Page 81 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
Ethan cursed. “I'll call and tell them I'll be a little late.”
“Okay.” I passed him and went down the stairs, and then I checked the parking lot outside. Wherever Nathan had gone, he'd taken his bike. He could have taken itanywhereof course, but I had a strong suspicion that I knew where he was.
Ethan joined me outside after a minute. “There you are.”
I turned to face him. “I think Nathan might have gone to the hill at the edge of town.” I pointed in the direction I meant. “You took the kids stargazing there once or twice? He told me about it.”
“You really think that's where he is?”
“He's taken his book.A Journey to the Stars. It's not on his bedside table anymore and not anywhere else in the room either,” I added when Ethan's expression grew skeptical. For some reason, most people didn't seem to notice these things as much as I did. “You can look for yourself if you don't believe me.”
“No, I believe you!” Ethan hurried to say. “It's just... you're amazing, Rhys, okay? And if we really find Nathan out there I'm buying you a whole new marble collection.”
“You don't have to do that. I like the one you gave me just fine.”
“Then I'll find some other way to make you happy.”
“You're already making me happy.” I gave him a short kiss to underline that point. “Now go get your keys. We'll be faster if we take the car.”
“Right.” He hurried inside the house and was back with me in under a minute, car keys dangling from his finger. “Let's go find my wayward son,” he said.
I nodded and climbed into the car as he unlocked it, hoping I was right.
Ihadto be right and Nathan had to be safe and sound up on that hill.
I couldn't even contemplate anything else.
With the car, we reached the road leading up the hill in just five minutes. Ethan's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. I kind of wanted to make conversation to distract him from coming up with horror scenarios in his head, but I was also busy searching the side of the road with my eyes and I'd never been able to make small-talk in the best of situations—which this was definitely not.
It was dark out and there was some snow on the narrow road, so we went slowly, the headlights of the car illuminating the wintery scenery ahead of us. To the right side of the road, only a thin strip of grass separated us from the steep side of the hill. In the dark, it almost looked as if we were driving on the edge of a cliff. I didn’t like the thought of Nathan being out here by himself.
We had to find him and bring him home.
Squinting, I focused my attention on the road.
“Stop!” I nearly yelled when my eye caught on something in the snow ahead of us.
Was that a bike?
Was thatNathan'sbike?
The car came to an abrupt halt. I could tell that Ethan had seen it too now, because he was out of the car even faster than I was. Nathan's red bike was lying abandoned at the side of the road. I knew it was his because it had a sticker of one of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleson the bell. Quickly, I got my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight app while Ethan started calling into the wild for his son.
“Nathan? Can you hear me?”
There was no response, but Ethan kept calling anyway.
Meanwhile, I walked up to the side of the road. Heart pounding in my throat, I pointed my phone downward to illuminate the side of the hill. We were a good way up and the drop was pretty steep here. What if Nathan had fallen down?
No, he couldn't have. I didn't want to imagine that he got hurt.
Still, I kept shining my light on the snow below me. There were some bushes growing on the side of the hill and I thought I saw a flash of color between all the black and white of the night when I pointed my phone at the shrubbery nearest to me. I didn't even think to alert Ethan to my discovery. All I could think about was getting to Nathan—if it was Nathan. Slowly I climbed down the hill, careful not to slip on the snow.
ItwasNathan before me. His eyes were closed and his skin was cold when I touched him, but he was breathing normally and he was whole. I glanced back up to the road. He must have fallen off his bike and rolled down the hill until he'd collided with the bushes. I didn't know how that had happened. I was just glad we'd found him.
“Ethan!” I called up to his dad. “I found him!”
Ethan was at my side within seconds. He came down so quickly, in fact, that I was scared he'd be the next to stumble and fall.
