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Simon's face tensed but he just nodded. He lowered his mouth and I leaned up towards him. He stroked the back my head as he pulled me closer, but he frowned when I flinched.
"I hit my head on the dresser. It's just a little sore," I explained quickly.
Simon's frown deepened as he turned me around, examining my head with gentle hands. "You have a pretty nasty bump here. We should go to the health center."
"I'm fine, Simon. I'll probably just have a headache for the rest of today."
"Caitlin, you've barely recovered from a concussion and now you've hit your head again. You need to get it checked out." Simon lifted an eyebrow as if he were daring me to disagree.
I sighed but nodded my head, knowing that he was right. Fortunately, the wait wasn't very long to see the nurse and she just told me to take some pain killers and to come back if it didn't get any better or if I had any nausea or difficulty in my thought processes or motor skills.
Sarah jumped up and hugged me when we got back to Simon's apartment, unable to hold back her tears. Kendra looked confused by her extreme reaction, but Sarah just said it was almost the time of the month for her and it always made her a little crazy. Fortunately, Kendra accepted the excuse and proceeded to regale Sarah with different solutions for PMS. Simon rolled his eyes and led me away to his bedroom as Kendra chattered on.
"What are we doing in here?" I asked. Simon guided me to the bed and he laid down, pulling on my arm to urge me to join him.
"Simon! Sarah and your sister are right outside the door! This isn't the time for a make-out session!"
My words belied my actions as I allowed Simon to pull me down. He gathered me in his arms, spooning me and holding me so close that it was hard to tell where I started and he ended.
"Just let me hold you for a little bit," he whispered. "I still have to convince myself that you're okay. That I haven't lost you."
I melted into him, feeling warm and safe and at home.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The rest of the day was uneventful. The boys never did end up playing basketball. Instead, Simon invited everyone to his place where we ordered Chinese takeout. Simon kept touching me the entire night, as if he needed to reassure himself that I was really okay. Everyone turned in early since we were all leaving for Thanksgiving the next morning.
The drive down to Connecticut on Wednesday morning was longer than expected, due to the heavy traffic. Even Kendra ran out of things to talk about and eventually fell asleep. I was too wired by the past day's events, even though I felt fatigue weighing me down.
"How much longer?" I asked, leaning my head back against the seat.
"We should get there in about an hour." Simon glanced at me and tightened his grip on my hand. "Tired?"
"A little. I shouldn't be complaining since you're the one driving."
"Anything else bothering you?"
I glanced behind me to make sure Kendra was asleep in the backseat. "Not really. It's just the closer I get to Connecticut, the harder it is to deal with the fact that my aunt is still missing."
"The police haven't come up with any leads?"
I sighed, thinking of my last conversation with the detective from my aunt's precinct. It was as if Aunt Brenda and her friends had disappeared into thin air and I didn't understand why more wasn't being done about it. The police seemed to believe that they disappeared of their own accord, but even their friends and families didn't seem to be overly concerned.
"No. No one seems to care. It's like everyone thinks they just simply walked away."
"I'm sorry, Caitlin. I know how hard it was to lose your aunt right after you found her."
I squeezed Simon's hand in gratitude for his sympathy. "I have to believe she's still out there somewhere, waiting for me to figure out what the hell is going on and save her." I felt an ache in my chest. "I can't tell you how satisfying it felt to save Neal yesterday. To destroy his vardoger. It was amazing. Empowering. But those feelings disappear when I think about the fact that I can help strangers, but I can't help my own aunt."
"We'll find out what happened to her, I promise." My heart dropped at Simon's words. Instead of saying that we'd find her, he had promised that we would find out what happened to her. It sounded like he assumed my aunt was dead.
I pushed the morbid thought aside. "Can we visit my aunt's house today?"
Simon glanced at me quickly before turning his gaze back to the road. "Of course."
The last hour of our drive went by quickly and soon we were pulling into Simon's circular driveway. Maxine greeted us with a warm hug and smile, ushering us inside.
"Your father is at work, of course, and your mother is visiting some friends but she
