Page 76 of The Beat of My Heart
“Julia, don’t move, you’re barefoot,” I hear Dexter warn, but she is getting ready to run.
Do something, asshole. Go to her, my head is screaming, but it’s like a movie playing out before me and I can’t move.
“N-no, I have the groceries, they, but, you, not, Boston?” she says, making no sense and visibly shaking. Before I can reach her, she turns and runs down the hallway with keys in hand.
NO! She can’t run. I move to chase her, but Lanie holds up a hand to stop me. “Hold on there, Boston, this is my fault, let me explain while Julia gets her thoughts together. She won’t be able to talk to you until she has cleared her head.”
“What do you mean, this is your fault? What the hell is going on, Lanie?” I don’t mean to yell, but Angel is getting away again, and I won’t survive losing her a second time.
“Hey,” Dexter says angrily, “calm down! Yelling at Lanie will not solve anything.”
Sighing, Lanie says, “Come on, let's sit in the family room, this is going to take a while.”
Watching as Lanie takes a seat, I pace impatiently in front of the windows of their family room. Just when I don’t think I can take the silence for another minute, she speaks.
“Okay, well, right before my attack, Julia was scheduled to go to a conference in Boston. I was trying to push her out of her comfort zone a little. I got her to agree to a new wardrobe and made her promise she would put it to good use. I just thought she needed a one-night stand, so I told her she didn’t even have to use real names if she didn’t want to. How was I to know you guys would keep the game going all week?” she tells me.
“I called her Angel, so she named me Charlie,” I say. I can’t help the smile that forms, remembering our very first encounter.
“Right, and we called you Boston. Anyway, the day she left, she was already planning on telling you her name and exchanging numbers. You had dinner plans at the hotel that night,” she reminds me.
“Yeah, but she didn’t show up. I looked everywhere for her for months. It was like she disappeared,” I say, the familiar hurt taking residence inside my chest.
Dexter’s head is going back and forth between us like a pinball machine. I know this is all news to him, and I feel like a dick, but we can make up another time after I have Angel back.
“Her not showing up was my fault, Trevor,” Lanie tells me with tears in her eyes. “About two hours before she was supposed to meet with you, she got a call from her parents that I had been attacked. She wasn’t thinking, she just left. She didn’t even pack up her stuff from her hotel room, just grabbed her keys and left. I’m so sorry, Trevor. We have been looking for you ever since, but with no actual information to go on, we’ve had no luck.”
“I’d say luck just smacked you in the face,” Dexter laughs. Then his face pales, and I worry for a moment he will be sick.
“Holy fuck, Trevor, you’re a dad. You are Charlie’s dad, that’s why he always looked so familiar. He has your fucking crazy-colored eyes,” Dexter blurts, and my world spins on its axis.
Angel has a son named Charlie. My son’s name is Charlie. I have a son?
I’m up and screaming so fast, the room literally spins. “What? Is that true, Lanie? Do I have a goddamn son no one told me about?” I yell.
Fuck, I think I’m going to be sick for the second time today.
“Trevor, I will tell you again to calm the fuck down. Did you just hear Lanes? They looked for you, they had no way to contact you,” Dexter says.
“She needs to come back here. Now,” I say through clenched teeth, trying to ward off nausea. Grabbing my phone, I scroll angrily until I come to her name. Finding it, I press send only to hear the telltale ring coming from the kitchen floor. “What the fuck? Did she leave without her phone? And her wallet? What the hell?” I mumble. Glancing at the hallway, I notice her pink Chuck Taylor’s. “She didn’t even leave with any shoes on, where the hell could she be?”
Panic finally takes over, and I drop my hands to my knees, trying to catch my breath. “Julia is Angel. Charlie is my son. Fuck my father, what am I going to do?” Stopping abruptly, I ask Dex, “Is she in Lanie’s car?”
“Yes,” Dex replies, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
“Then you can trace her car,” I say, “tell me where she is.”
“What?” Lanie yells, “you track my car?”
Embarrassed, he shrugs his shoulders. “It’s a feature that came with the car,” he says by way of explanation.Pulling out his phone, Dex presses a few apps, then scowls as he follows the dot. “Ah, I don’t think she is coming back tonight.”
Grabbing the phone from his hand, I ask, “Where the hell is she going?”
“It looks like she is headed to her parent's beach house in Corolla,” Lanie informs me.
“How in the hell is she going to do that with no phone, no money, and no goddamn shoes?” I yell back to pacing. “Give me the address, Lanie. I need it now.” I will have to go after her and bring her home.
The thought almost has me smiling, I’m going to bring my Angel home.
