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My mom shrugs. “Maybe she will, or maybe there’s somewhere else she’s meant to be. Only time will tell, baby girl.” She leans forward and rubs Savanna’s shoulders gently, while I stand back silently with a heavy heart.
Autumn has left? Or is she just about to?
I can’t let that happen.
I hurry out of my parents’ place and jump into the front seat of my truck before peeling out of the driveway. If I get to Savannah’s house quickly enough, maybe I’ll be able to stop her in time. I only pray I’m not too late.
My hands are tight against the steering wheel the closer I get to their place and I come to a stop outside and jump out. Dawson is sitting on his front porch, a beer nursed in his hand, and he shakes his head slowly at me. “You already missed her, Easton.”
“What?” I ask.
No, this can’t be it.
He sighs and waves a hand toward one of the chairs next to him, but I ignore it and run through his front door. “Autumn!” Nothing but silence greets me and I search the house, tears stinging the back of my eyes. “Red, don’t do this!”
When I get to the door where I know Autumn has been staying, I nudge it open with my foot and everything comes crashing down around me. There’s nothing here. No clothes are thrown haphazardly on the floor as if she was trying to look for something to wear, nothing cluttering the bathroom sink when I step inside, and the bed is made to look like no one was here a day ago.
She’s gone.
I growl loudly into the empty room, then drop to the floor on my ass and let my head fall into the palm of my hands. Why would she leave like that? Bethany has been talking to me about Autumn almost every day, telling me about their video chats, and I thought that meant things were going in the right direction.
I’ve been getting help with my issues. I’d just been waiting patiently before I decided to give Autumn the chance she deserves, but was that the wrong decision? I shake my head, then snap it up when the floor creaks under Dawson’s weight and I watch as he leans against the door frame with a frown. “I told you she left.”
“Where did she go?”
Dawson shrugs and takes a quick sip of his beer. “Sav might know, but there’s a chance Autumn didn’t tell her either.”
“Fuck!” I grind out, pulling at the strands of my hair as if that will help anything.
“Why don’t you chill out here for a minute and calm down?”
As much as I appreciate Dawson’s hospitality, the last thing I’m going to do is sit here and give Autumn more time to get away from me. I’ve got no clue where she went, but that isn’t going to stop me from finding her. I shake my head at him, then push past him and head straight for the front door.
Savanna has to know something.
When I return to my parents’ house for the second time in thirty minutes, I slam the truck door as I jump out. My mother is standing on the porch, watching me approach with tears in her eyes and shaking her head, and I immediately wonder if something else happened to my dad.
Her footsteps follow behind me as I push my way through the house, heading straight for their room upstairs, and I blow out a breath of relief when I find my dad sitting up in his bed with a frown on his face. “Don’t scare me like that, old man.”
My father coughs and shakes his head. “What are you talking about?”
I sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got to find Savanna.” Before he can question my sanity, I quickly turn around and head back downstairs where Savanna is standing in the middle of the living room. “Where did she go, Sav?”
Savanna sobs loudly and glances at me, her eyes red from crying so much. “I don’t think it matters anymore, Easton.”
“The hell it doesn’t!” I step in front of her and place my hand on her shoulders. “I need to stop her, Sav, so where the hell did she go?”
Savanna shakes her head, her gaze darting over my shoulder before coming back to me. “You should go back home.” There’s an emotion swirling through her eyes that has me on high alert and I straighten my spine, looking between my sister and mother.
What the hell is going on? “I’m not leaving, Savanna. Just tell me where she went.”
“She didn’t tell me, okay!!!!” Savanna screams, shaking her head frantically. “I didn’t agree with her leaving, so she didn’t tell me where she was going or how she was getting there.” More tears stream down her face and she sucks in harsh breaths, unable to bring herself to breathe, and I pull her into my chest.
Why is she so upset over this? It’s not like she didn’t do the same thing once upon a time. “Why are you so upset?” I ask her.
Savanna looks at our mother, then takes a deep breath. “I think you should go home, Easton. You don’t need to be here right now.”
Just as she says the words, the TV behind me reports breaking news and Savanna’s face turns white as snow. She tries to keep me from turning around, but I flinch out of her grasp and slowly look toward the television. There’s a large man standing in the middle of a deserted road with a microphone held up to his mouth, as he goes on and on about an accident that just occurred, but I can’t register anything he’s saying.
