Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ellie
I snuck out of my mom’s apartment in the middle of the night and stayed at the airport until my flight boarded at 5:30 a.m. As soon as the plane landed and I was in the cab on my way to the Malibu house, I turned on my phone and found I had a few text messages from Henry.
“Please come home so we can talk.”
“Why are my messages being sent as text messages instead of iMessage’s? You better not have blocked me, Ellie. That’s really immature.”
“????????”
“Damnit, Ellie. Answer me!”
“I didn’t block you. My phone was off. I don’t want to talk to you right now. When I’m ready I will.”
“That’s not fair. We need to talk.”
“No! What’s not fair is you no longer want to accept me for who I am!”
“Oh my God. That is not true! Stop being a spoiled brat!”
“A spoiled brat? Now you’re blocked, asshole!”
I inserted the key into the lock, opened the door, and immediately punched in the alarm code to turn the alarm off. As angry as I was at him, a sense of peace washed over me as I stood in the house. After taking my suitcase upstairs, I opened the closet, changed into a sundress, and went down to the beach.
Henry
I couldn’t believe she was behaving the way she was. She totally took everything I’d said out of context. I never should have brought it up, but I felt as if I had to. It was the one thing I didn’t know about her, and I wanted to know everything. I figured it would be a sensitive subject, but I had no idea it would escalate into her leaving the penthouse.
I had Christian drive me over to her mom’s apartment. When Dani opened the door, I wasn’t prepared for what she’d told me.
“Hi, Dani. I need to see Ellie.”
“Come on in, Henry. Ellie isn’t here.”
“What do you mean? She said she was coming here last night.”
“She did, but when I woke up this morning, she was gone and so was her suitcase.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know. I tried to text her, but my messages wouldn’t go through.”
“I spoke with her earlier, and she said she had her phone off. But she didn’t say she wasn’t here.”
“I really wish you would have talked to me first before bringing up the cochlear implant to her,” she said.
“I didn’t plan on talking to her about it last night, but when we were at the fundraiser, I could tell she was overwhelmed. If she had the implant, she could engage more, and it wouldn’t be so hard for her.”
“You mean it wouldn’t be so hard on you to see it.” Her brow arched.
“Why does everyone think I want this for me? I want it for her.”
“I know you do. I’ve wanted it for her for so many years. When she had the first implant, it was such a struggle. She became a depressed and withdrawn child. But the moment that implant malfunctioned and the doctors removed it, she was back to her old self. It doesn’t matter what we want, Henry. We can’t let our wants be for our own selfish reasons. It’s what Ellie wants that truly matters.”
“I know that, Dani. I feel like such an asshole for even bringing it up.”
“Well, you’re not. You were expressing your feelings, and she expressed hers. You can’t fight her on this matter. So, you either surrender, or you’ll possibly lose her.”
“I need to know where she went.”
“Check with Joni and Pete. Maybe she went over there.”
“Thanks. I will.” I kissed her cheek.
After checking with Joni, I found out she wasn’t there, and panic settled inside me. Where the hell did she go? As I sat in the back of the limo, I called Addison.
“Hey, big bro. What’s up?”
“Hey, sis. You haven’t, by chance, heard from Ellie, have you?”
“Uh, no. Why? Did something happen?”
“We got into an argument last night, and she took off.”
“Nice, Henry. What the hell did you do?”
“It’s complicated, and I need to find her. She said she was going to her mom’s apartment, and she did. But Dani said when she woke up this morning, Ellie and her suitcase were gone.”
“My guess is she probably hopped on a plane and headed to Malibu to get away from your dumb ass.”
“Shit. I didn’t even think about Malibu. Do you think she would actually do that? She didn’t pack much.”
“Don’t the two of you keep a closet full of clothes there?”
“Yeah, we do. We keep just about everything there.”
“This sounds pretty serious if she got on a plane after an argument. What was it about?”
“I asked her if she ever thought about getting a cochlear implant.”
“Nice, Henry. Now you’re trying to change who she is?”
I could sense the attitude in her tone, and I wasn’t in the mood.
“No, Addison. I’m not. It was a question which escalated into a huge fight.”
“Well, you better find her and make things right. Listen, I love you and everything, but I’m on my way to class for a mid-term. Keep me updated.”
“I will. Thanks, sis.”
After ending the call, I thought about how my parents had been in California for the past two weeks, vacationing with some friends of theirs. Bringing up my contact list, I gave my father a call.
“Hello, son.”
“Hey, Dad. I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“What do you need?”
“Can you go over to my house in Malibu and see if Ellie is there? It’s only about an hour's drive from where you’re at.”
“I know where Malibu is, son. What happened?”
“We got into a fight last night, and she left. I can’t seem to find her in New York, and I don’t want to hop on a plane if she’s not there. I’m really worried.”
“Did you text her?”
“Yeah, and she blocked me.”
“Oh boy.” He sighed. “Your mother and I are just finishing up our golf game at the country club. We’ll head over there soon.”
“Thanks, Dad.”