I shrugged, figuring I had nothing to lose by this friendly competition. “A free meal on me from your place of choice.”
“Ooh, you might as well go ’head and make the reservations because I promise it’s coming sooner than you think.”
Bending down to sweep the pile of dirt into my dustpan, I stood gently to dump it safely in the trash can. My ringing phone distracted me from the last of my cleaning. I smiled when I saw it was Sym. He hadn’t been gone very long. I guess he already missed me.
“Hey, babe,” I answered quickly. I moved on to wiping down my counters.
I paused when Sym’s panicked voice came through the line. “Valleigh, Iylah is missing. I can’t find her anywhere.”
He didn’t need to say anything else before I was racing through the house to throw on some clothes. I told him to stayput until I got there; that way, we could search for her together. I prayed the entire time I got dressed and drove over to Rhap’s home on the Northside.
Symphony was on the sidewalk, pacing back and forth. I rolled down my window, yelling to get his attention. “Come on!” His head popped up when he heard my voice. He took big steps over to my car. I unlocked the doors so he could get inside. “Hey, baby, what’s going on?”
He shook his head, running his hands down his face. “I stopped to pick up some food before I came. When I got here, Rhap opened the door for me, all smiles and good vibes. I didn’t think anything was wrong until I called out for Iylah to come eat. When I asked him where she was, he started asking me,who is Iylah?” He blew out a frustrated breath. “The neighbor said she saw Rhap and Doodle leaving not too long ago, heading toward the main street.”
He sounded so troubled, and I understood why. This was a very serious situation. “Did you call the police?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to see if I could find her first. I don’t want to risk her getting picked up by child services.”
I placed my hand on top of his hand that rested on his knee. He slowly turned to look at me.
“We’re going to find her,” I assured him.
He stared at me for a second longer before nodding. For the first time, I didn’t see Sym, the superstar. I saw the little boy I knew, the one who was always responsible for more than he felt he could handle.
I bit my lip as I pulled away from Rhap’s home. Something was going on with him that needed to be addressed. I tried not to worry myself too much because Sym was doing enough of it for the both of us. My head was on a swivel as I searched each and every block we passed, looking for Iylah.
“I knew better than to leave her alone with him. I knew something wasn’t right,” he spoke lowly.
I squeezed his hand. “Hey, don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. Whatever is going on with your brother is not your fault.”
His voice was so small when he spoke again. “It feels like it.”
I was about to respond when I noticed Iylah sitting on a bus stop bench. She was crying hysterically, looking up and down the street, clearly confused about where she was. There was an older woman sitting beside her on the bench with a phone pressed up to her ear.
“Look, babe! There she is!” I hollered.
His head snapped up to see where I was pointing toward the bus stop. I barely had the car stopped when he hopped out and raced over toward her. I turned the corner, parked, and threw on my hazards before following suit. He was already cradling Iylah to his chest by the time I walked up.
I placed a hand on Iylah’s back. She was still pretty torn up, and I couldn’t blame her. She was too young to be out on the streets on her own. Not to mention, her little glasses were missing. That broke my heart further, knowing she was out there, winging it.
I turned to the woman when I heard her speak into the phone. “Actually, I think someone just came for her.”
I nodded, moving toward her. “Did you find her here?”
She shook her head. “No, we were like a block down. She almost walked straight into the street. I just stopped here for her to sit and rest herself. I don’t know how long she was walking.”
I pointed to Sym. “That’s her uncle. Her father accidentally lost sight of her earlier. Thank you for keeping her safe. We’ve got her from here.”
She nodded, hanging up the phone call. Turning to Sym, I took his hand in mine, then walked us all to the car. He didn’twant to let her go, so he got in the backseat with her. It was quiet, apart from Iylah’s sniffles and Sym assuring her that she was safe. I could barely contain my own tears on the drive back to my house. I knew he wouldn’t want to face his brother, but at some point, we would. Whatever was happening would only get worse. For Iylah’s sake, we had to get him some help.
Iylah was passed out asleep by the time we made it to my house. The poor baby was exhausted. I opened the door to help them out, then held hands with Sym on the way to the door. I unlocked it, then flipped the light switch in the living room on as we entered.
“You can lay her in the spare bedroom for now,” I whispered to him.
He nodded before heading in that direction. I followed behind him, standing at the door, admiring how gentle he was with her. He sat on the side of the bed, watching her sleep. Eventually, he got up and walked over to me. We kept the door open before walking to my bedroom.
Sym sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. I crawled on the bed behind him to wrap my arms around him. “She’s safe, baby,” I reminded him.
