“No . . . Why?”
“So, your aunt hasn’t called to talk to you or anyone else in your family this morning?”
“Umm . . . not that I know of. Why, what’s going on? Did something happen to Jenna?” He sounds concerned now.
“No. I mean, we don’t really—” I begin, but Delaney’s phone beeps. “Can you hang on a sec, Eli?”
Without waiting for a response, I pull the phone from my ear and see a picture of Dustin on a basketball court and the words Incoming Call above it. Delaney looks over too.
“Just decline it,” she says, shaking her head. “Now he can wait for me to call him back.”
I do what she asks and return to my conversation with Eli.
“Sorry. Delaney was getting another call.”
“So? What’s up with Jenna? I mean besides the fact that she’s a mess lately.” The lack of concern in Eli’s voice doesn’t surprise me. He and Jenna used to be close when they were younger. This added to mine and Delaney’s confusion when her uncle’s family moved back to town this summer. We thought she’d be excited Eli would be going to our school, but she wanted nothing to do with him and what’s even odder is she didn’t want us or any of our friends to have anything to do with him either.
“Could be nothing. We don’t really know. But your aunt—” Delaney’s phone beeps with a message notification. “—called my mom this morning to find out if I’d seen Jenna. She called Delaney’s mom too. I guess the car Jenna drives was in its usual spot this morning, but Jenna wasn’t home, and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“Oh, so now they’re worried?” He huffs quietly. “She probably just went for a run—if she even cares about running anymore—or maybe one of her new boyfriends picked her up to take her to breakfast or something.” He sounds disgusted when he mentions the revolving door of guys Jenna is rumored to be spending time with lately.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what Delaney and I were thinking too. But your aunt doesn’t think Jenna even slept at home last night . . .”
He huffs air through his nose again. “My parents were talking about how my aunt and uncle seem to be letting her run loose lately. And I’m sure you’ve noticed she hasn’t been to church for the past few weeks. That’s what really gets to my dad.” He huffs again. “It’s so weird. She never did anything wrong when we were kids.” He sighs deeply. “Never even ratted out the rest of us when we did stupid shit . . .”
It’s obvious Eli misses the old Jenna just as much as Delaney and I do. And now I know for certain that I need to squash the thoughts I was having earlier about reconsidering being just friends with him, even if it’s only out of respect for the bond he and Jenna used to have as kids.
“Delaney and I don’t get it either, Eli,” I say, matching his sigh.
“So now what?” he asks. “I should really tell my mom and dad. Maybe—”
“No, don’t. There’s no reason to get everyone worried when she’s been gone for less than a day, as far as your aunt knows anyway. I don’t even think she’s positive Jenna didn’t sleep at home last night. Delaney and I probably shouldn’t even have called you. We just feel like we should do something.”
“Yeah, when she gets home, I’m going to force her to tell me why she’s being such a jerk lately. My mom and dad told me to give her time to get used to me being around again, but I think it’s been long enough. They seem to think she was so upset when we moved away that she’s probably just still hurt. Girls make no sense like that, I guess . . . No offense.”
“None taken,” I say with a laugh.
“Not that I can fix whatever’s up with her,” Eli continues, “but if I can fix things between us, maybe other things will get better too.”
“Maybe.” I hope he’s right. “Well, if we hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Yeah, same here. Otherwise—” He pauses, probably not wanting to even consider the alternative. I totally get it. “See you at school on Monday and maybe at church tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sounds good. Bye, Eli.” I end the call and hand Delaney her phone. “I think Dustin left a message.”
She pokes her phone screen a few times and then brings it to her ear. We’ve arrived at the point where we need to go our separate ways, so I stand and wait as she finishes listening to Dustin’s message. She seems worried when she lowers her phone and puts it back in her pocket.
“Did he talk to Mrs. Kemp? Or Jenna? What’s wrong?”
“He didn’t say anything about Mrs. Kemp or Jenna,” she says, shaking her head, “just that he needs to talk to me.”
“About what?” I ask. But I’ve seen this look on my friends’ faces before. It’s that doomed, worried-about-a-breakup expression, the one I can’t relate to because I’ve never really dated anyone before.
“I don’t know.” She takes a deep breath. “But I’m going to head over to his house now, so I’ll let you know when I find out. You know, I kind of hope it’s about Jenna—like maybe he saw her this morning. Then again, I hope it’s not because, well, you know . . .”
I nod and give her a hug. Then we part ways, and the distance grows between us as we begin walking backwards. “Call me when you’re done,” I call out. “We should do something tonight. Like make strawberry banana smoothies, put on avocado masks, and paint our nails.” That avocado masks and nails bit was just an attempt to brighten her mood. Delaney loves that kind of stuff.
“Yeah,” she says, smiling and nodding, but I can tell she’s still distracted, wondering what Dustin has to say.
With a wave, I turn and jog the rest of the way home.
Chapter Ten
Friday, August 11, 2017
Two and a Half Months Before Jenna’s Disappearance
“Jennaaaa!” Hannah Steele squealed as Jenna entered her aunt and uncle’s rented home on Birch Lane. Having already seen her Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Joseph, and Shaina two days ago when her family first arrived in town, Hannah bypassed them and rushed straight to Jenna. Uncle Greg had moved back to Briarwood two weeks ago to find a home and fill out paperwork with the church while Aunt Lenore and the kids stayed in South Dakota to pack. Then Uncle Greg had flown back to South Dakota on Tuesday to help drive their things to Wisconsin in a U-Haul.
“Hi, Hannah.” Jenna smiled as she hugged her adoring cousin. “I’m sorry I’m just seeing you now. I’ve been busy.” She had been busy, but not with anything she couldn’t have gotten out of. This made Jenna feel guilty for lying to Hannah. The truth is Hannah was the only person in Aunt Lenore’s family Jenna wanted to see. Everyone else had let her down, and just seeing them (even in pictures over the years) made her feel paranoid and betrayed.
Jenna took a large step back to get a good look at her twelve-year-old cousin, whom she hadn’t seen in over three years. “You’ve gotten so tall!”
“Yeah, but look at this,” Hannah said with an eye roll before displaying a toothy grin that sparkled with braces.
“Oh, you’ll have those off in no time,” Jenna encouraged. She couldn’t believe how grown up Hannah looked. She was only about six inches shorter than Jenna, and puberty had clearly set in.
“Hey, I said the same thing, Brace Face,” Eli said as he emerged from the basement. He playfully nudged his little sister out of the way so he could give Jenna a hug.
“You’re so annoying,” Hannah said as she headed toward the kitchen where the rest of Jenna’s family was visiting with Uncle Greg and Aunt Lenore. The smell of pizza permeated through the open-concept area separating the two rooms.
As Elijah squeezed Jenna, he could have sworn he felt her stiffen. Then she surprised him with a rather formal greeting.
“Nice to see you, Eli.”
“Yeah . . . it’s pretty awesome to be back.” Eli backed a few steps away from Jenna and proceeded with small talk even though he felt something was off between them. “Living in Buxton was boring as hell.” Eli’s eyes shot toward the kitchen as he covered his mouth.
Jenna knew him well enough to k
now he was only trying to make her laugh by acting worried his mom or dad might have heard him curse.
Jenna allowed the right corner of her mouth to curl up a bit causing Eli to beam. He’d always tried to make her laugh. As Jenna opened her mouth to respond, she was cut off by Aunt Lenore.
“Oh, it wasn’t so bad!” Aunt Lenore said as she rushed past Eli to give Jenna a hug. “How are you, my dear?” She kissed Jenna on the cheek and gripped Jenna’s hands as she took a good look at her niece. “So beautiful. It’s no wonder why your mother is going bonkers with worry over the boys chasing you.” Aunt Lenore released Jenna and gave her a wink before picking up a toolbox off the floor.
Jenna’s cheeks pinked up as she cleared her throat and called after her aunt, who was already heading back to the kitchen. “It’s only one boy, and . . . it’s Dustin Bock, my friend since . . .” Her voice trailed off into a whisper. “. . . grade school.”
“Hey, I remember that kid,” Eli said with a laugh. “He’s the one your friend Delaney had a crush on. You had a bunch of people over for your twelfth birthday, and we all played Spin the Bottle in your basement. Delaney nudged the bottle when Dustin spun to make it land on herself.” Eli continued to laugh at the memory.
Jenna couldn’t help but laugh too. Dustin sometimes made jokes at parties when Delaney was busy flirting with guys. He’d say things like “I guess she’s over me” and “Now you’re stuck with me, Jenna.”
“So, you two are dating now, huh?”
Jenna nodded, a hint of a smile still on her lips.
“That’s cool. What about your friend Keeley? Is she dating anyone?”
Keeley would be excited if she knew Eli had asked about her, but there was no way Jenna planned to facilitate anything between the two of them. That would just be too awkward. “Nah, Keeley doesn’t date.”
“Oh.” Eli’s chest deflated a little.
“But Delaney does,” Jenna said with a bratty grin, remembering several instances when Eli had complained that Delaney was annoying.
They both laughed, and for a second, it felt like they were eight years old again.
Eli glanced around the room. “You want a tour?”
“Sure, I guess so.”
As Jenna followed Eli through the split-level ranch his family was renting, a flurry of memories rushed back to her at the sight of certain furnishings. The grandmother wall clock hanging at the base of the stairs leading to the upper level reminded Jenna of her Grandma Charlotte. The oversized velvet wingback chair in Aunt Lenore and Uncle Greg’s bedroom took Jenna back to heated games of hide-and-seek. She always used to hide behind this chair, and Eli always found her within minutes. There was also the familiar collection of crosses lining the walls of the upper hallway. They had been given to Uncle Greg as gifts from parishioners throughout his fifteen years of servitude. In her aunt and uncle’s old house, the crosses adorned the solid wall of a sunroom and rainbow streaks would shoot in all directions across the room at certain times of the day. The colorful beams made the sunroom Jenna’s favorite room in their house. One good memory after another—memories of things she hadn’t thought about for years, things she never even realized were good memories—were helping to calm Jenna’s nerves.
Eli took a shot at the mini basketball hoop that hung on his closet door then immediately rebounded it and chucked it to Jenna. She took the shot and smiled when she made it. Eli cupped his hands around his mouth and hissed to mimic the roar of a crowd.
“Jenna! Eli! Time to eat!” Aunt Lenore called from downstairs.
Eli picked up the mini basketball and tossed it at the hoop one last time as he followed Jenna out of his disheveled room. Neither of them looked back to see if he made it or not. Jenna smiled to herself as they headed down the hall toward the stairs, her hesitance about seeing Eli after all the years that had passed beginning to fade. She’d forgotten what a comfort he’d been to her during those days, and she began to reassess the conclusion she’d come to over the years: That Eli must have known what was going on.
“Oh, hey, there’s one last room I forgot to show you,” Eli said as he opened a closed door to the right of the stairs. “It’s no big deal, just going to be my mom’s sewing and craft room.”
At first glance, all Jenna saw were a few towers of boxes. But then she saw Aunt Lenore’s old sewing table, and her knees buckled.
“Whoa! Careful,” Eli said as he stepped between Jenna and the stairwell. When he was sure she wasn’t going to topple down the stairs, he immediately scanned the floor thinking she must have tripped on something. When nothing was found, he laughed as his eyes skirted across Jenna’s ashen face, and he closed the door. “Clumsy as ever, huh?”
The chaotic scene in the kitchen made everyone oblivious to Jenna’s change in demeanor. It didn’t surprise her one bit either. Jenna’s mom was busy arranging and rearranging the buffet of pizza, fresh-cut veggies and fruits, chips, and dips across the counter. Aunt Lenore was looking for the box that contained wine glasses so they could open the bottle of chardonnay Jenna’s parents had brought. Joseph and Uncle Greg were finally done hanging up Aunt Lenore’s floating wooden butcher block shelves. And Jenna’s little sister, Shaina, and cousin Hannah were filling plastic glasses with fresh squeezed raspberry lemonade. Shaina had seen a video the day before on how to make it and had begged Bonnie and Joseph to stop at the grocery store on the way so she could get the supplies to make it for everyone. That left Jenna and Eli who entered the kitchen unnoticed.
Jenna felt like her family never noticed things when it really mattered, dating back to when she was three and her mom often scrambled to find someone to watch her. Sure, family stepped in to help after her biological father abandoned them, and Joseph showed up two years later, but the adults in her family had always been more wrapped up with their own drama and careers to bother noticing what was happening to Jenna. And even on the few occasions when she worked up the courage to confide in her mom, nothing ever came of what Jenna revealed. Maybe it was because Jenna hadn’t correctly explained the things that had happened to her, or maybe it was because her mom was so busy working and attending night classes that she didn’t want to disrupt the flow of their clockwork-like schedule. After all, Jenna’s cousin Thomas had been her primary babysitter for years, and removing him from the equation would have halted the entire system her mother had worked so hard to achieve. Thomas had also been perfect in everyone’s eyes—still was. So those conversations were always laced with doubt on her mother’s part, and in the end, Jenna always ended up feeling guilty for bringing up something that could ruin so many lives.
Eli made a beeline for the stack of paper plates and worked his way through the spread on the counter, loading his plate with everything except black olives, which he hated. Shaina and Hannah followed behind Eli.
Her stomach still in knots, Jenna wasn’t hungry at all, so she took a glass of lemonade instead and sipped it quietly while everyone else went on about their business.
“Are you going to eat?” Bonnie asked Jenna as she held her plate out for Aunt Lenore to spoon a dollop of ranch dip onto it.
“Not yet. I’m just thirsty right now.” Jenna held up her cup.
Bonnie shrugged and turned back toward the food.
Jenna glanced into the adjacent room at her sister and cousin who were sitting with Eli at a card table set up where a dining table would eventually be. “Good lemonade, girls.”
“Needs more sugar,” Eli said, scrunching up his nose and smacking his lips.
“Did you hear that, Shaina?” Hannah asked. “I think Eli said he wants more lemonade.” She stuck her tongue out at her brother, and Shaina giggled as she took a bite of cheese pizza.
This exchange made Jenna smile, and she could feel the knots loosening. Then she made the mistake of tuning into her mom and aunt’s conversation.
“So, Thomas’s family arrived this morning then?” Bonnie asked.
“Yes! And thank heavens they made it. They shou
ld have been here last night, but Stella had enough of being in the car. So, they stopped at a hotel just outside of Rockford.”
“That’s a long drive for a little one.” Bonnie accentuated her statement with a nod of approval. “I can’t wait to meet her! It’s been so long since we had a baby in the family.”
“Yes, she’s certainly adorable. A bit of a handful—still not sleeping through the night yet—but Audra is so incredibly good with her. That woman,” Aunt Lenore said, followed by a sigh of admiration, “we’re so blessed Thomas found someone who complements him and his values so beautifully.”
“Well, we can’t wait to meet her and Stella. And I can’t wait to give that nephew of mine a squeeze. It’s been so long!”
Having heard enough, Jenna hastily dropped her cup on the counter and rushed out of the kitchen and down the hallway to where she assumed there had to be a first-floor bathroom. She left so fast that she didn’t realize her cup had tipped, spilling the last bit of lemonade. Nor did she hear her mom calling after her and telling Aunt Lenore how Jenna hadn’t been herself lately. Moody teenager drama? Aunt Lenore had asked. Something like that. Bonnie had responded, not wanting to reveal anything about Dustin or how Jenna had been breaking curfew lately. Bonnie was still ashamed of her own actions as a teen and would be damned if Jenna followed in her footsteps, but this wasn’t something she wished to discuss with her saintly big sister, the wife of a pastor.
Jenna was lucky she’d guessed right about the bathroom because the second she fell to her knees, everything she’d eaten that day spilled into the toilet. After that, she sat on the floor, wiping the uncontrollable tears from her face.
A few minutes passed before there was a knock on the door. Jenna remained silent and stayed put, hoping whoever it was would go away.
“Hey, Jenna?” Eli knocked again.
Jenna slowly rose to her feet and plucked a tissue from the Kleenex box on top of the toilet tank.
“You almost done in there? I have to pee.”
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