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“Vi left the pool at lunchtime to have lunch with Mom. Didn’t she text you?”
“No, but…I still have her phone so she can’t.”
“Oh, I forgot about that.”
Allie comes over to the table to pick up her phone, pulling up Jenna’s contact to call her.
“Jenna’s phone is going straight to voicemail,” she says.
“They’re probably at the nail place or something,” Max says. “You want me to drive by and see if Mom’s car is there?”
“No…I’ll try texting Jenna,” Allie says.
She’s worried, and I want to reassure her, but I don’t know what to say. It doesn’t seem like a good time to offer false reassurances.
“It’s not like Vi to not even ask,” she murmurs.
Max and I look at each other, both of us silent and unsure what to say.
“Let’s give it an hour,” I suggest, needing to say something—anything—to help. “Jenna will probably text you back by then.”
She smiles. “You’re right.”
“I’ll order the pizza and go get it.”
“I’m going to take a shower. I spilled grape juice all over myself at the store when I was helping organize stock today. I would’ve showered when I got home, but I was all excited about my schedule idea.”
She walks over and takes my face in her hands, kissing me. “Thanks for taking care of dinner.”
“No problem.”
She goes upstairs and I call the Gas N’ Go to order dinner, adding the garlic twists just in case. By the time I get back from picking it up almost half an hour later, Allie is sitting on a chair at the kitchen table, elbows resting on her knees, her hair wet from the shower and her forehead creased with worry.
“Hazel and I have called all of Vi’s close friends,” she says as I set the pizza boxes on the table. “No one has seen her or heard anything.”
Max is leaning against the kitchen counter, looking just as concerned as Allie.
“What can I do?” I ask her, walking over to sit next to her.
She sighs heavily. “I don’t know. The police would probably just laugh at me if I called since it’s only been a few hours, but—”
“I don’t think so. The way things have been with Jenna, I think you probably should call. Just to be safe.”
She nods and makes the call, her hand shaking as she dials 911.
Fuck. I hate seeing her so upset. And there’s not a thing I can do to help.
“Hey, go ahead and eat Max,” I say.
He nods and pulls a slice of pizza out of a box, sitting down to eat it as Allie tells the police dispatcher what Vi was wearing this morning.
“They’re sending an officer over,” she says.
Hazel comes downstairs at that moment.
“You called the police?” she asks Allie.
“Just to be safe,” Allie says. “Hopefully she’ll be here any minute, but I’m just worried.”
“Me too.”
Hazel goes over to Allie and wraps her arms around her waist. Allie hugs her tight and kisses the top of her head.
“You should eat some dinner,” Allie says to her.
“I can’t eat right now.”
They both look over at Max, who’s about to take a huge bite of his pizza.
“Sorry, I’m starving,” he says. “It doesn’t mean I’m not worried though.”
“Eat if you want, Erik,” Allie says.
“Nah, I’ll wait for you.”
Allie goes out to the front porch, looking up and down the street in both directions. I follow her outside, putting an arm around her.
“Hey,” I say softly. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“This isn’t like her.” She leans against me, wiping her fingertips over her cheeks.
I rub a palm over her back in a circular motion, wishing I knew what to say. I’ve got nothing, though.
Vi’s been begging to leave with Jenna once her visit is over, and now Vi’s nowhere to be seen and Allie can’t reach Jenna. It doesn’t look good.
The Greentree Falls Police Department officer who comes to the house is Austin McConnell, who Allie and I both know from high school. He takes down all the information and promises to check in later tonight.
His call to check in comes at 10:30 p.m. The pizza is cold and forgotten by then, and Allie and Hazel are both gripping their phones while sitting on the couch. No one can find any sign of Vi or Jenna.
Allie won’t sleep tonight if Vi isn’t found, which means I won’t, either. There’s not much I can do to help, but I can be here for her.
So we sit, we wait and we hope. Because even though it’s likely that Vi is safe with Jenna right now, I can’t help worrying that something more ominous happened to her. And even though she doesn’t say it, I know Allie’s worried about it, too.Twenty-OneAllieIt’s been the longest two weeks of my life.
Thirteen days, to be exact. Since the day Vi disappeared, every day has been the same. The Greentree Falls Police Chief, Paul Porter, has come to my house at 7:30 a.m. to go over developments in the case over coffee. He’s even come by on weekends, which means a lot to me.
