"And you didn't think to call anyone or go looking for her?" My blood was boiling at the idea that he and Anne didn't bother going after her. They just let her leave.
I could tell I'd hit a nerve when he said, "She's twenty-one years old. She's not a child. She called and told us she's living somewhere else now and that she's safe, and she asked us not to push it. Her mother's been a wreck over it, but Sara's a grown woman and if she says she needs space, I'm not gonna drag her home by the collar."
"Where is she?" If he wouldn’t go after her, I would. I had to see her and work this out. I was going crazy every time I thought about not seeing her again.
"I'm not telling you that."
"Peter—"
"No." He held up his hand and his voice went firm. "You don't get to come in here and demand answers about my daughter. You and I had a conversation a few weeks back, and I reminded you of a promise you made to stay away from my children. Now I don't know what's going on right now, but I don't like what it sounds like. Her location is none of your business."
"The hell it isn't," I snarled, but I knew I crossed a line when he pushed off the bench and walked toward me. I'd never hit Peter, not even if he was hitting me. And it appeared that if I pushed my luck, that was just what would happen.
"I'm gonna ask you one time to leave my property, Garret, and if I have to call the sheriff, I will."
I paced the length of the workbench and ran both hands over my head. "This doesn't make sense. She wouldn't just leave."
"Well, she did."
"Did she say anything? Anything at all that might explain it?"
"Now, Garret," he said firmly, and I got the point. I was pushing my luck, and I was lucky he didn't outright accuse me of crossing lines. I had no choice but to get out of here before he started making threats.
I walked back to my bike and threw a leg over and kicked it hard. The engine roared to life, and I tore out of the gravel lot fast enough to throw rocks against the side of the garage, which was reckless and disrespectful and I didn't care. I hit the county road and opened the throttle and let the speed do what the whiskey the other night couldn't, which was drown out every thought in my head.
The road curved south toward town and I knew the bend was coming, but I didn't slow down enough like I should have. The gravel shoulder on that curve had been loose for years, and every rider in the county knew to take it easy through there, but I wasn't taking anything easy tonight. I was running hot and blind and stupid, and when the front tire hit the loose gravel at speed, the bike went sideways under me before I could correct it.
I went down hard on my left side and the bike slid out from under me and scraped across the road in a shower of sparks and grinding metal. My leg caught between the frame and the asphalt, and I felt something give in my knee that shouldn't have, a hot pop followed by a pain so sharp, it whited out my vision. I rolled twice and came to a stop face down on the shoulder with gravel embedded in my forearms and the taste of dirt and blood in my mouth.
I tried to push myself up and my left leg wouldn't respond. It was still there, I could feel it, but it wouldn't move the way I told it to, and the pain was a solid wall of heat that ran from my hip to my ankle. My bike was on its side twenty feet ahead of me with the rear wheel still spinning and the headlight throwing a crooked beam across the road.
I lay there on the gravel and stared at the sky and closed my eyes, feeling the rage of a thousand suns burning in my chest.
I lost her. I really lost her.
7
SARA
The female care aisle at the Walgreens on Lindbergh was empty, which was the only reason I was still standing in it. Had there been other people, I'd have left the store or waited elsewhere for the aisle to clear. It was embarrassing enough fearing a surprise pregnancy, but after more than a month of living in this neighborhood, I was starting to get to know people. People I didn't want knowing my personal business.
I'd walked past it twice already, once pretending I needed toothpaste and once pretending I was looking for Band-Aids, before I finally turned down the aisle and stopped in front of the pregnancy tests. There were at least a dozen brands lined up on the shelf, and every single box had a different promise on it—early detection, digital results, six days before your missed period. I picked one up and turned it over and read the back without absorbing a single word because of how numb I felt, then put it back and picked up another one.
Between the stress of the move and fear of Tony, and the sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling wondering if he was going to show up at my brother's door, my body had been thelast thing on my mind. I didn't remember a period this month, or last month either, for that matter. So the nausea made sense, and the exhaustion made sense, and the way my bras had been fitting tighter made sense too.
I grabbed a pink box that had two tests in it and walked to the front of the store before I could talk myself out of it. The cashier was a girl who looked about my age with a high ponytail and long acrylic nails that'd been painted in rainbow colors. She smacked her gum and lifted both eyebrows as she scanned the test and rang me up.
She glanced at the test and then at me and asked, "You need a bag for this?"
"Please."
She dropped it into a white plastic bag and folded the top over. "Good luck, hon. Whichever way you're hoping it goes." It was a thoughtful gesture, though spoken in a flat tone, and I was just thankful I didn't know her.
"Thanks." I paid in cash and took the bag and walked out the door into the crisp fall air. It was hard not to think about home and the fun things happening in Grove Hill this time of year. I wondered if Garret was participating in the Fall Bar Crawl this year or if he'd sit it out, or how Mom's plans for the diner's tent at the fall festival were going. All things I was missing because of Tony. It made this test feel even heavier as I stalked to my car.
I drove home and parked in Danny's spot. The apartment was quiet and would stay that way for the rest of the week. My brothers were both out of state for a race series and wouldn't be back until Friday, which meant I had four days of privacy to fall apart in peace if I needed to. I felt like I knew what my responsewould be because my gut told me I already knew the answer to this test, but when reality hit, I didn't know for sure how I'd respond.
I didn’t want them asking questions right now when I already felt so raw.
