“Arizona.” Levi placed a hand on my arm, halting me. “It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right.
Time to change tactics.
“We need to call the police. Report him missing.”
He sighed. “They won’t do anything until it’s been at least twenty-four hours.”
My frustration boiled over, and I yelled, “We can’t just sit here and do nothing! He’s out there somewhere, upset and all alone.”
Levi gathered me into his arms. “I know,” he murmured against my temple. “It’s killing me not knowing where he is. But our odds of finding him in the dark aren’t great. We have to hunker down until morning. If he’s not back by then, we’ll go to the police.”
Suddenly, my phone began vibrating, and I gasped, reaching for it in my back pocket.
My heart dropped to my stomach when I saw it was Ellen calling from Mom’s facility.
With a trembling hand, I accepted the call, bringing the phone to my ear. “Ellen? Is my mom okay?”
Her kind voice was laced with sadness. “Arizona, I don’t know how to tell you this . . .”
Oh, God.
Anticipating the worst, I let the phone fall from my grasp and crumpled to the floor.
Levi dropped down beside me, asking frantically, “What? What is it?”
I blinked at him, tears blurring my vision, and croaked out, “My mom.”
“Fuck.” The curse came out under his breath.
“Arizona? Can you hear me?” Ellen called out, her voice coming through the discarded phone’s earpiece.
Levi grabbed it, turned on the speaker function, and introduced himself. “This is Levi Nixon, Arizona’s husband.”
“Hello, Levi. I’m Ellen, one of the nurses who helps take care of Arizona’s mom.”
“I take it you wouldn’t be calling this late on a Saturday if there wasn’t an issue,” he prompted.
“Unfortunately, you are correct. We’ve got a situation over here and are not sure how best to proceed.”
His brow furrowed. “What kind of situation?”
“Austin’s here.”
“Oh, thank God,” Levi said on a relieved exhale. “Babe.” He reached for me. “He’s okay.”
I sincerely doubted that.
Ellen’s following words only confirmed that belief. “Austin arrived visibly upset. We tried to explain that he needed to calm down before he could visit with Sarah, but he managed to slip past security before we could stop him. By the time wereached her room, he was demanding answers about his father. Sarah became agitated at his raised voice and began throwing things, saying that she didn’t know who he was and yelling at him to leave. It only got worse when he ‘introduced’ himself, and she said he was lying, that her grandson was a toddler, not a teenager. He refuses to leave, despite several staff members citing that his presence is hurting Sarah. We would like to avoid having to forcibly remove him from the room, but we will have no choice if this goes on for much longer.”
“We’re on our way.” Levi ended the call, rising to his feet and pulling me to mine. “Maisie!” he shouted. “We gotta go!”
The girl came rushing into the foyer. “Did you find him?”
He gave a nod. “Yeah, we need to go pick him up.”
She didn’t waste any time, pulling on her shoes and heading to the car. Levi guided me to the passenger side and got me settled before jogging around the hood and hopping behind the wheel.
