Page 90 of Entirely Yours
What if she’s gone? What if we can't find her?
Jules is back at my side now. “We’re going to find her,” he reassures, reading my mind. We fan out, and I’m panic-walking, yelling Chloe’s name over and over again. I see Ben, Gabe, and Elaine doing the same thing. Cole’s fiery hair catches my eye too.
Dad finds me, guilt written across his face. “It’s my fault, I should’ve kept an eye on her,” he confesses.
“No, she was supposed to stay with the class mom,” I reply, my heart still thumping wildly. “She knows better than to run off. Just, let’s find her, okay?”
He nods and rushes off as well. What feels like an eternity passes until I hear, “We got her!”
Ben has Chloe in his arms with Cole and Jules on his heels. She’s bawling, and it takes everything in me not to join her. Relief floods my entire nervous system when I take her from Ben, her body quickly molding to mine. I stroke her back as she soaks my shoulder with her tears. “Shh, shh, you’re safe. Mama’s here,” I keep repeating, reminding myself just as much as I’m reminding her.
When she finally calms enough to speak, I ask her if she can tell me what happened. “I-I—” She hiccups. “I really wanted to see the stuffies!” she cries, pointing a finger toward the damn booth we passed when we first walked in. “And then there weresomany games, I-I’m in trouble!”
I set her down and get on her level. “No, honey you aren’t in trouble. I’m so, so glad you are safe. You scared us.”
Big tear drops well in her eyes again. “I didn’t mean to!” she wails.
In that moment, I’m so damn grateful she is here that I resolve to talk to her about the dangers of wandering off later, once we’ve all had a moment to calm down. My mind is still reeling and probably will be for a while.
I wipe Chloe’s cheeks and ask her if she still wants to do her dance or if she’d rather watch. My brave girl still wants to dance, so she takes Dad’s hand and they make their way back to the gazebo. Ben follows behind them, taking the initiative to make an announcement to the crowd that the show will be continuing.
My hands are still shaking as Jules takes a hesitant step toward me. “Are you okay?”
No, I’m not fucking okay. “You should have been here,” I spit out. I know he isn’t to blame, but I’m not thinking logically right now, and I need somewhere to aim my wrath.
To his credit, he shoves his hands into his pockets and says, “I know.”
“She… she could’ve—”been gone forever. I can’t bring myself to say it. “And now I look incompetent. Who is going to sign their kids up to take classes from a woman who can’t even keep track of her own child?” My words are a harsh whisper.
“No one thinks you are incompetent, Thea. This could have happened to anyone.”
“But it didn’t,” I counter. “It happened to me. And you weren’t here.”
He opens his mouth to reply but, quite honestly, I can’t process anything he says right now, still doing everything in my power to hold myself together. “I need to go watch the rest of the show and make sure no one else escapes. I’ll see you at home tonight.”
I walk away wondering if I’m walking away for good.
Thea’s words linger as she walks away from me. She’s right, I should have been here, and I fucked up. I should have told her about the baby shower instead of hiding it from her, avoiding interacting with her in the hopes of keeping it a surprise.
I could see that she was stressed, but I didn’t listen to my gut and try to alleviate that stress. I’m an idiot, and now she might not even come to the shower, and this will all be for naught.
Mom makes her way over to where I’m standing, frozen in the spot Thea left me.
“It’ll be okay,mon chou.”
“We should cancel the shower,” I reply.
She ponders that for a moment. “Instead of continuing to make assumptions about what Thea would want, why don’t you ask her.”
Seems logical.
Chloe’s performance is next, so Mom and I make our way back over to the stage to watch. She’sadorable, up there performing with a huge grin, as if she didn’t just scare the shit out of all of us. When she finishes, she turns and gives Thea two thumbs up which makes everyone in the crowd laugh.
After the last group performs, Thea makes her way back up on stage. She held herself together after Chloe was found, but I see the tension radiating from her body. She hides it well, coming across as calm and collected as she gives her final remarks.
“What a day,” she starts. “I don’t know about y’all, but I definitely wasn’t expecting quite this much excitement during our first performance.” She laughs but it’s strained. The crowd, however, seems to be relieved at her nonchalance. “Thank you all for coming out to our first show! We look forward to many more in the future.”
She smiles warmly at Dave, the town’s resident AV tech, and then climbs down the steps to a waiting Hank and Chloe. They talk amongst themselves, Thea’s eyes darting my way every few sentences. Finally, she leaves them and walks back over to me.
