Thank you again. Seriously.
Are you getting these?
I stare at them. One after the other. No response. Not even a read receipt.
A small frown pulls at my mouth. “That’s…weird.”
I tap into the thread, scrolling like maybe I missed something. Nothing. I type, then stop. Delete it, and type again.
Pause.
“Okay,” I murmur to myself. “Maybe he’s just busy.”
That makes sense.
He’s with a room full of girls and whatever chaos that turned into. Still, call it women’s intuition, but something about it feels off.
I shake it off, setting my phone down as I move around the kitchen, grabbing a glass, filling it with water, trying to settle back into normal. Grandma’s home, and that’s the priority.
I grab the plastic soiled clothes bag from the hospital and head to the laundry room to start a load of wash when there’s a knock at the front door. We’re not expecting anyone, so I head for the door, pull it open, and am surprised to find Lucy on the porch with two bags of groceries in her hands and a look on her face that tells me this is not a casual drop-in.
“Hey.” I step back, already opening the door wider.
“Figured you could use some food for the weekend,” she says, holding the bags up high.
“You timed that perfectly. We just got back from the hospital.”
Lucy nods, stepping inside, but there’s something in her face that keeps everything in me on alert.
“Actually, I called there first, looking for one of you,” she says. “They told me you took your grandma home. How is she?”
“She’s good,” I say quickly. “She’s resting, or supposed to be. Come in.”
I close the door behind her, motioning her toward the living room. “Are you okay? Your face tells me that something is going on.”
Lucy hesitates, just for a second. “I just heard from Liam.”
I don’t know why, but back to that woman’s intuition thing. Something in my chest tightens.
“Have you talked to Ty in the last few hours?”
“No.” My heart stutters, then starts beating faster. “Why?”
Lucy lifts her hands slightly, like she’s trying to keep this calm. “Okay, don’t freak out?—”
“I’m already freaking out.”
“He’s fine,” she says quickly. “We think he’s fine. But he kind of…took off from the workshop.”
I blink. “What?”
“He left,” she says. “Liam said they were in the middle of everything. Things were going well. They put on a movie, it got kind of noisy, there was a lot going on and?—”
“Wait,” I cut in, my brain catching on one word. “A lot going on?”
Lucy nods. “Yeah. Squealing, and parents coming in. I guess it was…stimulating for him.”
I stare at her.
