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Guilt settles in my chest because I haven’t seen my mom at all this week. Between appointments to be cleared to play again from my broken bones—I had multiple setbacks over the past few weeks—and a few commitments with the band, I just haven’t had time. I should be there more, but it seems like every single day just blurs into the next.
I try calling Isla while on my way to Belleview, but she doesn’t answer. It’s not even four in the morning, so I’m sure she and B are fast asleep. Panic chokes me, and I realize I don’t have any of my quick-acting anxiety pills in my center console because we keep them in my security car. I never drive anywhere myself anymore. Fuck.
I dial his number without thinking, because he’s the only other person who can calm me down. We haven’t spoken much since the night of the funeral, aside from work things. I can’t think about that right now. I just need him.
“Dec?” His voice is sleepy, raspy, and deep. “What happened?”
“It’s Mom,” I breathe into the phone. “The assisted living community lost her. They can’t find her. She isn’t anywhere.”
Spence knows about my mom’s diagnosis, but so far, she’s been safe. She isn’t a flight risk, and her memory isn’t to the point of needing an actual memory care unit. She’s alert and oriented, as her nurses say, and I’ve never been worried about something like this happening. I thought this would be something that may happen in five or ten years. Not now.
“Give me the address. I’m on my way.” I can tell he’s wide awake now, the sleepiness gone from his voice as he shuffles around his house. I can hear keys rattling and a garage door opening as I tell him the address. “Dec, we’ll find her. She’s going to be okay.”
I want to believe him.
* * *
It’s been two hours of searching. We’ve all split up, and I have my ringer on as loud as it can go. My adrenaline has fully kicked in as I make my way down to the lake. I don’t know where the hell to go, and this city is too damn big to try and decipher what mom would have been thinking when she left—if she left on her own. My thoughts are plagued with the worst, but I keep trying to give myself little pieces of encouragement.
I’m going to find her.
I run up and down the shoreline, and Landon and Rush are on my heels. I had no choice but to call them an hour in as the sun started to rise and people were realizing who I am.
My voice has gone hoarse from calling her name so many times, but I keep trying.
My shoes make it hard to run in the sand, like each step my feet take, it’s harder and harder to lift them back off the ground. The ringing of my phone sends a shock through my palm, and instantly, my stomach spins with dread. I don’t even look to see who is calling me; I just answer it. It doesn’t matter.
“Dec, I have her.” Spence’s voice instantly heats my entire body. It’s gotta be in the low forties outside, and I didn’t bring a coat. Landon and Rush have both tried to give me theirs, but I refuse to put them out when I’m the one who forgot. “She’s okay. We’re going back to Belleview now, and the doctor there is going to check her out.”
I fall to the ground as every single muscle in my body relaxes with his words. My adrenaline disappears like it was never here to begin with.
She’s okay.
“Where was she? Did you find her?” I ask him, and he’s trying to comfort my mom in the background. I can hear her say his name—there’s a familiarity in her tone, and it relieves me that she knows him. She remembers him. So what the hell happened?
“I found her not even a mile away. She was sitting on a bench in that little park south of Belleview.” He lowers his voice, and it becomes slightly muffled. “I knew they said they had searched all around the immediate location here, but I’ve got the feeling that they didn’t. They were just trying to cover their asses.”
I didn’t even think to question them when they said they searched. And maybe they did, but apparently, not good enough.
***
31
***
SPENCE
Declan runs into her mother’s bedroom not even five minutes after the on-site doctor walks out of Mrs. Rothschild’s bedroom.
“Mom!” She runs at her full speed as she sits on the edge of her bed, flinging her arms around her. “God, you’re freezing, Mom.” Declan pulls away from her and assesses her, her eyes roaming from the top of her head down to her toes. Mrs. Rothschild is wrapped in a large brown blanket that the EMS gave us.
“Declan, honey, nice to see you here. You’ll never believe it, but Spence Reid came to visit me.” She smiles a wide-toothed smile, and Declan looks from her over to me.
“He’s still here, Mom. He’s right over there.” She motions to the chair in the corner where I’ve been sitting since the doctor let me back in after his quick examination—he was probably only in here for five minutes.
“Oh, silly me. I knew that.” She smiles again and pats the side of the bed next to her. “Come sit by me again, Spence. I was so enjoying our conversation. Honey, did you know that Spence has been all over traveling? I remember him leaving, but I couldn’t remember why.”
Oh, the irony.
