Tally never went anywhere without her phone. Ever.
We didn’t have our phones. We’d left them behind so they couldn’t track us.
The words she’d used to tell me of her family’s escape from Oregon pounded in my mind. I picked up her phone and tapped on the screen. Our engagement photo stared back at me. I typed in her passcode, scrolling like mad, searching for any clue. Everything looked the same as always.
I picked mine up, the same picture greeting me, hoping for a text. Instead, there were hundreds of “new follower” notifications from Incognito. And a couple of emails from literary agents. Had our book gone viral overnight? I couldn’t even be excited about it. Not until Tally was back.
I laid the phone on the coffee table and forced myself to sit. To wait. But my lungs were too full and filling faster with every breath. Not releasing enough air on the exhales.
Calm down. She’s just gone for a walk and she’ll be back any minute. Maybe she wanted to watch the sunrise.
But the quote…
I left her phone in case she returned, slid mine into my pocket, and exited through the sliding glass door. Memories of falling against it last night, breathless from all the running and kissing, pulsed in my mind. It almost felt like a dream. But thehandprints and smudges from her salt-water soaked dress were right there. It had been real. So incredibly real.
I took off at a jog, heading south. I ran for at least a mile, scanning the shoreline for her. Then I turned and headed back, sweat staining the armpits of my T-shirt. When I reached the beach house I checked it again. It was untouched, nothing out of place. No Tally.
I tore up the sand in the other direction to my family’s beach house. Kim and the kids were staying there. Surely, Kim would know where she was. When the house came into view, I slowed. James, Griffin, and Cash were outside throwing a frisbee already.
“Hey, Funcle Ash,” they called. Even Cash who wasn’t related in the least.
I bounded up the stairs of the back deck. My entire family and Peyton were on the screened-in porch, sipping orange juice and feasting on waffles.
Ford snorted. “Bro, what are you doing here? You should be at your place with your wife doing the hippity dippity.”
I had no witty come back. No sarcastic reply. No words. My lungs were using all my air to fill every anxiety infused cell in my body.
My gaze scanned the table again, the sick feeling growing. Kim, Theo, and Charlie weren’t among them. Everyone went quiet as they watched me with curious, concerned expressions. Christy and I made eye contact for one second and a look of torture crossed her face. Almost like she knew Tally was gone. But that was impossible.
“Have you seen Kim this morning?” I managed to get out to no one in particular.
“No,” Mom said. “I think they’re sleeping in.”
But I knew better. Charlie was an early riser. That kid could stay up until two in the morning and she would still be the first one awake. Tally complainedabout it daily.
Maybe Charlie’s sick. Maybe she’s worn out from the wedding. Maybe the blackout blinds in their room fooled her for once.
Stop kidding yourself. They’re gone. All of them.
“Where’s Tally?” Anna asked but I couldn’t respond.
Without a word, tears burning my eyes, I paced into the house. From room to room, I jogged, calling Tally’s name. I bolted into the room they’d stayed in. Empty. Instinctively, I knew to look for Kim’s phone. If it was there, that was my answer. It wasn’t on the bed, not in her suitcase which lay open on the dresser. Charlie and Theo’s sleeping bags were wrinkled and twisted on the floor. I checked their bathroom, searching every drawer.
There was a pile of clean toilet paper lying on the top of the waste basket. My chest heaved once as I stared down at it. Then I reached down and peeled it away.
And there it was.
Kim’s cell.
Staring at me like a black hole, swallowing every hope I had left. I stumbled into the bedroom, silent sobs stealing my air. I lowered myself to the edge of the unmade bed, trying not to hyperventilate.
Christy came flying through the door, tears in her eyes. She looked at me and I knew she knewsomething. Holden was right behind her, wearing an expression of concern and confusion. Christy lowered herself tentatively onto the bed next to me and took my hand in hers. “I’m so sorry but I think…they’re gone.”
A tear splashed onto my hand, splattering over my wedding band. Then another and another.
Silas, Lemon, Mom, Dad, every adult pushed into the room.
Holden knelt in front of us. “What do you mean, they’re gone?”
