Page 142 of When There Was You
“Emmy!” I scream, eyeballing the empty drive. There’s no answer.
I glance down the path, debating whether to take it, but stagger inside to the phone instead and call the shop. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”
I slam the receiver down. What should I do? Nausea rears again and I pant through it, then try calling again. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”
“Hamiltons.” It’s Butch.
Thank God. “It’s me. Is Emmy there?”
“No. Why?”
“We were playing, then she told me she was going to see you?—”
“When,” he snaps.
My pulse throbs, my nerve endings crackling like popcorn kernels in hot oil. “Maybe ten minutes ago. I was stuck in the bathroom?—”
“And she just left?”
“Yes, before I could stop her. Hemi started barking like crazy, and when I finally got outside, he was howling at the driveway and there was dust like a car was here, and…” I sob, “I found her tiara on the ground.”
“Stay there. I’ll see if she’s here somewhere. If not, I’m coming to you.” He hangs up without another word.
“Please, please, please be alright,” I chant.
I will never forgive myself if something happens to her.My head swims with doomsday visions, and I gulp deep breaths. Losing my cool won’t help anything. Maybe she’s just at her grandparents’. Maybe she’s on the path collecting rocks. Maybe she climbed into one of the vehicles to play race car driver.
Or maybe something terrible has happened.
Bile rises and I run to the bathroom—and retch again.
“Jacqui!”Butch yells as he bursts through the front door, boots thudding against the hardwood floors.
“In here,” I say weakly. I’m slumped on the floor, scared to stray too far from the commode.
He looms in the open doorway, his gaze flitting over me, frantically taking in the scene. “Is Emmy back?” He’s breathing hard.
“No. Oh my god. You didn’t find her?”
“No! Tell me everything that happened. And what’s…are you ill?”
I nod. “I think it’s food poisoning.”
He squeezes his eyes shut and presses his fingers into his temples. “Fuck! What the hell happened over here?”
My eyes well. “We…we were playing in the leaves. I felt sick to my stomach, so I came inside to use the bathroom, and Emmy came with me to get a glass of water.”
“So how the fuck did she disappear?” he yells, and I flinch.
Everything is loud and bright and horrible. Tears slip down my cheeks. “When I was in here, she told me she was going to see you?—”
“And you didn’t think to stop her? To tell her to wait for you?” he demands.
“I tried. Butch, I tried, but she left. She didn’t wait for an answer. She just?—”
His arms cross, eyes steely and forbidding. “Disappeared,Jacqui. That’s what she did. She walked outside, and now she’s gone.”
My sobs intensify. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t…” My words trail off. They’re meaningless.
