“Well, for starters, you can let go of your fucking pride.”
I laugh. He’s right. Eva deserves better than this.
Grabbing my phone from the table where the plans are scattered all over, I feel around in my pockets for my keys.
“How long of a head start do you think she has on me,” I ask Rex, breaking out in a run for the exit.
“The way she was running, and how she drives when she’s mad, there is no telling. She could already be in Fresno by now,” Rex hollers back at me. “Be careful, though, it looks like we are getting rain for the first time in years. Watch yourself.”
I look outside and notice the rain has already begun to fall. The storm they said would finally roll in hasn’t failed. The roads will be extra slippery now with this being the first rain in months. Looking back at Rex, I nod.
“Yeah, I know, slippery roads!”
“No,” Rex laughs. “Because if you hurt her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
I laugh knowing it’s the truth.
Reaching outside, I run quickly across the parking lot. When I get to my truck, I’m completely dripping wet. Damn, it really is coming down, and reminds me of the strong thunderstorms that come through the south.
As I try to back out of my parking spot, I get stuck waiting for another car to back out first. Then, I get stopped in a line of cars exiting the parking lot. Finally making it out onto the road, I try my best to speed around some of the cars that are driving slower than molasses.
Where would she run off to? I could try her office. Maybe her apartment.
I should have grabbed her and made her listen. I should have tried harder and not let my stupid insecurities get the better of me. If she wanted to move, then I would move too—If she would have me.
She might have dreams she needs to fulfill from before we met, but she is my dream, and I’m not going to let her go easily.
As I make my way towards her town, the cars on the road suddenly come to a complete stop. I look around the cars for a way that I might be able to forge ahead, but there’s nothing.
A few minutes pass and an ambulance drives up the side of the traffic. Well, that can’t be good. Maybe they’ll get it cleared fast, and I can be on my way.
I try calling her but there’s no answer, and it goes straight to voicemail. I try again, but I get the same. It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll find her and make her listen.
Almost twenty agonizing minutes later, traffic slowly starts to move. The rain pounds down against my windshield and makes it hard to make out any sort of the wreck as I pass. The ambulance is gone, not having far to go as the only hospital in town is just a little ways back down the road by Gatsby’s. With so many people standing around, and police and construction works on the road, I can’t make out the car in the wreck, either. But whatever happened definitely doesn’t look good.
When I finally get through, I speed up.
I stop by her office first. It’s about fifteen minutes down the road. But they haven’t seen her since lunch. Great. I thank them and get back in my truck. I pull my phone out of my pocket, unsure if I should try her again or maybe Michael or Gwen.
Damn it, darlin’, where are you?
I make it a few minutes down the road towards her apartment when the phone I’m still holding, still trying to figure out who to contact next, starts ringing in my hand.
I glanced at it and see it’s Gwen. Well, damn if this isn’t perfect timing. She has to know where she is, and even if I have to endure her screaming at me for letting her run off in tears, which she undoubtedly knows by now, then so be it.
“Gwen,” I answer quickly. “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t blame you but …”
Her sobs cut me off. I wait for her to control herself. Did she call me by accident? Why is she crying?
“Noah?” she begins in a shaky voice.
“Yeah?” I question. She doesn’t answer me. “Gwen, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Noah … it’s Eva,” she says in a whisper.
My heart skips a terrifying beat. My hands turn clammy as I clutch the steering wheel. A haunting silence flows through my brain as I put it all together, the rain, the missed calls, the accident.
Fuck, what the hell did I just do?
