I looked right into her eyes. “Absolutely. Team Trifecta all the way.”
She smiled, hope returning. “Team Trifecta.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, son.” Mom pursed her lips. “You’re missing part of your Trifecta, if you haven’t noticed.”
I didn’t have time to let that get under my skin. I spoke to Anna and Anna alone. “As soon as I find Clem, we’re going to work this out. It’ll be fine. Don’tyou worry.”
Mom shook her head, lips in a straight line. “I think she’s gone. I’m pretty sure I heard her truck leave a few minutes ago.”
I ran to the window, separating the blinds with my fingers. Mom was right. Clem’s truck wasn't parked where I’d seen it less than twenty minutes before when I walked inside. My hands went numb. She actually left?
I swore. I shouldn’t have taken the time to break up with Christy. Clem should’ve been my priority. I slid a hand into my back pocket to grab my cell, but I realized I was wearing board shorts. No back pockets.
“Where’s my phone?” I grumbled to myself. When was the last time I had it? We’d spent the afternoon at the beach. I left it inside so it wouldn’t get wet or covered in sand.
“I saw it in your room,” Anna said.
I raced across the hall and found it lying on the bottom bunk of the bed I always slept on. I flipped it over and pressed call on Clem’s name. While it rang, I paced. She didn’t answer and her voicemail was full. I hung up and dialed again. Again, nothing. Two more times and she still didn’t answer.
I switched to messaging.
Me: Hey, please come back. Let me explain exactly what happened. It’s really not what it looks like. I’m so sorry.
I gave her thirty seconds and when she didn’t respond, I tried again.
Me: Christy and I were kind of engaged at the beginning of the summer, but the longer I was with you, the more I realized that you were the one I loved. Maybe I didn’t handle it perfectly, but I was trying not to hurt her. And I never meant to hurt you. I love you, Clementine. Please believe that.
I set the phone down and told myself I wasn’t allowed to text her again for two minutes. She was probably driving, not looking at her phone. I tugged at the back of my hair, wearing a line in the carpet. I only made it another thirty seconds before sending another text.
Me: Clem, please let me explain. Just tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.
I sent five more, much the same, and then I sat on the floor, my back against the wall, panic trying to drown me. Had she left for good, or was she just driving around the block for a bit? Why wouldn’t she answer or at least text me back?
I pounded the side of my fist against my forehead and groaned.
“Mom said Clem took off,” Ashton said, suddenly standing in front of me.
I banged the back of my head against the wall. “Yeah. And she’s avoiding my calls and texts.”
“Just go to her, man.”
I scowled. “I would if I knew where she was.”
He shook his phone at me. “She’s on our Find My Friends group, remember? I see her on there all the time.”
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I vaguely recalled that. Freshman year of college, I’d checked her location incessantly. That’s why I hadn’t used that app in years. It was just another part of the Cutting Clem Out Of My Life plan.
Ashton pulled the app up and clicked on her name. “Sometimes it takes a minute to load.”
Off in another room, Ford started in on his guitar, playing a soft country ballad, his quiet tenor filling the house. Ford’s answer to anything resembling a battle was to hole up in a room, strum his guitar, and sing until the mortar stopped falling.Oddly, it usually worked, like petting a purring kitten. I closed my eyes, trying to let it soothe me.
After a full sixty seconds, Ashton said. “It says no location found. Do you think she would’ve turned her location services off?”
I tapped the back of my head against the wall. “I think she turned her entire phone off. Either that or she’s blocked me and any way of me finding her.”
“Do you think she went home?”
I pressed my hands into the floor beneath me and pushed to a stand. “Probably. If I’d been caught in the middle of this mess, that’s exactly what I would do. You think Holden will let me take his car?”
