Page 37 of The Wife
I waited until eleven thirty before I called again.
Five calls. At least twenty texts.
By midnight I was coming out of my skin. Where would she be? I called Pete’s. He was just closing up, but no he hadn’t seen her there tonight. Where the hell else would she go?
Her friends were still at college. Would she have done that? Left completely?
The nameless boyfriend? Some guy, who I had never met, who was with her and now wasn’t letting her answer her phone? Why wasn’t he letting her answer her phone?
I needed to get a grip. I searched my contacts. At some point over the years I had all her friends’ numbers. I picked Chrissy and paced in front of the fireplace while it rang.
“Jake? It’s like twelve o’clock.”
“Chrissy, listen to me, I don’t know where Ellie is. Is she with you?”
“Uh, no. But you know I’m like at college.”
“Yeah. We had a fight. I thought she might have…”
“No. She’s not here. She hasn’t called either.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you know… was there anyone she was…seeing?”
“Seeing?”
I tried to hang on to my patience. “Dating. Hanging out with. Any guy that you might know of?”
“No. No guy. And she would totally not have held out on me about that.”
“Okay. Thanks. Sorry if I woke you.”
“No problem.”
I disconnected the call and had a serious urge to throw the phone across the room, but I was afraid of breaking the damn thing in case she did call. See, this was bullshit. This was immature eighteen-year-old bullshit. I did not need this kind of drama in my life.
She was pissed off and making me pay, and that was horseshit. I should go to bed and call it a fucking night.
Shit. I was going to have to get Sheriff Barling out of bed.
The phone rang and I let my head fall back on my neck when I saw her name. By the third ring I could answer.
“Where the hell are you?”
“Stop calling my friends. I’m fine. I’m safe. I should have… I didn’t have the ringer on. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“Where are you?”
“You don’t need to know that. I need some time away. We need some time apart. I think.”
“Ellie…I’m sorry…”
“No. You don’t have to apologize. Everything you said was true.”
It was. That was the horrible part about it.
“Come home. I’ll... I’ll move into the bunk house.”
“I will. Eventually. I just want some space for a little bit.”
