Page 100 of Hand Picked
Maryanne held her hand over her eyes to block out the glare of the sun. “Okay, he’s not here in the booth area, but he could be out on the grass by the gazebo, where the mayor’s got the stage set up. He could be in the portable restrooms. He could be over in the picnic area. He could be over by the petting zoo, even.”
“Right. Okay. We need more people to look. Em! Emma Sunday!” I yelled when I saw her pass by with her clipboard. “Have you seen Aiden?”
She shook her head. “No. Shit, what happened to you? You’re—”
“Splash booth,” I said shortly. “But that doesn’t matter. Aiden is missing.”
She frowned. “Have you checked with my brothers? Hang on. Gage!” she shouted, waving an arm. “Get over here.”
“No. And I left my cell back in my booth,” I said as Gage ran over. “I haven’t called anyone. I checked with Maryanne and Olin. Oh, and Principal Oliver.” God, I was so disorganized. Panic was making me run around like a chicken with my head cut off.
But I knew what I needed to do.
“Call Webb.” My throat went tight. “Call him, okay? Tell him Aiden’s missing, and… and Amanda might be here at the fair.”
Em’s eyes widened. “You don’t think—”
“No, I—” I shook my head. “God, I don’t know what I think, Em. Just tell Webb. And tell him… tell him I’m so freakin’ sorry, okay?” My eyes filled with scalding tears, though this was not remotely the time for them. “I did it again. Like, jeez Louise, what are the chances that I could lose Aidentwice? Webb is never going to forgive me for this.” I was never going to forgive myself.
“Luke,” Gage began, putting an arm around my shoulder. “Whatever happened, I know it couldn’t have been your fault. You—”
I shrugged him off. “It doesn’t matter. We just need to find him. I’m going to get my cell.AndI’m going to talk to Principal Oliver again,” I said menacingly. “She seems to always be around when he goes missing.”
“Whoa.” Gage’s eyes flared. “Dude. I’ll come with you.”
“I don’t need help. Go look for—”
Gage shook his head. “I’m not coming to help you, Luke, I’m going to help Principal Oliver, because you look like a very wet avenging angel right now.”
When we got back to the booth, Principal Oliver was sitting precisely where I’d left her, not helping look for Aiden at all, and it took all my willpower not to turn her upside down and shake her by her sensible shoes. I wasnota violent person or even an angry one, but for Aiden, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do.
“Where’s Aiden?” I demanded, slapping my palm on the table beside her. “Is he with Amanda?”
Principal Oliver lifted her chin. She didn’t bother trying to lie. “No, I… I don’t know where he is. I assumed he was with the Kopras. Ididknow Amanda was coming to surprise Aiden,” she admitted. “Her boss let her out of work early. But I haven’t seen her. If she’d tried to leave the booth with Aiden, I would have encouraged her to… to inform someone beforehand.”
“But the truth is, you have no clue whether she was here or not because you weren’t paying attention,” I fumed. “You are the worst kind of—”
Gage grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out of the booth.
“Let me go!” I insisted.
“I know,” he soothed. “I get it. But that’s not helping. She probably doesn’t know where they are, and she wouldn’t tell you if she did, especially if you threaten her. Let’s wait for Webb, and we can all organize a search, okay? We’ll find him. Luke, wewill.”
“Don’t you get it? Webb’s not going to want me to search for Aiden. God, Gage, he’s not going to want to lay eyes on me. No wonder he doesn’t want a relationship. No freakin’ wonder he has trust issues! The woman he married probably just took his kid, and I let it happen.Again.”
If one hair on Aiden’s head got hurt, I knew I’d only have myself to blame.
Which was why, when I saw Webb striding across the grass a moment later, his face contorted in anger and his eyes spitting fire, I forced myself to stand exactly where I was and take what was coming to me.
Even though I could barely see him through the tears.
ChapterTwenty
WEBB
When I saw Luke standing outside the Pick-a-Book booth looking like a drowned rat, stuck halfway between murder and tears, I was pretty sure I knew exactly what had happened to cause this situation…
And I wasnotfucking pleased.
