She gasped. “No. It’s my favorite thing in the whole world. I have a basket of them in my room just to snack on.”
I leaned closer toward her. “What would a girl have to do to snag one of those?”
She grinned as she handed out drinks to the other women. “I haven’t had a movie marathon in ages. Everyone here is so stressed that they don’t want to watch them, but that’s how I wind down.”
“You got any Disney?”
She scoffed. “What kind of question is that? Of course, I’ve got Disney.”
I smiled as I leaned back in my chair, checking my phone once more. “Then, count me, my daughter, and my best friend--Chloe--in. You know, once they get back and all.”
I kept refreshing the screen aimlessly, but every time I did the dot only seemed to get further away instead of closer to me. My stomach sank. I only drank half of my smoothie while the girls picked up theirs and cleared out, leaving me and Hayley alone as she eased herself into the chair in front of me.
And as she gulped away, I forced myself to put my phone down.
“Frost is a good man. I’ve known him for many years now. And if he says he’s bringing your little girl back, then that’s what he’s doing,” she said softly.
I closed my eyes. “I know.”
She scooted her chair around the edge of the table until she sat next to me. “Would you like some company while you watch that little dot on the screen?”
Relief washed through me as I quickly turned my phone over. “Thank fuck you’re not going to try and make me put this shit up.”
Hayley swatted me playfully. “Girl, I’m a mom. I know better than to do that. But, drink that smoothie for me. We’ll watch this like we watch any other movie, okay?”
I reached for my drink. “Deal.”
While the two of us sucked on our straws, I watched aimlessly as the little dot stopped moving. I zoomed in on the picture and panic dripped my gut as I realized that Natty’s phone was somewhere in the woods. Jesus, she had to have her phone on her. The woods were her hiding place all the time when she was a child. Even now, she always wanted me to take her camping or to the beach. Her peaceful place had always been outside, in the middle of nature, and I gulped down my smoothie as I watched the blinking dot move.
Then, ever so slowly, it started moving in the opposite direction.
“What’s that?” I asked as I stood to my feet.
Hayley stood with me as she hovered over the table. “It’s moving.”
My eyes widened. “It’s moving toward us!”
“Ruby!” Hayley exclaimed.
A clamor happened in the hallway before the tanned woman poked her head around the corner. “What’s up?”
I picked up the phone and whipped around. “The dot is moving toward us!”
Ruby’s eyes widened. “I’ll call Diego. I’m sure he’ll have information for us.”
Hayley pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “I’m calling Stone now. He doesn’t ever not pick up unless they’re in the middle of a firefight.”
I blinked. “Wait, a what now?”
Hayley shook her head. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, we need information. Is that dot still moving toward us?”
“Diego!” Ruby yelped as she pointed to her phone.
I rushed over to her. “Put it on speaker. Please?”
She quickly did as I asked. “Diego? You there?”
The man chuckled. “Hey there, sweetheart. Is everything okay?”
