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“Call me as soon as you find her,” Jess stated, and he nodded giving her a hug as they headed to the doors.
“Tasha I’ll be out for the rest of the afternoon,” Will told the temp. “Just take messages and I’ll deal with everything on Monday.”
“Of course, Mr. Masters,” she said, and he wished Liv were back at the desk. He refused to hire someone in her spot. No one could take it and he wasn’t about to tell Liv that she could never return; if she ever wanted it, all she had to do was walk through the door and take it.
He was the exact same. If she wanted him, all she had to do was take him. The last three months had been incredible. Liv slept beside him, allowed him to be intimate without going so far as actually making love with him, and continued to talk to him, explain her feelings whenever things began to get deeper between them.
He glanced at his phone as a reminder came up, and he stopped unable to believe he’d forgotten that Livy’s birthday was today. He let out a soft curse and headed to the apartment checking to see if she had stopped back in there. He didn’t find her but her two bunnies sat in their normal spots, and he breathed easier. Whatever was going on, wherever she was, she hadn’t left. She would never leave the bunnies behind.
The afternoon slipped into early evening, and he headed over to her parents’ house to meet with Teri and Jake. He saw the worry on Jess’ face and gave her a hug as Dan pulled into the driveway.
“You still haven’t heard from her?” he asked, and they both answered with no. “What the hell is going on?”
“We don’t know,” Jess admitted waiting until Teri and Jake arrived before they went inside to worry their parents further.
“Teri, I know you can’t tell us anything Liv says, but…” Will stopped not sure what he was even asking.
“I had an appointment with Olivia yesterday,” Teri said seeing the worry clearly across their faces. “I’m under an obligation to inform someone if I believe my patient is a danger to someone else or them self but I assure you that is not what I felt for Olivia. She was smiling and calm. It wasn’t an act; she’s coming out of the worst of this.”
“Then where is she?” Will asked near panic. “It’s her birthday. I know how much that day used to scare her, but it shouldn’t, not anymore.”
“Maybe she wanted to just forget it this year,” Teri offered. “She may simply be off somewhere by herself ignoring the day. It’s entirely possible she’ll be home later tonight and will pretend it was just another day.”
“I know you want to find her,” Jake added. “If you want I can have some guys on the force help look even though it’s not been the required twenty-four hours.”
“No, if she’s just away to ignore the day we don’t want her to know that we’re so worried,” Will said, but Jess argued.
“Don’t we? She can’t just disappear on us Will.”
“If we ask people to look for her then they’ll think we’re worried about her mental state, afraid she’ll hurt herself,” Will said turning towards her. “Do you want Liv to deal with those curious looks? The entire police force knows what she’s been through do we want to add that onto it?”
“Will’s right honey,” Helen agreed. “If we don’t hear from her by the morning then we’ll check further.”
“I checked the security footage at the apartment,” Will said mostly to Jake, “she left the apartment about eight-thirty this morning. She didn’t seem to be in a rush and her car’s gone but that’s it. She left Wilmer at the apartment,” he added to Jess.
“Wilmer?” Jake said in confusion.
“Liv’s favorite stuffed rabbit,” Dan explained. “She’s had it since she was little. No way she’d leave the thing behind.”
“Which means she’s didn’t leave town,” Jess said biting her lip.
“Not on her own,” Dan stated.
“Really you had to go there?” Will asked his friend seeing Jess’ worry grow. “Jess, she’ll be fine.”
“Will she? I can’t even believe some of the things I said to her while they were married…I don’t know how she’ll ever be okay,” she said, and Helen hugged her tightly.
“Olivia is stronger than you realize than any of you realize,” Teri stated calmly. “She will get through this, thanks to your support she will.”
“The only question is when,” Will mused, thanking the two for coming over to reassure them. He turned towards her family as he stood knowing he couldn’t sit around there much longer. He needed to do something. “I’m going to go back to the apartment, see if Liv comes home.”
“If she stops by here we’ll call you,” George promised, and he nodded.
He was nearly to the apartment when he turned the opposite way, going out to the house on a whim. They’d put a gate across the driveway, and he found it unlocked, hope hitting him as he came up to the darkened house. He still had a key and went inside, turning the alarm off as he flipped on the lights.
He stopped in surprise finding the walls leading up the stairs repainted, and he moved through the house finding nearly every room cleared out, repainted, and cleaned. He moved upstairs finding the bedroom bare, the walls fixed, the carpet replaced, and knew why Liv had been tired lately when he got home. The only question now was where she currently was as her phone was still turned off.
He stopped in the kitchen seeing the light on the stove glowing and discovered it was the self-cleaning mode working. That generally took about eight hours to accomplish so she had to have been in today sometime. Lying on the counter was a sheet from a real estate agent giving her a list price for the property and options for selling it. She was moving forward, confronting her past to move forward with him further and he wanted her to know how much that meant to him, he wanted to hold her, protect her from any memories of days past.
