Page 42 of Rescue
I see that I have a couple voicemails and hope that at least one of them is from her, saying that she’s made it home or that she’s staying with a friend. Anything that would tell me she’s ok right now. I call my voicemail and listen to the messages.
The first one is from my dad telling me about the revised weather report. It came in just after I left Penny’s apartment. The next voicemail came in just after the first one. It’s Penny and her voice is echoing in a way that makes it difficult to understand, but when I hear her say it was all a misunderstanding, a weight I didn’t realize I was carrying lifts off my shoulders. I’m so relieved. I don’t know why I ever doubted her. I know now that I made a mistake when I rushed to judgment and stormed out. If this is going to work between us, I’m going to need to work on being a better communicator. If I had just stayed and heard what she had to say none of this would have happened. I feel so stupid.
I almost hang up, but then I hear that I have another message. This one came in about 30 minutes ago. I recognize Penelope’s voice again, but she’s breaking up. My blood runs cold as I listen to the message and realize my relief was short lived.
Hey, . . . again. I just th . . . you’d pick . . . have to know . . . anything . . . . . . the past . . . my future. I LOVE . . . MILES, not him. Call me . . . this so -- oh no, oh my god, MI . . .
All the blood drains out of my face as I listen to the last of the message. I’ve got to find her. I immediately call Brody back. He answers after one ring.
“Hey. Everything ok?”
“No! I just listened to my messages and it sounds like Penelope has been in a wreck. I don’t know where she is, but her call came in about 30 minutes ago. She drives a white BMW. She could be anywhere, dude.”
“We'll find her Miles. Let me get to work.” I hear him say something in a clipped voice away from the speaker.
“Let me know if you hear anything.”
“Will do,” he says and hangs up.
I call Mason. “You make it home ok?” he says without saying hello.
“Mason,” I say as panic starts to overwhelm me.
“Where are you? How bad was the wreck?” I can hear him rustling around in the background as he starts to get ready.
“It’s not me. Penny’s been in a wreck. I don’t know where she is.” I’m gutted even having to say the words.
“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”
“I just got home. My truck is still loaded with all her stuff.”
“I’m doing some work at the cafe so I’m just around the corner. I’ll be right there.”
At that point I’m already backing out of my garage and pointing my truck towards the cafe. “Don’t bother, I’m already on my way.”
By the time I get there the roads are already pretty slick. I pull into the parking lot a little too fast and fishtail a bit before coming to stop next to Mason’s jeep.
“Get in!” he yells from his Jeep. “I’ll drive and you use the spotlight. It’s the only way we’ll find her in this.”
I jump out of my truck and run towards him, slipping a little on a patch of ice and almost falling, but I regain my balance and quickly haul myself into his Jeep. He hands me the spotlight, switches into 4-wheel drive, and pulls out onto the deserted street before I can get my seatbelt buckled.
“Where do you think she is?”
“I don’t know. She called about 30 minutes ago, but she had bad reception and I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“How do you know she’s been in an accident?” he says trying to catch up with little information.
“That part of the voicemail wasn’t breaking up. She screamed my name before I heard a loud crash and the line disconnected. I’ve tried calling twice and she’s not answering.”
“What time did you guys leave the city?”
“I left before she did, so I don’t exactly know,” I confess. “We had a misunderstanding, and I took off. Not my finest moment, I can admit now that I’ve had some time to think about it.”
“Alright, well we’ll start from the top and work our way to the bottom. We’ll find her.” I notice he doesn’t say anything about what we’ll find when we get there. “Is anyone else looking for her?”
“I talked to Brody and let him know what was going on. They’re on it.”
“That’s good. So what happened?”
