AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t.” I look down. “I love her. I can’t lose her.”
Rielle’s quiet, and when I look up at her, she looks less like she hates me and more like she feels sorry for me.
“Can you please just tell me where to find her?”
Rielle pauses, then says, “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“She left town.”
“She left Milwaukee? Are you sure?”
She nods. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone. But she only said I couldn’t tell people at school and you don’t go to our school so…” She sighs. “I still shouldn’t have told you. She’s gonna kill me.”
“No, it’s good. I need to know. Tell me where she is. Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Rielle, please, I’m begging you, just tell me. I have to find her.”
“I really don’t know. I asked her and she wouldn’t tell me. I could hear police sirens in the background, but that could be anywhere.”
“Do you know who she’s staying with?”
“You’re not going to find her.”
“I just need to know she’s okay. I need to know she’s not living on the streets.”
“She’s not. I think she’s in an apartment. I just don’t know where.”
“But you know who she’s with,” I say, hoping she’ll tell me. She avoided the question last time I asked, which means she knows. She just won’t tell me. “Is it a friend?”
“No.”
If it’s not a friend, who would it be? She doesn’t have any relatives, except for her dad, but she hasn’t seen him in years. She doesn’t even know where he lives.
“I need to get going,” Rielle says.
“Wait!” I hold onto her arm, then let it go. “Her dad’s the only person I can think of, but I don’t know how she’d find him. It can’t be him.”
Rielle’s chewing on her lip, looking at the people walking by. She’s not denying what I said. Does that mean it’s true?
“It’s him? She’s with her dad?”
Rielle nods, then races through the parking lot to her car.
Nova’s with her dad? How is that possible? How did she find him? She said she didn’t even have his phone number. Did he just show up in town? Maybe he found out Ted died and came here to get his stuff.
I wish I could go back in time and change how I reacted that day she showed up at my house. If I’d just explained to her what was going on—why I didn’t tell anyone about her, and why Paris was there—Nova might still be here.
* * *
I’m home justafter five and am surprised to find my parents aren’t waiting for me at the door, wanting to question me about missing practice.
“Easton, is that you?” I hear my mom say.
“Yeah,” I say as she hurries down the stairs.
