Manhattan and headed north, closer to where Danica was. Wherever that was.
Theo demanded that Juliet tell him everything she knew about “Magnum X.” She gave the SparkNotes first, before he ordered her to read word for word some of the blog posts that Danica had written about him.
He smashed his hand on the steering wheel, overcome with passion.
Juliet knew that he didn’t want to say what he was thinking aloud: that Danica might have paired herself up with some awful freak, that her life hung in the balance.
He pressed his foot harder on the gas, speeding them along. Juliet wanted to tell him not to drive too fast. She wanted to ask him not to cause an accident. But she didn’t want to even mention a car accident, for goodness’ sake. It felt like bad luck.
By the time Juliet and Theo had discovered that Callie had left prom without telling either of them, Callie was already dead.
Five Bluebell Cove police officers had entered the gymnasium to explain what had happened and to end the party early.
Juliet had had her arms wrapped around some jock, some guy she no longer remembered the name of, and Theo had been moping, drinking punch, and sitting in the corner.
Immediately, they’d looked at one another, realizing that Callie had been too upset to face them.
They’d realized that she’d wanted to go home, and she’d felt too nervous to turn to either of the people who loved her most.
Theo and Juliet hadn’t spoken at all after prom.
They went to Callie’s funeral, of course, and they stood at her gravesite and prayed with the other students and wept quietly in their private bedrooms. But Juliet had never, ever managed to reckon with her part in what had happened on the night of prom.
She should have been happy for her best friends, who’d been falling in love for months, apparently, without telling her.
Instead, all she’d felt when she’d found out was jealousy and rage. She’d felt left out and left behind.
It was hard to explain, even now, so many years after the fact.
Juliet had never gone to therapy to dig through that particular event.
She’d never told Alvin. Rather, three days after Callie’s burial, Juliet had received word from an agent in Manhattan that she was hired.
Her “real” life was about to begin, just as she’d always planned for. The rest was history, till now.
It was two in the morning, and Juliet was at the wheel. Neither she nor Theo had said anything in quite some time, but she could tell that he was wide awake.
“It’s good that we left,” Juliet said quietly. “I would have driven myself insane in that hotel room all night. I would have made up stories about where she was. I would have…” She hated herself for trying to fill in the blanks.
Theo crossed his arms. Somehow, Juliet could tell that he was thinking about Callie, about prom. She wanted to ask him so desperately. She wanted to unpack it.
But all she could say, meekly, was, “I do think about it. All the time. And I blame myself. I don’t know what else to say.”
Theo pressed his lips together. If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought he was shaking. Slowly, he put his hand over hers on the console between them. It was warm and strong.
“Can I ask you something?” Juliet asked.
Theo was quiet, but Juliet took that as acceptance.
“You really loved her. Didn’t you?” She glanced at Theo, marveling at the black night that swelled around them. They never should have left Bluebell Cove.
“I really loved her,” Theo said. “It was brief, but it was beautiful. It was the first time anyone had ever loved me back. A profound feeling. Over the years, I’ve wondered if my ex-wife even loved me that much. But Callie’s love was something special.”
“It really was.” Juliet’s heart pattered. “When I arrived in Manhattan, age eighteen, I fought the urge to call her, like, every day. I wanted to complain about all my agents, the other models, and every bad deal I’d ever signed. I heard her voice in my head for years.”
“Is it gone now?” Theo asked.
“It’s quiet. I don’t know if it’s really her anymore,” Juliet said gently.
“Maybe it’s your intuition,” Theo suggested.
“I like to think it’s the part of me that will always love her. I think it’ll always live on inside me,” Juliet said. “I never had a friend like her after that. But the weird thing is, I never told anyone about her. Not even my ex-husband.”
“I didn’t tell anyone, either,” Theo said. “And people in Bluebell Cove don’t like to bring up the past.”
Juliet didn’t want to point out that the accident might have been part of the reason Theo had gotten his loan.
That maybe, Calvin Parish and the rest of them still felt awful because Theo had lost his girlfriend on prom night.
Nobody mentioned that his girlfriend had been in Jeremy’s car.
Jeremy had, of course, survived. He’d gone on to be a college athlete before moving to Denver to work in sales.
Juliet hated that she knew this, but she’d kept tabs. How could she not?
“For a little while, I thought I’d grown out of that sorrow,” Theo said.
“I got married. I opened my own restaurant. But I think sorrow has a way of catching up to you. It never lets you go. Not when something that traumatic happens.” He was quiet for a moment before saying, startled, “Is that your phone?”
It was Juliet’s phone, blaring from her purse. He scrambled to get it, then pulled it out. “It’s from Alvin?” he said.
Juliet groaned. “My ex.” But then, she did a calculation in her mind. Although it was midafternoon in Singapore, there was no reason that Alvin would be calling Juliet, save for one: it had to do with Danica. She answered it immediately. “Alvin?”
Alvin’s tone was harsh and manipulative. “Do you want to know who I just got off the phone with?”
“Don’t play games,” Juliet said, breathing a sigh of relief. Alvin wouldn’t be acting like this if something really bad had happened. “Do you know where she is?”
“So you know she’s missing? Because I get the sense you’re a lackluster mother. I get the sense you don’t care where she is or what she’s doing.”
Juliet wanted to chuckle at that. But what Alvin said hit so close to home that she felt tears rising up in her throat. “Just tell me,” she whispered. “Please.”
Alvin growled what he’d learned. “Some cop from Bangor, Maine, called to tell me that my daughter was arrested for shoplifting! In a mall, of all places! I didn’t even think America had malls anymore?
She’s with some guy. Some idiot teenage guy.
I don’t know who you’re letting her hang around with, but I can see already that he isn’t a good influence.
I mean, my daughter? Shoplifting? This is not how we conduct ourselves! ”
Alvin’s rant sent a shiver down Juliet’s spine. “She’s at the station?”
“She’s at the station,” Alvin shot back. “And I’m in Singapore. I can’t do a thing.”
“No. You can’t,” Juliet said darkly. “You left her. You left us.”
Alvin coughed. “I mean, I guess you’ve forgotten about the incredible amount of alimony I send you per month?”
“Right. Because money can replace a father’s love,” Juliet said, a little too quietly. She wished she had screamed it. She wished she had half of the cutthroat arrogance of her teenage years. It could come in handy right now.
“I have to focus,” she said.
“Call me when you have her back!” Alvin cried. “We’re not done with this—”
But Juliet hung up on him and threw her phone into the back seat. Beside her, Theo had heard everything, and he offered her a glorious, crooked smile.
“What?” Juliet asked him, matching his grin.
“Nothing,” he said. “You just sound like the Juliet I’ve known all my life, that’s all.”