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“No y—”
“Amber,” I say louder than I intend. “Listen to me.” Now I’m the one who needs to count down from a hundred. “For the love of God, let me talk. Please.”
She takes a step back, falling silent as if noticing me for the first time. The fight drains from her body. “You look like you haven’t slept in years. What’s going on?”
I walk back to the car because I need to lean against it for support. My voice is shaky, but I don’t care. “Will you listen? Let me talk and listen for a moment.”
“Okay. I’m listening. You’re scaring me.”
After a deep breath, I respond, “Yes, I said I wouldn’t touch Paige, and I went against my word. I couldn’t help it. Not in the way you think. I wasn’t lusting after her. I mean, not after…anyway, Paige and I got close while you were gone. Emotionally. I love her.”
“Brody,” is her one-word response.
“Right now, I don’t care if you believe me. That doesn’t matter. While I was at work the other day, she left and went home, and we really need to find her.”
Amber clutches her chest. “She left? No. Why?”
“Maybe she felt pressured to be in a relationship. I wasn’t trying to pressure her, I swear. She said it was best if she leaves.”
“No, it’s…it’s not your fault.” Her voice drops. “Not completely.”
“How so?”
“Let’s get home. There’s more we need to talk about.”
We climb in the car and I somehow drive us home. I’m so numb and spacey, it’s a miracle we arrive safely. As soon as we get inside, Amber checks every room, just like I did. After confirming that Paige is actually gone, she collapses into a kitchen chair.
“You broke your promise, and she broke her promise,” she says weakly. “You’re lucky I love you both enough to forgive. I don’t get why she fights me so much. It was such a struggle to convince her to come here. I needed to go to rehab for me, but I also wish I hadn’t so I could’ve stopped her. Ugh, this sucks. I wish I would’ve gotten my shit together sooner.”
“Well, we can both wallow in self-pity later.” I sit in the chair next to her. I’m so tired I’m ready to pass out, but I can’t rest until I find Paige. “First, we need to figure out where she is. I tried looking up Dana Hayden but couldn’t find anyone local. Unless they live in a different city?”
“Who’s Dana?”
“Her mom.”
“She told you her mom’s name?”
“Yeah, why?”
Her posture sags. “She never told me her mom’s name. You really got that close?”
I nod. “Do you know her address?”
“No. I think they live in her grandpa’s old house. And Hayden is Paige’s last name from her dad. She told me her mom has a different last name but didn’t tell me what it is.”
“Okay, well, what’s this discussion we need to have?” I grab an energy drink from the fridge. I hate these things, but it’s all that’s keeping me awake.
“Just a second.” She pulls out her phone and taps the screen. “I want to make sure I’m getting the terminology right for what I could go to jail for.”
It takes a moment for the word ‘jail’ to register in my sleep-deprived brain. What? When I open my mouth to respond, she cuts it.
“Got it,” she says, dropping the phone. “I could get fined and go to jail for up to a year for harboring a runaway because Paige didn’t have permission to be absent from her home.”
I blink a few times. “What? You’re not making sense. She didn’t have permission? She’s a twenty-five-year-old woman. Whose permission does she need?”
“Her mother’s.”
“You need to explain this to me like I’m five because this is nuts. An adult doesn’t need permission from her mother for anything.”
