Page 32 of Rescuer
Mia happened to glance at her phone after she’d started the dishwasher. It was blinking. Setting the dishtowel on the edge of the sink, she crossed the room to where she’d plugged in the device to charge.
She had two texts and a phone message from Shannon. She listened to the message first. Nothing urgent. Shannon just wanted to let her know she was thinking about her and praying for her. Mia rolled her eyes. She didn’t scoff at Shannon’s belief in prayer to her face. But if God was such a loving father, why hadn’t He stepped in and stopped Blaine’s cold cruelty? Why had He let her suffer through a horrible breakup with nothing left?
Why had He taken her baby, the one person that would have been hers alone to love and who would have loved her back?
She shook her head, blinking back tears. It was ridiculous to feel so down over something that happened so long ago. Nothing would change the past. She needed to deal with it and move on.
She opened up the texts and gasped when she saw Jackson’s. Dylan was still gone! Where could he be?
The pit in her stomach yawned wide open.
Her fingers trembled as she tapped out a text to Dylan. She hesitated before she sent it. She didn’t usually text students, but she had their numbers in case they ever needed to reach out for help.
Mia
Where are you? Starting to worry.
She waited for a few minutes, but there was no answer. Well, she couldn’t stand here and watch her phone all night, but she had too much nervous energy to go to bed right now. She needed something to keep her busy and take her mind off her lost student. Maybe she should work on beginning lesson plans for her substitute. No. She didn’t have the ability to focus mentally. She settled for giving the hall closet a thorough cleaning.
By the time she finished, she’d stirred up enough dust that she needed to take an allergy tablet to deal with itchy eyes and sneezing.
She took the tablet to the kitchen, then grabbed her water bottle and swallowed it down. Her phone was blinking again. She nearly dropped to her knees when she saw Dylan’s name.
Dylan
I’m fine.
Mia
When will you be home?
Dylan
Friday.
She sent the message to Jackson.
Friday afternoon, she tried texting Jackson to ask if he’d heard anything. When he didn’t respond, probably because he was working, she decided to try texting Dylan again. This time she got a message that the text couldn’t be delivered. Her throat tightened. Still no Dylan. For the first time, she started to worry that something might truly be wrong.
Jackson had to be going out of his mind.
She dialed Cynthia. “Hey, Cynthia. Have you filed a missing person’s report yet?”
Cynthia sniffed as if she’d been crying. “Should I? My husband Hal keeps saying we shouldn’t make waves.”
Mia pressed her lips together. “I think we need to, Cynthia. This has been going on for too long. Since you’re the one with custody right now, I’m pretty sure you have to be the one to make the report.”
“You’re right. I’ll meet you at the Southwold police station.”
Mia hung up and dialed Jackson. He picked up almost immediately. “Mia. What’s wrong? Has there been more trouble?”
She blinked, startled. With everything he was going through, why did he care about her? “Nothing’s wrong, I’m good. It’s just that Cynthia and I are meeting at the police station about Dylan. I thought you’d want to be there.”
“I do. On my way.”
Click.
She smiled. The next call was to Reggie’s mom. Unfortunately, she declined to join them, insisting Reggie would come home when he was ready. It made Mia want to scream, but she refrained.
