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I nodded. “Yeah…Uhm. Give me a minute to get ready. I need to go to the library.”
I ran to my bedroom, but not without checking the guest bedroom first, just to confirm that Colt truly wasn’t there. I looked around, noticing that his clothes and belongings were absent. A knot formed in my stomach as I left his room and headed for the bathroom. His toothbrush and shaving cream were gone too.
He was gone, and from the looks of it, it didn’t seem temporary.
I quickly showered and dressed, trying not to panic.
There has to be a logical explanation for this, I told myself. Colt didn’t leave me. Whatever this is about, it’s temporary. No need to panic…
Back in my bedroom, I retrieved my cell phone and swore.
How ridiculous was it that I didn’t even have Colt’s number?
Disregarding the fact that my father wanted to keep limited contact with me for the time being, I dialed his number, needing to know if he was aware of this current situation. Yet, when the phone continued to ring and he did not answer, it occurred to me that he was probably busy with meetings. At the sound of the beep, I left him a voice-message, trying my best to disguise the alarm in my voice.
“Hi Dad. I’m sorry to bother you, but…I just wanted to know if you knew that Colt was gone and someone else is here, claiming that they are filling in for him? Can you…Can you give me a call back? Thanks. I love you.”
I ended the call. Sitting at the edge of my bed, I closed my eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths, letting oxygen fill my lungs, and then exhaling slowly, trying to get my heart-rate back down to normal. Yet, the way my stomach continued to squirm when I returned to the living room to the man who was not Colt, I knew it was going to take more than a couple deep breaths to keep my panic at bay.
In the living room, the man was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, whistling to himself, and flipping through the pages of what looked like some sort of scientific magazine.
I cleared my throat to announce my presence. “And what is your name again, sir?” I asked once he looked up from his magazine toward me.
“Call me Jones,” he said with a smile.
“Jones—my father is aware that you are here, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s been alerted.”
“And he’s okay with it?”
“I would presume so. Have you spoken with him?”
“I just tried calling him, but I think he must have meetings all morning.”
“I see. Yes, the Speaker is a busy man. I wish him all the best though. I think he’d make a fine Vice President. You should be very proud of your dad.”
I forced a smile. “Thank you.”
“So, are you ready to go?”
“Yes. To the local library, please.”
“You want a donut or anything before you go?”
“Uhh…sure.”
* * *
In the car, I tried to eat the donut, but it was hard to swallow over the tightness in my throat. The dough tasted too sweet, and I hated the way it left my hands so sticky. But I forced myself to finish it before we made it to the library. All the while, Jones tried to engage me in polite conversation. He was a friendly man, and I had a feeling he and my father could have gotten along well. He was the type of guy that I could imagine myself referring to as ‘uncle’ had I known him longer.
However, he wasn’t Colt. And I desperately wanted Colt back.
When we got to the library, I went to the front desk to request several study guides. The woman behind the desk stared at me for a moment, and I instantly felt myself growing paranoid.
Did she know something about yesterday? Had she seen me and Colt? Had the person who’d almost come toward the room we’d occupied mentioned something to a library worker—telling them to be on alert for the Speaker’s daughter and a tall and hot security guard because they had done filthy things on a library table in a back room?
After she retrieved the study guides, she didn’t hand them over right away. She continued staring at me, her eyes scrutinizing me in a way that made me want to run away and never come back.
