Page 179 of Dove
Once, I’d found it endearing. Now I found it infuriating. Everyone should have their phone charged in case of emergencies.
I dialed the only other person I could think to contact.
“Come on, come on,” I urged Eddie to answer under my breath, biting at my thumbnail as my anxiety climbed as another rumble of thunder came and went.
“Pidge!” Eddie’s voice burst through the line, nearly drowned out by the clatter of background noise. “Sorry, it’s loud. I’m at the restaurant. Swear everyone and theirabueladecided to show up. Everything okay?”
“No,” I choked out. “Josh left. Is he with you?”
I heard him say something I couldn’t quite catch over all the noise, then the din of the restaurant faded, like he was stepping somewhere quieter. “He left?”
“Shortly after you did.”
“Shit, did you two fight? I told him he should have told you, but does he listen? No. Everything thinks good old Eddie is all looks, no brain,pero,let me tell you?—"
“Eddie,” I gritted through my teeth, cutting off his rant. “I’m sorry, but a storm’s coming. Is Josh with you or not?”
“No, Dove. I’m sorry,” he apologized, soft and sincere. “But I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe he stopped somewhere in town for a bit to cool off?”
He wasn’t the one in need of cooling off, but I didn’t tell him that.
“Maybe,” I managed to get out, voice thick from holding back more tears.
“If I see him, I’ll call you,” he promised.
“Thanks, Eddie,” I whispered before hanging up, just barely resisting the urge to throw my phone. Only on the off-chance Joshwasokay anddiddecide to call, I didn’t want my phone broken.
I double-checked that the horses were okay for the night and made sure the hay was stacked far enough into the barn to stay dry before heading back to the house. I couldn’t find it in me to run, so I let the rain wash over me, soaking me to the bone.
Inside, after changing into dry clothes, I paced my room, flinching each time the sky rumbled ominously, storm growing in intensity as the sun began to set behind rain-swollen clouds.
My ears strained as an ambulance wailed in the distance—and just like that, my mind spiraled to a dark place. A place filled with death and regret, with thoughts of my dad, my mom, Gareth.Josh.
That devastating thought had me flying from my room and down the stairs, my foot slipping on the last few steps and nearly sending me tumbling to the floor, but I managed to catch myself on the banister in the nick of time, heart beating like a war drum.
“He’s fine,” I repeated like a prayer, but as the rain picked up and the wind howled, thoughts of Josh hurt orworse, flooded my brain.
There, standing in the living room, panicking about what to do, I heard the unmistakable sound of someone’s car door slamming closed.
Time came to a standstill as I froze, wrenched back to the beginning of summer like a time traveler. To that same sound after I’d gotten that fateful call that day.
I checked my phone quickly, worried I’d missed a call, but my notifications remained empty.
My body trembled with both fear and hope as I crept towards the door. Each step weighed me down the closer I got; scared to open it, scarednotto open it. If it was Josh, he’d walk right in. If it wasn’t Josh…
Oh god.
A wave of nausea hit me as my hand curled around the doorknob. I wasn’t sure I could survive someone standing on theother side of that door, ready to hand me the kind of news that would break what was left of me.
If my last words to Josh were telling him to leave, I’d never forgive myself.
I closed my eyes as I stepped outside, barely noticing my bare feet against the cool, damp porch. Muscle memory had me shuffling to the top of the porch steps, stopping right at their edge.
If I opened my eyes and saw another officer…
I took a deep inhale of rain-heavy air, bracing myself for the worst, then forced my eyes open.
My breath hitched as I saw Josh hauling two heavy, bulging bags from the backseat of his car like it was nothing—when really it meanteverything.
