The corners of his mouth tightened. I knew he wasn’t keen on sharing information that was on a need-to-know basis, but I was part of the need-to-know crew.
“Cole arranged a dead drop.”
“What’s that?” I grimaced. “Please tell me he’s not leaving a dead body somewhere. I don’t have a steel stomach around blood the way you do.”
Jude chuckled. “It’s where someone leaves something hidden at an agreed-upon spot. In our case, it’s fake IDs and tickets for the train and bus.”
“Is Cole here?” I blurted out before I thought better of it. If Cole was here, maybe Joel was too.
“No. He had an associate in the area deliver the package. I’m just going to pick it up.”
My heart fell just a little. “Oh.”
“But we do need to stop in town.” He glanced at me. “How do you feel about being a brunette?”
“Excuse me?” I shrieked as I clutched the ends of my hair. “Absolutely not.”
“Fine. A redhead.”
“Again—absolutely not.”
“Blue hair?” he asked.
I scoffed. “Why don’tyoudyeyourhair?”
“I’m going to. Probably gonna go dark. Probably going to buzz it too.”
“Why?!” I shouted. Now he was just being ridiculous.
Jude cracked a smile as he raked his fingers back through his shoulder-length hair. “You like my hair or something, little fox?”
I crossed my arms and tipped my chin up. “Yes.”
He was way too self-satisfied at my confession.
The trip down the mountain was slow and lumbering. Once we got onto a paved road, we didn’t fare much better. The pavement was littered with downed branches and rocks from the torrential downpour last night.
After being sequestered for so long, it was strange to see roads and other cars. Since I had started college, my singular goal was to keep earning degrees, then teaching positions, and—someday—tenure. I had never stopped. Never paused.
But I had disappeared into thin air, yet life went on.
My degrees still hung on the wall in my office.
Collecting dust.
I was proud of them, sure. I had worked my ass off for them.
But in the blink of an eye, none of it mattered.
If I didn’t show back up by August, they’d be taken down. Maybe put into storage. Someone else would take my office and put their accolades in the exact same spot, and it’d be like I was never there at all.
Vaanya had probably still gone on her weekend trip to Nantucket. Jake was probably doing his own thing in Storrs. Caitlin was probably busy moving apartments. Marcus had family visiting . . . Maybe they missed me. Maybe they had shared news of my abduction in the group chat and talked about it for a day.
Then moved on.
The moment that Jude held a rag to my nose and mouth to make me pass out had made my life flash before my eyes.
It was supposed to be the moment I realized what a full and wonderful life I had. Not an epiphany that I meant very little to everyone around me, no matter how much I tried to matter to them and care for them.
