38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Cody
Cody watched in awe as Yana ate lunch. She could pack in an insane amount of food: three burgers, two hot dogs, four baskets of fries, and a slice of cherry pie to finish it off. Doris was giving her weird looks, but Yana didn’t seem to notice.
Yana dabbed her lips with her napkin before looking across the table at Cody. “That was very good. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You’ve been getting enough to eat back at the cottage, right?”
It felt like he had been buying an insane amount of groceries lately, but he had chalked that up to the fact that he was buying for four people instead of one now.
He had the money, so he didn’t care that much, but Yana’s appetite was certainly noticed by Doris, and a few others who were eating at the diner.
“Yes, thank you,” Yana said. “Perhaps I could find employment, so I can help with buying food.”
“Nah, you’re good. I’ve got it covered. Besides, you don’t have an ID or social insurance number or any of the stuff you’d need to legally get a job.”
Yana’s face fell and she looked down at her empty dishes. “Oh. I see.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Cody stood, and Yana followed him over to the cash register at the front counter. Just as Cody was settling the bill with Doris, Yana noticed grey clouds had rolled in, darkening the diner. The gentle pitter-patter of raindrops began to hit the windows a moment later.
“Huh,” Cody said. “Today would have been a good day to drive into town, instead of walking.”
“Oh, dear, you walked here?” Doris asked. “All the way from Grandpa Sam’s cottage?”
Cody shrugged. “It’s not that far. And it’s barely raining.” He turned to Yana: “You’re fine to walk back, right?”
“Yes, it’s fine. I don’t mind the rain.”
“At least take this.” Doris walked out from behind the counter and grabbed an umbrella off a rack near the front door. “It’s a community umbrella. Just bring it back next time you’re in town.”
Cody thanked her for the umbrella and checked with Yana one last time, before stepping out into the rain. He popped open the blue umbrella and was happy to see it was an extra big one. Still, Yana had to huddle in close to benefit from it.
“Sorry,” she mumbled as she bumped into his shoulder.
“It’s fine.” He didn’t mind. It was just Yana, after all.
Even if Nyrah always included her in her relationship propositions, he could tell Yana had zero interest in him and was only humoring her friend.
Or…he was pretty sure that was the case.
You know, if he also ignored the fact that she was a Romance option in the game.
He half expected Knife to jump in with some words of supposed wisdom, encouraging him to make a move on Yana. Or something else completely useless and annoying. But once again, he had to remind himself that Knife was officially gone.
Yana bumped into him again, and he was about ninety-percent certain it was because she was getting rained on and wanted shelter under the umbrella, and not because she was trying to get extra close.
She was so quiet and stoic most of the time that it was hard to get a read on her, but yeah…
he was like…eighty-five percent certain she did not have a crush on him.
Two women vying for his heart was enough.
They walked briskly through town, and before long they arrived at the dirt road that led to the cottages, which was slowly turning into mud.
Lightning lit up the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder, and the rain really started pouring down.
It was coming in at a slant, and it wasn’t long before their jeans were soaked through.
Cody’s socks squished in his shoes with every step.
Yep, today would have been a good day to bring the car.
He was about to ask Yana if she wanted to make a run for it, when he heard his phone ringing. He handed the umbrella to Yana so he could fish it out of his pocket. He saw it was Morgan calling and immediately answered. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Are you home?” Morgan hurriedly asked.
“I’m on my way home, why?”
“Gracie ran off again. She might be headed to the workshop. Doug is about to leave and drive over, but if you make it there before him, can you look for Gracie?”
“Of course. We’ll be there in like five minutes.”
“Thank you. Call me as soon as you find her!”
“Will do. And she’ll be fine, okay? We’re going to go get her right now.” They swapped ‘I love yous’ before he hung up and pocketed his phone. Cody turned to Yana: “Gracie ran off. You good if we run the rest of the way home? Morgan wants us to check the workshop.”
“Sure.” Yana pulled the umbrella shut before taking off running.
She kept a steady lead, running with long, practiced strides. He watched as she rounded the bend that led to Grandpa Sam’s workshop in the woods, but before he could make it there, she was already on her way back, breathing heavily and shaking her head.
Under any other circumstance, it would have been really hard to ignore the way her white T-shirt was clinging to her modest-sized chest. But the thin fabric was soaked and had become near translucent, revealing that she was not wearing a bra. Cody quickly focused on her face.
“She’s not in there,” Yana said.
“Cottage.” They rushed inside, but it was empty, except for a very confused and sleepy Nyrah in the guestroom.
“What’s happening?” Nyrah asked.
“Gracie’s missing,” Cody explained. “But stay put. We have it covered.”
“Where else could she be?” Yana asked.
Before he could answer her, Doug’s black pickup truck pulled into the driveway.
“Shit.” Cody rushed out, meeting him in the rain. “She’s not in the workshop or the cottage. Maybe she’s still on her way over?”
“What do you mean she’s not here?” Doug shouted.
He stalked off to the workshop, Cody and Yana following close behind.
The giant ginger man flung the door open so hard Cody thought he was going to rip it off the hinges.
Judging by the way Doug immediately slammed the door shut, Gracie had not snuck in while they were in the cottage.
Doug ran a hand over his face, wiping away the rain. He was clearly having a dad-breakdown.
“Anywhere else you want us to run and check?” Cody asked.
“Fuck! I don’t know!”
“Okay, man,” Cody said slowly. “Let’s calm down and try to think things through.”
“GRACIE!” Doug shouted and started jogging into the woods.
“He did not calm down and stop to think things through,” Yana said.
“No, he didn’t.”
Cody followed Doug, but took a moment to send off a quick text to Morgan. He didn’t want to worry her, but he also knew she’d be wondering why he hadn’t texted her back yet.
“Gracie!” Yana called into the woods, echoing Doug. “Gracie, where are you?”
Cody did the same, but then lightning struck—literally and figuratively. The light lit up the forest, followed by the boom of thunder, and Cody stopped short and brought up his Map. Yana noticed he had stopped and turned to him. “What are you doing?”
“I have a Map as part of this game. All the Residents who I need to become Friends with show up on my Map, including Gracie.”
“Oh! Perfect!” Yana waited expectantly.
Cody quickly found the glowing green dot that represented Gracie. She was in the forest, but in the opposite direction they’d been looking for her, halfway between Cody’s cottage and Doug’s. “You’re faster than me, Yana. Go catch up to Doug, tell him he’s going the wrong way.”
Yana sped off, quickly returning with Doug.
“You know where she is?” Doug asked.
“Back this way. The forested part between our cottages that runs along the lake.” Cody kept the Map up as he set off running, with Yana and Doug following.
Gracie’s dot wasn’t moving. Cody wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign, and he didn’t think that information would help Doug calm down, so he kept it to himself.
There were a few cottages between Doug’s place and Cody’s, but they were all closer to the road, with a thick stretch of forest between them and the lake.
Cody started down the narrow dirt trail, but as he assessed his map, he realized Gracie had veered off the beaten path at some point.
Cody turned sharply towards the lake. His phone kept dinging with new text messages and started ringing, but he assumed it was Morgan.
He’d call her as soon as they found Gracie.
“Where are you going?” Doug shouted. “I think we should stay on the trail. Gracie would follow the path.”
“You sure about that?” Cody called over his shoulder.
She wasn’t his kid and he didn’t know her very well, but if she was wily enough to evade her babysitter and run off on the regular, that didn’t sound like the kind of kid who stuck to the path.
Besides, Cody had his Map. He would have no way of explaining how he pinpointed Gracie’s exact location, but finding her was far more important. She still hadn’t moved.
They were closing in on her now. Thunder rumbled in the sky and Cody quickened his pace, shoving aside a prickly bush—and there she was, on the ground.
She was crouching with her back to them, and she whipped her head around in surprise.
Cody let out a sigh of relief as Doug rushed forward and knelt next to his kid.
Doug grabbed her by the shoulders and started looking her over, as if searching for any injuries.
A notification popped up as Cody watched Doug.
The guy seemed to be walking a fine line between relief that his daughter was okay, and anger that she had run off again.
[Congratulations! You have completed your second Friendship Level with Resident Doug Callahan! Only three more to go until Full Friendship Achieved!]
“Gracie? Are you okay?” Doug said, still checking her over.
Gracie stood up, breaking free from her dad. “I’m fine! I need to collect the Droppies! They only respawn when it rains!”
Her father looked bewildered and Cody felt like he really needed to have a chat with this kid.