Chapter 43
“I blame the snack bags.”
-Flint
I hoped Celia wasn’t mad at me.
It took longer to finish the repairs to the cattle barn than we thought, but at least things would be fine when we left tomorrow morning.
“Where’s your car?” Mama asked as we pulled toward the garage.
I frowned. “Not sure. Maybe Fitch borrowed it.”
It was just after seven and dark outside, so hopefully, Celia felt better. If she felt better, she’d want food. I promised her dinner in the note I left.
“Y’all wanna’ order a pizza?” Jocko turned from the driver’s seat. “I’m afraid there’s nothing in the kitchen worth fixing.”
“Sounds fine,” I answered as I got out of the crew-cab truck.
It didn’t take me long to search through the house and discover something more important was missing besides my SUV.
Celia was gone.
I pulled the phone out of my pocket and frowned at the screen.
No messages. No missed calls.
I tried calling her phone. It went straight to voicemail.
I decided to text her.
Me:
Where are you?
Three dots bubbled, making it look like she was about to text me a reply.
Then, they disappeared.
Then, they returned.
Then, disappeared.
Returned.
Disappeared.
I was about to give up on the texts and send out the search dogs when my phone vibrated with a response.
Lalelei:
Sorry.
Can’t do this.
Tired of cleaning up
everyone’s messes.
