Page 83 of To Belong Together
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“How’s Erin?” Addie slid into the pew next to John about ten minutes before the service’s scheduled start time.
Gannon sat on John’s other side, but apparently inquiries about John’s love life took precedence over sitting beside her fiancé.
“I wish I knew.” He hadn’t slept well, and this morning brought little relief from the knot of frustration and concern. He should’ve researched churches closer to Hartley to see if he could’ve guessed where Erin worshiped instead of letting Gannon pick him up so he could join his friends in Lakeshore as usual.
“I heard you leave the message for her.” Addie twisted her fingers together. The tentative way she delivered the remark told him she was carefully choosing her words. “And we all left the reception to follow her. You seem to care a lot about her.”
There was a “but” coming, or she wouldn’t have said those things with so much hesitation. He glanced at Gannon, but his friend gave a clueless shrug.
When he returned his focus, Addie tipped her head, her hair slipping over her shoulder. “You said a few facts when you called her, but sometimes, we hear facts as distance.”
Oh. “You don’t think I said enough to Erin?”
Gentle smile in place, she nodded.
Addie didn’t know everything he’d shared with Erin. Didn’t know he’d put his heart in her hands.
Did Erin realize that was what he’d done?
His phone, which he’d set to vibrate for the service, went off against the pew. He thought of Erin but chided himself. More likely, this would be another family member, since he ought to be with them right now. He’d already talked to Mom and Mark, but Hank, for one, might want his own explanation.
He flipped the device.
Erin.
He blinked, but he’d read it right.
Addie bumped him with her shoulder. “Give her more than facts this time. Don’t be afraid to tell her how you feel.”
He wouldn’t find words to do his feelings justice in the few minutes before the start of the service. Still, he rose, swiping to answer as he edged out into the aisle. “Hey. What happened last night?”
“My dad wandered off with the car.” Her voice ran thick and heavy.
His thoughts scattered, expectations obliterated.
“We’ve been looking all night—half the town’s been looking—but we can’t find him anywhere.”
John had meant to take this call to a private corner of the building, but he stopped and turned toward Gannon and Addie in the pew. He needed a plan—and help from his friends.
“I’m so tired.” Erin shuddered. “I don’t think I can keep driving, but he’s still out there somewhere.”
“Okay.” He hated his response as soon as it left his mouth. What kind of comfort was that?
Missing. Her dad was missing. If that was why she’d left the reception the night before, it explained everything—except why she hadn’t hung around long enough to tell him the problem. Or at least called him on her way back to Hartley.
But there wasn’t time for that now.
Addie looked his direction, and he waved for her and Gannon to join him, then exited the sanctuary.
“Where are you?” He brushed against the flow of other attendees to step outside.
“At the shop.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
Silence, and then a meek question. “You’re not in Fox Valley?”
