Page 49 of Love and Loathing

Jessie couldn’t help but note the curious look on her dad’s face as he watched them, and the look of elation on her mother’s that was so inappropriate for the situation.

Alex nodded. “They’re most likely traveling out of the country.” Pause. “Okay.” Pause. “Right.” Pregnant pause. “I’d appreciate it.” He hung up. “They’ll call me back when they know what flight they’re on.”

“How long will that take?” Dad asked.

“Maybe a couple hours, less if we’re lucky.”

“They could be out of the country by then.” Dad ran a hand over his head.

Jessie remembered Jacob’s visit to the bookstore hours before, and she sucked in a breath. “He came into work this afternoon. I didn’t realize, but he was trying to say goodbye. Rub it in or something. He wanted to take me out on his boat for the fireworks.”

Alex turned to her. “He said that? That he wanted to take you on his boat?”

She nodded.

“How are the fireworks set up?”

Jessie furrowed her brow. “They have three large floating platforms out on the river; they shoot off the fireworks from those.”

“They’re still in town. I’d bet my last dollar.”

* * *

The decision to go search for them was made quickly. Jessie would go with Alex and search the docks on the north side of the river, and Dad would take the one on the south side. Caroline opted to stay with Ma, who kept insisting she inconsolable and kept going on and on about what people would say at church. Caroline was a much better person than Jessie, because all Jessie wanted to do was snap at her mom for making a bad situation worse by acting the way she was. She didn’t, but she thought about it.

Without a thought about anything other than finding her sister, Jessie crawled into Alex’s truck. He shut the door behind her and ran around to his side. She didn’t think about the fact that she was alone with him until they were on the road and he took her hand again. Then it was hard to think about anything but that. Especially with the silence between them. And because she couldn’t stop staring. Had he always been this gorgeous?

He had one hand high on the wheel, his brow was furrowed over those blue, blue eyes, and his lips were pursed. And he was dressed up too. Not in a suit, but jeans and a navy T-shirt again, and they were good quality jeans—ones a person wouldn’t wear to do hard labor in like she’d seen him in a time or two before. She wanted to say something. What she really wanted to do was apologize. But he seemed so deep in thought, and she was afraid. Not of him, but of being rejected. In the end, the only thing said between them was Alex giving her a description of Jacob’s boat: small, with a cabin, and faded yellow paint.

They made record time to the farthest of the six docks, but there was no sign of Jacob or Cecilia, so they slowly headed back, hitting the others as they went. The crowds got heavier at each location as they went, so by the time they’d hit each, it was almost nine, and the fireworks would be starting as soon as it was full dark out.

Tall grass came up to their knees as they walked down the small path to the dock. People had gathered at the shore and had laid out blankets. But the water ramp was overgrown, and the dock itself had collapsed at the end.

Jessie felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. “At least we know they’re not here.” She wiped at her nose.

Alex faced her, hands on his hips. “Maybe your dad has had better luck.”

Right. She grabbed her phone and called.

Dad answered right away. “Did you find her?”

She closed her eyes. “No. Where are you?”

“Headed home,” he asked. “There was almost no one on the other side of the river. Heard anything from Alex’s contact?”

“No, but I’ll call as soon as we do,” she said.

“What are you going to do?” Dad’s voice was strained.

She glanced up at Alex. He made and held eye contact, and without speaking, he communicated to her what she was hoping. He nodded at her.

“We’re going to keep looking,” she said. “Maybe they came after we left, so we’ll start at the top and then—” She froze as an idea struck her, then glanced in the direction of the highway—the direction of Alex’s build. “There’s a dock at your build site, isn’t there?”

Alex looked down the road too. “There sure is.”

“Dad, we have one more place to look. Call if you hear anything.”

“You too.”

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