21. Chapter Twenty-One
There’re muffled voices coming from the kitchen when I step into my parents’ house and I slowly inch my way toward them. Savanna is sitting at the kitchen table in front of our mother with her shoulders shaking, and she shakes her head slowly. “I don’t think she plans on coming back, Mom. I tried to stop her, but she just wouldn’t listen.”
Our mom sighs, her eyes cutting over Savanna’s head and looking directly at me with a sad smile. “Autumn will figure out where she is supposed to be, Savanna, you’ve just got to give her time. It may have been a long time ago, but we all gave you that same courtesy as well.”
“I just didn’t think she’d run away from everything like this, not after seeing how difficult it was for me.” Savanna sniffles and I blink a few times, trying to understand what she’s saying. “Do you think she’ll actually realize this is where she’s meant to be?”
My mom shrugs. “Maybe she will, or maybe there’s somewhere else she’s meant to be. Only time will tell, baby girl.” She leans forward and rubs Savanna’s shoulders gently, while I stand back silently with a heavy heart.
Autumn has left? Or is she just about to?
I can’t let that happen.
I hurry out of my parents’ place and jump into the front seat of my truck before peeling out of the driveway. If I get to Savannah’s house quickly enough, maybe I’ll be able to stop her in time. I only pray I’m not too late.
My hands are tight against the steering wheel the closer I get to their place and I come to a stop outside and jump out. Dawson is sitting on his front porch, a beer nursed in his hand, and he shakes his head slowly at me. “You already missed her, Easton.”
“What?” I ask.
No, this can’t be it.
He sighs and waves a hand toward one of the chairs next to him, but I ignore it and run through his front door. “Autumn!” Nothing but silence greets me and I search the house, tears stinging the back of my eyes. “Red, don’t do this!”
When I get to the door where I know Autumn has been staying, I nudge it open with my foot and everything comes crashing down around me. There’s nothing here. No clothes are thrown haphazardly on the floor as if she was trying to look for something to wear, nothing cluttering the bathroom sink when I step inside, and the bed is made to look like no one was here a day ago.
She’s gone.
I growl loudly into the empty room, then drop to the floor on my ass and let my head fall into the palm of my hands. Why would she leave like that? Bethany has been talking to me about Autumn almost every day, telling me about their video chats, and I thought that meant things were going in the right direction.
I’ve been getting help with my issues. I’d just been waiting patiently before I decided to give Autumn the chance she deserves, but was that the wrong decision? I shake my head, then snap it up when the floor creaks under Dawson’s weight and I watch as he leans against the door frame with a frown. “I told you she left.”
“Where did she go?”
Dawson shrugs and takes a quick sip of his beer. “Sav might know, but there’s a chance Autumn didn’t tell her either.”
“Fuck!” I grind out, pulling at the strands of my hair as if that will help anything.
“Why don’t you chill out here for a minute and calm down?”
As much as I appreciate Dawson’s hospitality, the last thing I’m going to do is sit here and give Autumn more time to get away from me. I’ve got no clue where she went, but that isn’t going to stop me from finding her. I shake my head at him, then push past him and head straight for the front door.
Savanna has to know something.
When I return to my parents’ house for the second time in thirty minutes, I slam the truck door as I jump out. My mother is standing on the porch, watching me approach with tears in her eyes and shaking her head, and I immediately wonder if something else happened to my dad.
Her footsteps follow behind me as I push my way through the house, heading straight for their room upstairs, and I blow out a breath of relief when I find my dad sitting up in his bed with a frown on his face. “Don’t scare me like that, old man.”
My father coughs and shakes his head. “What are you talking about?”
I sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got to find Savanna.” Before he can question my sanity, I quickly turn around and head back downstairs where Savanna is standing in the middle of the living room. “Where did she go, Sav?”
Savanna sobs loudly and glances at me, her eyes red from crying so much. “I don’t think it matters anymore, Easton.”
“The hell it doesn’t!” I step in front of her and place my hand on her shoulders. “I need to stop her, Sav, so where the hell did she go?”
Savanna shakes her head, her gaze darting over my shoulder before coming back to me. “You should go back home.” There’s an emotion swirling through her eyes that has me on high alert and I straighten my spine, looking between my sister and mother.
What the hell is going on? “I’m not leaving, Savanna. Just tell me where she went.”
“She didn’t tell me, okay!!!!” Savanna screams, shaking her head frantically. “I didn’t agree with her leaving, so she didn’t tell me where she was going or how she was getting there.” More tears stream down her face and she sucks in harsh breaths, unable to bring herself to breathe, and I pull her into my chest.
Why is she so upset over this? It’s not like she didn’t do the same thing once upon a time. “Why are you so upset?” I ask her.
Savanna looks at our mother, then takes a deep breath. “I think you should go home, Easton. You don’t need to be here right now.”
Just as she says the words, the TV behind me reports breaking news and Savanna’s face turns white as snow. She tries to keep me from turning around, but I flinch out of her grasp and slowly look toward the television. There’s a large man standing in the middle of a deserted road with a microphone held up to his mouth, as he goes on and on about an accident that just occurred, but I can’t register anything he’s saying.
I know that car.
It’s been sitting in front of my house for weeks.
“W-what’s going on?” I ask, more to myself than anyone else.
My mother clears her throat and suddenly her hand falls onto my shoulder. “Autumn was in an accident, Easton. They’re transporting her to the hospital right now. You should go home.”
Tears are blurring my vision and I look over. “Go home? There’s no way I can go home right now.” Bethany pops into my head and I look around nervously. “Where’s Bethany?”
“She’s in her room. I asked her to stay there for a little bit. She hasn’t seen anything about this,” my mother says.
Savanna’s phone rings from her pocket and she slowly pulls it out while sucking in a sharp breath. “H-hello?” My mother and I are silent as we try to overhear whoever is on the other end of the phone. “I’ll be there soon, thank you.” She hangs up and slides the phone back into her pants, then looks at me sadly. “That was the hospital. Apparently I’m her emergency contact and they wanted to let me know they’re taking her into surgery.”
I nod and wipe furiously at my eyes. “I’ll, uh, come with you. As long as that’s okay with you?” I’m directing the question at my mother, making sure she’s okay with keeping Bethany longer, and both women answer me with a slow nod. “I can drive us there,” I say while following Savanna out of the house.
“I’m good to drive, Easton.”
“Please?” It’s bad enough that every memory of Elena’s accident is coming back all at once, I don’t need to worry about my sister getting into an accident next. “Just let me do this.”
Savanna sighs and nods, then walks slowly toward my truck while I turn to my mother with a sad smile. “Don’t say anything to Bethany just yet, please?”
My mother nods. “I’ll try to keep her occupied.”
When I slip into the truck, Savanna is sitting in the passenger seat quietly with her gaze pointed out the window. “How do I do this again, Sav?”
Savanna sniffles and shakes her head. “I’m not even sure how I’m going to do this, Easton. She has to be okay though, right?”
That’s exactly what I thought when I got the news that Elena was in an accident. I thought there was no way she would be taken from her daughter, but I was proven wrong as soon as I walked into the hospital. Is that what’s going to happen this time?
The thought of a doctor coming up to Savanna and telling her that Autumn didn’t make it makes me physically ill, but I still manage to put the car in reverse and start down the driveway. Music is spilling from the speakers and I lean forward to turn it off. Music is the last thing I want to hear right now.
I want to let my thoughts take over.
Now would be a great time to call my therapist because I’m definitely going to need her advice. What should I do? I had every intention of finding Autumn and telling her I wanted to live a life with her, work through all my issues together, but can I do that now?
It took a lot for me to admit that I had feelings for her and that I wanted to get myself better so I could be with her, and now I’m on my way to the hospital because she got into an accident. The exact thing I was terrified of happening in the first place.
What are the odds?
I shake my head before making the turn into the hospital parking lot and pulling into an empty spot close to the front entrance. Savanna and I sit there for a few moments, silently watching others as they walk through the automatic doors leading inside, and I let out a loud groan. On autopilot, I slam my fist against the steering wheel, then calmly step out of the truck and wait for Savanna to step beside me.
“Ready?” I ask.
She sighs. “Not at all.”
Same, sis, same. With a heavy heart, I thread my fingers through Savanna’s and lead us toward the entrance, all while running through every possible scenario in my head. One of the nurses sitting at the front desk gives us a polite smile, then Savanna lets her know who we are here for and asks if there’s any information about Autumn. It makes me feel a little better when the nurse tells us that she’s still in surgery, which means nothing has gone wrong so far and she should be okay.
At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
That fear in the back of my mind is desperate to rear its ugly head though and I’m worried it’s going to force a decision out of me that I’m not sure I want to make.