“I already talked to him.” Should have known she would try him first. “He’s at home across the state. He hasn’t seen her or heard from her. I’m sure it’s nothing.” I believe her even less the second time. “I’m sorry to bother you. Happy New Year, Jacob.”
She hangs up, but I hold onto the phone. I can’t stay here. Even if she hates me, I have to find Jess. I have to make sure she’s okay.
Candy comes out of the bathroom as I’m putting my jacket back on. She’s let down her hair and is wearing a lot less than she was at the bar. I turn toward the door. “I’m sorry. I have to go. A friend of mine is in trouble.”
She comes up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist. “Can’t it wait? I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
I shake her off. “I need to go. Now.”
She sticks her bottom lip out in a childish pout. “You’ll come back, won’t you? After you help your friend. It doesn’t matter how late.”
“I’m sorry.” I have my hand on the doorknob. “I don’t think I’ll make it back.”
“You have my number,” she yells after me. “Call me sometime, okay? We can get together.”
“Sure.” But I know I’ll never call her.
I get in my car, not sure where to look. I rack my brain to think of somewhere that Jess might go. Where would I go? It hits me as I pull out of the parking lot—the cemetery.
I call Mrs. Roberts back and ask her where Matt is buried.
“I should have thought of that,” she says. “I’ll tell Paul to go there.”
“No, don’t.” I want to be the one to find her. “I’m on my way now. I’ll let you know if she’s there.”
It’s pouring rain. The wind howls, making the trees at the edge of the cemetery bend and twist as if they’re alive. “Jess!” Her name disappears into the wind. It’s a big cemetery. I should have asked where Matt’s grave is. I keep walking, yelling her name every few steps. I reach the far end without seeing her.
I circle around the other side, my voice gone. I’m drenched and freezing. This is stupid. She’s probably on her way to see Michael. Even Jess wouldn’t be crazy enough to be sitting in a cemetery in weatherlike this. I turn to go, but then see her car parked on the other side of a huge cedar tree.
She is here.
forty-two
Stone
Ipush through the driving rain, across the wet grass, and past the cold gray stones standing as lifeless sentinels. I move faster, call louder, but she doesn't answer. I walk up and down the rows, panicked.
Then I see a dark figure kneeling in the wet grass. I call her name.
“Jacob?” She looks up. Her hair is wet and hanging in her face. Her clothes are clinging to her body. The stone in front of her bears her brother's name, dates that are too close together, a cross, and an engraved American flag.
I kneel down beside her. “I’m here, Jess.”
“Jacob? Why?” She shakes her head. “Why are you here?”
“We were worried about you. Taryn said you left them a couple of hours ago. She didn’t know where you were going.”
“But why areyouhere?” She looks dazed, and she’s shivering. Rain streams from her hair and down her cheeks, but she's not crying.
“To get you. We need to go back to the car; you’re freezing.”
“After everything I did to you? After everything I said? You should hate me, Jacob. You shouldn’t be here.”
I put my hands on her shoulders. “If you want me to go, then I'll go. But not until I know you’re safe.” I pull her to her feet. She’s limp, like a wet rag, like all the strength she used to have has been wrung out of her.
I wrap my arms around her, trying to keep her warm, but I’m almost as wet as she is. She trembles in my arms. I drape my jacket over her shoulders. Her car is closest so I half-carry, half-drag her to it. “Where are your keys?”
She points to the ignition. I help her in the passenger side and then start the car. The first blast of air hits us. It’s freezing.
