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I can’t lose her.
She can be mad at me all she wants if it means she’s safe.
I’ll give us just a few more minutes, but if we don’t find her here, I’ll tell him what I know. I don’t like the way panic has started to seize my lungs, making it harder to catch my breath in the midday sun.
“Maybe we should ask some of the shop owners if they’ve seen her,” I suggest, pulling my hand away from Patton’s as I move forward to the first store. It’s a small hut with a direct path between the front and back doorways. Inside, there are brightly colored dresses, sun hats, and bags.
“Hola, señorita! You need a pretty dress?” The man working approaches me in a hurry, grabbing a dress from the rack and shoving it in my direction.
“No,” I say gently, brushing it away. “I’m sorry. I’m looking for my friend. Have you seen her?” I hold out my phone, displaying a photo of the two of us at a concert earlier this year.
He stares at it for a moment but shakes his head. “No. No. Sorry. We see a lot of people.”
“Thank you.” We pass through the store, and I repeat the routine at the next four storefronts, turning down fresh coconut water, sunglasses, handwoven bracelets, and a fish pedicure as I try to siphon information about who might’ve seen Mae.
We hit dead end after dead end. No one in the immediate area claims to have seen her or anyone who looks like her.
“We should check over there,” Blake says, pointing toward a large crowd of people gathered around a pool that sidles up to a restaurant.
“Yeah.” I start to follow his lead when I hear Patton clear his throat. Realizing he’s no longer beside me, I turn around. He has stopped, staring down at his phone with a worried expression.
I hold in the groan I want to release. “What is it?”
“I should take this,” he says softly, looking at me with a gentle expression. “We passed a café over there.” He gestures behind us. “I’m going to see if they have Wi-Fi so I can get everything taken care of and focus. I’ll catch up with you guys. Go ahead.” He starts to jog away, already answering his phone, but stops long enough to offer me a mouthed apology.
It looks almost genuine, but at this moment, I can’t bring myself to care. I don’t care about anything except finding Mae. Enraged, I storm off toward the pool and the crowd of people. I’m angry that he doesn’t seem to be aware of how serious this is. I’m furious that I can’t focus on Mae because he’s being so awful right now.
I get that he doesn’t really know Mae, but how can anyone be so heartless under these circumstances? How can work matter in the slightest when someone is missing?
Once we reach the pool, I force the thoughts away. None of that matters. With a hand over my brows to shield my eyes from the sun, I scan the crowd in the pool. There is a game of chicken going on—two women perched on men’s shoulders, trying and failing to knock each other down while a group cheers all around them. Others are ordering food and drinks at the swim-up bar. There’s hardly any free space in the water at all. I imagine if these weren’t our circumstances, Mae and I would’ve found a way to get in anyway.
Blake and I pull out our phones. I approach a woman in a lounge chair, reading an Emerald O’Brien mystery.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I’m sorry to bother you.”
She puts the book down cautiously, lowering her sunglasses. “I’m not interested.”
“No, it’s not that… I’m not selling anything. My friend is missing. I was wondering if you happen to have seen her?” I push the phone forward, revealing the photograph of Mae.
She studies it briefly. “No, I’m sorry. I just got here. She doesn’t look familiar.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I move to the next chair, where a young woman is nursing her infant. “I’m so sorry to bother you,” I whisper, holding out my phone. “Have you seen this woman anywhere?”
The woman grins at me, leaning forward ever so slightly so as not to disturb the baby. “I’m sorry, no.”
“That’s okay. Thank you.” I back away, searching for anyone else who looks approachable.
A middle-aged man is watching me closely from his lounge chair, his round belly hanging over the jean shorts he’s wearing. Farther down the line, Blake is talking to an elderly couple, holding out his phone. He seems to be having no more luck than I am.
“Have you seen this woman?” I ask the man.
He scoots closer, squinting to get a better look. “Sorry, sweetheart. Ain’t seen ’er.”
I move down the line, checking with everyone I pass on my way to meet Blake. Most people are kind, and some are even apologetic as they tell me no, while others blow me off. One older woman even swats my phone away.
When I’m feeling completely disheartened, I spot Blake chatting with a man who is pointing and nodding his head enthusiastically. A lump forms in my throat as I jog their way. I need to catch a break. We need someone to tell us something. At this point, it’s as if she never existed. No one seems to know anything. No one seems to care. When things like this happen, you’re supposed to have police on your side. Family to surround you. Right now, it feels very much like it’s just Blake and me in this alone.
