The gym was full. Fuller than I’d ever seen it. Tables were set up and people were checking in. On the walls, schedules were posted. I’d left my house at fourAMto make it for the eight o’clock start time. I’d made it with fifteen minutes to spare.
Right away I saw Michael in the boxing ring, talking to some fighters. Elijah’s dad was walking the perimeter, directing people. But I didn’t see Elijah anywhere.
It was loud, with both music being piped through speakers and voices and people warming up on punching bags along the wall. I headed for the back office, but he wasn’t there either. The window was dark and the door was locked. I turned away from the door just in time to see Michael ducking through the ropes of the ring and hopping to the floor.
His expression immediately went dark upon seeing me. “What are you doing here?”
“Where is Elijah?”
He shrugged. “Sent a text that he wasn’t coming.”
I blinked in surprise. “Wasn’t coming? Is he okay? Hurt? Did he say why?”
“No, he didn’t and why would I tell you if he did?”
I wanted to shake him but instead just clenched my fists. “Your anger is misplaced, Michael. You should be looking in the mirror.”
“Whatever,” he said, and brushed by me, heading for the front tables.
“And you should have to shave your head,” I mumbled to his back.
Elijah wasn’t here. Did that mean he talked to his dad? Told him he didn’t want to do this? And if he had, then what? Where would he go instead?
Speaking of his dad, he gave me a double take. “Have you spoken to Elijah?” he asked.
I shook my head.
He grumbled under his breath something that sounded like,What am I going to do with him?Then he kept walking.
People were moving and talking and laughing and punching all around me, and I just stood there, not sure what to do next. I hadn’t thought beyond this moment. I was going to come and talk to Elijah. I was going to help with the tournament. Show him the app I had found for events like these. I was supposed to help, to be here for him. Prove that I was sorry through my actions. But how could I be here for him when he wasn’t even here?
I knew how much he loved his family and his brother, even if his brother didn’t deserve it half the time. I could still help. I wasn’t about to take over with my unwanted app ideas though. Especially because it looked like they had everything under control. But I could check people in or hand out wraps. So I did. I stayed there all day, being extra hands wherever I was needed. I even went on an ice run once. But Elijah never showed up, even though I’d been secretly hoping all day that he would.
The tournament ended at seven, and I left without saying goodbye to anyone. I drove to Elijah’s house and stood on his dark porch for several minutes. The inside showed no signs of life either, but finally I knocked. I wasn’t surprised whennobody answered, and yet I stayed for five more minutes, just in case.
I released a breath of air and sank down, sitting on the porch steps. Then I pulled out my phone and texted Tara.
Can I crash at your place tonight?
You’re in town?!
Yes.
But you’re not crashing at Elijah’s? I’m sorry. Yes, come over.She’d obviously put two and two together and figured out I’d come running back for him. And that it hadn’t gone well.
She pulled me into a tight hug when I got to her apartment. “Tell me everything.”
So I did. We sat on her oversized couch with throw blankets and glasses of wine, and I told her about my week and my decision to drive here and about Elijah being MIA. It was nice to be more open with my friends. I finished with, “Where do you think he is?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe he took his camera to the mountains or the beach. He does that sometimes.”
To feel the earth under his feet, my mind said, thinking about Dr. Franklin’s prompt.
“He does?” I didn’t know why I asked. His pictures were proof that he did that sometimes. I just didn’t know that he still did that. That he’d done that recently.
As if reading my mind, she said, “Not so much recently. But before he got busy with the gym, before you came into town, he would.”
It made sense. That’s probably exactly where he was. But how long would he need to commune with nature? Would nature tell him that we were supposed to be together? When would he be back?
