Grinning, Rey got off the bed. “The mess is still downstairs, and it’s bothering me.” He got more serious. “Lake forbade me from cleaning it since you said you would.”
I sighed and flopped down theatrically, staring at the ceiling. “I’ll go do it in a bit. I promise.”
Rey huffed a little, then left me to soak in the tragedy of my own making.
* * * *
I went to clean the kitchen and dining area—we had two tables of four, because somehow that had been Ruth’s preference—and put on the dishwasher.
I turned around to go wipe the table the four of us had used when I saw Ben step into the room.
“Oh, sorry,” he blurted out. “I was just getting a drink.” He lifted a water bottle.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, go ahead.” I ducked away from the kitchen, even though the whole space including the living room was basically an open area. Do you know how hard it is to hide in an open layout house?
By the time Ben was gone and I was done, I realized I hadn’t heard anything from Lake’s bedroom. His room, Ruth’s old one, was next to the office downstairs. I knocked on his door and heard nothing. There was no light coming from below the door, either.
Frowning, I tried the office, but that was empty and dark, too. I felt my heart picking up speed. Where could he be?
I tried to think, but my brain defaulted to bad things. It often would when it was about my family, and Lake was my brother in everything but blood.
I went upstairs and knocked on Rey’s door.
“Yeah?”
I peered in, finding him sitting by the kittens’ playpen, watching them with a heavy-looking textbook on his lap.
“Hey, have you seen Lake?”
Without taking his gaze off the kitten that was ever so carefully sniffing at his fingers through the fenced in area, he shook his head. “Nope. Probably in his room.”
“Okay, thanks. Good night!”
“Night.”
I backed away before I could freak him out, too. Rey was very in tune with everyone’s emotions, both in good and in bad. He was a picture of a kid who had had to tiptoe his way around a household growing up.
I did an anxious loop around every room in the house except Cook’s—the literal cook of the rescue whenever he was in between some fancy yacht jobs—and Ben’s. I couldn’t find Lake.
I knew we were in the middle of nowhere and he could’ve gone to Theo’s or to the stable to cool off. He was mad at me, for a good reason, but he also didn’t have all the facts and I didn’t want to explain. He’d tell me to talk to Ben even more if he knew everything.
So, I went to my room, forced myself to take a shower to calm down, and went to bed.
* * * *
I tossed and turned all night, then decided to get out of bed because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Grabbing my phone, I went downstairs to start coffee. It looked like Lake hadn’t been to his room, and I tried to stay calm.
I sipped my coffee on the couch when I realized I’d gotten a very early email. It was from Dr. Cobb, who invited me to come over later for a final chat. I felt like fist-pumping, but I also wasn’t in the mood until my best friend was back.
Suddenly I heard the front door open quietly. I put my mug on the coffee table and rushed to the door.
“Where were you?” I blurted out, knowing I came across exhausted and worried, which was exactly what I was in that moment.
Lake glared at me as he straightened from putting his shoes on the rack and marched past me to his room.
When I stepped in after him, he was already stripping for a shower.
