Page 88 of My Ex-Best Friend's Wedding

“Oh, Clay. I asked you to be careful with her.” I feel Lauren’s eyes on me and I try to dial back my anger.

“I couldn’t help it. She was giving me all kinds of grief and... I didn’t appreciate being told to fuck off by a sixteen-year-old. Then later she texted that she was going to spend the weekend at Dana’s so I just... Well, I thought we could both use the weekend to cool off. And then you’d be back...”

“Good grief, Clay.You’rethe parent. You’re supposed to be present and paying attention. She shouldn’t have spoken to you that way, but you can’t huff off in a snit because your sixteen-year-old daughter said something nasty to you. That’s whatsixteen-year-oldsdo.” I rub my forehead as if that will somehow clear my thoughts. “What did Dana’s mother say when you checked in with her on Friday night? Was Lily okay?”

This silence is even longer. I get up from the couch and move to the window, but I have no idea what I’m looking at. Everything’s a blur.

“I didn’t think to call Loretta. Like I said, I thought we could use the weekend off from each other and she’s spent the night there plenty of times.” His tone is defensive, aggrieved. “You should never have gone off to New York for a conference in the middle of everything.”

“You are not going to turn the tables this time. I came hereon business and you were in charge. Parenting is not a nine-to-five job with weekends off.”

He doesn’t respond to this, which tells me that whatever’s coming next is not something I want to hear.

“Last night the weather started turning and I figured I’d pick her up this morning.” There’s a change in his voice. A tremor of what sounds like fear.

My heart is beating way too fast and I can hear the blood throbbing in my ears. “And?”

“Lily wasn’t there. She spent the night Friday night but on Saturday morningShanepicked her up to go to a house party at a river cabin up near Richmond. She asked Dana to cover for her if I called or came by.”

“Which you didn’t. Because you were... Did you say Shane?”

“Umm-hmm.”

“That’s the boy you teased her about.”The one she wanted to ask her out so badly.

“Yeah.”

I can’t seem to drag breath into my lungs. I turn and start pacing the living room.

“Does Dana know which river?”

“No.”

“Did she and Lily talk after Lily left?” For Lily, “talking” is teenager speak for texting.

“No.” His voice drops. “She figured that was because they were having such a good time.”

I reach the end of the room and turn back. I’m afraid to stop moving. I’m afraid to think about what kind of good time Dana thought Lily was having. “So assuming they actually went to this house party they’re on a river somewhere near Richmond and no one’s heard from or spoken to her since yesterday morning?”

I try to dial back my anger, but I prefer it to the panic bubbling up inside me. Lily could be anywhere. Anything couldhave happened to her. And with the stalled-out nor’easter wreaking havoc all the way up the coast Shane might or might not be the biggest danger. “If anything’s happened to her I willneverforgive you.”

Another text dings in informing me that all flights out of New York have been canceled at the exact moment I most need to get home. I check the television and see the same information scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

“Nothing’s going to happen to her,” he says, but his voice shakes and I know it’s all bravado. “I’m going to drive up there and get her.”

“Drive where? We don’t even know where she really is.” My voice gets louder. My head spins. “Wait.” I think back to the conversation Lily and I had about Shane. She said she’d die if he asked someone besides her out, but she never mentioned him again. “He’s an athlete, right? You said he played basketball when you teased her about him. His last name starts with an... anAor aC.” I try to pull it up in my mind, but I’m so panicked I can’t find it. “Can you look up the basketball team roster? Or. No. Wait... I’m not sure but I think his last name’s Arnold... or Amberton... or... wait. I’m pretty sure it’s Adams. They’re relatively new here but his parents’ contact information should be in the school and PTA directories. They’re on the top shelf of my office bookcase.” Then it hits me. “Oh my God! They could have been in an accident. She could be in a hospital somewhere. Or...” I think but don’t saya morgue.

Lauren is on her feet and moving toward me.

“No, we’re not going there, Bree. Not yet,” Clay says. “I’ll speak to this Shane’s parents and find out where they think he is. We need an address—some kind of starting point. And a phone number for this boy or the cabin itself.”

I want to shout at him. To yell and swear and ask him what the hell he was thinking. But more than anything I need to find Lily. Given the weather and all the people now stranded andhoping to fly out tomorrow, it could be days before I can get on a flight back to Norfolk, where my car is parked. I can’t just sit here doing nothing.

“I’m going to get a rental car.” I scroll through the apps on my phone. “According to Google maps it’s just over six hours to Richmond via I-95.”

I turn and stride to the stairs. Lauren falls in behind me.

“I’ll keep trying Lily’s phone, too,” he says. “And we’ll let each other know if we hear anything or if she turns up, okay?”

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