Page 179 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions

Nada.

With every minute that the watch was missing Alex became smaller and smaller. His massive frame shrank. His normally larger than life presence whittled down. Till he was a wisp of what he’d been. A silhouette blending into the darkness, empty and devoid of hope.

“I’m done,” he finally said.

That was it.

Two simple words were the only warning I received before the frantic search was over. Alex latched on to my wrist, grip cooler than usual as he tugged me away from the dumpsters at the boathouse where we’d been hunting.

He was eerily silent as we climbed the hill toward our tent.

He wasn’t himself.

I wanted to help—to…tofixthis.

But there was only one place we hadn’t checked.

The lake where Alex had been helping clean up.

Hunting through the water would be fruitless in the dark—not to mentiondangerous. The thought of entering the water at all made my skin crawl. The creek had been bad enough, and entering that had been accidental. The concept of…willinglystepping into the lake sounded like a waking nightmare to me.

But…for Alex?

I’d do it.

Hell, if it’d been light enough out to make a difference, I’d be knee-deep in water right now.

“Alex—” I tried, only I didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t,” Alex’s plea was hoarse. He squeezed my hand tight, betraying his need for closeness as we approached the tent. I didn’t know what to do with this more reserved version of him, but found myself gravitating toward him like I always did. Unafraid, despite his obvious change in demeanor.

It wasn’t like before, when he’d shut down because I’d made fun of his watch at the diner.

I wasn’t scared of him.

Alex was silent as he checked the sleeping bag for bugs. Silent as he turned on the space heater and the nightlight, always catering to my needs. Silent as he crawled into bed before me, then held the flap open in invitation.

Neither of us were pretending to sleep separately anymore.

“Come to bed, Georgie,” Alex said.

Without protest, I did as I was told.

My chest felt tight as I folded my body onto the mattress beside him. I wiggled beneath the slippery fabric cocoon that’d become my home over the last few days. Alex zipped us up without another word. Tense, and unsure how to comfort him—or even if he wanted me to—I lay there unmoving.

A noisy owl hooted somewhere outside the tent—the only sound in the quiet. The tents beside ours were slumbering, and off in the distance, I could make out what I assumed was someone snoring. Maybe more than one person. Like an orchestra of sleep apnea. Far enough away they couldn’t hear us.

Which was good.

Because Alex’s silence was loud.

Alex’s breaths came shallow and short, his usual calm missing. He didn’t reach out to touch me and I didn’t touch him either. I figured he’d want the space. He was always the one to instigate contact—this had to be a sign,didn’t it? That he wasn’t open to it?

He’d said “don’t” and I wasn’t sure what that meant.

Don’t ask him about the watch?

Don’t try to comfort him?

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