Abbott clenched his fist. The pain of the words dead and girl suffocated his heart. The feeling would never go away, and the fact that even his friends were inconsiderate about that proved to him that he was on his own . . . alone. He sat and tapped his fingers against the table again, in a faster motion.
Sam hung his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
“Sure, you didn’t.” He held his hand over the bracelet wrapped around his wrist.
“I just don’t want you to torture yourself with something that’s in the past. It’s been a year.”
“Don’t be an asshole. Have you ever had a child?” Abbott asked.
Sam shook his head.
“You have no idea just how wrong you are. When your child is taken from you like that, you don’t just move on. Every day, the world is moving. People carry on with their lives while you’re still in the same dark shit hole you were in the day before, and the day before that one.” He paused. “Thanks for nothing. I’ll get my answers somewhere else.” Abbott stood and grabbed his coat. Sam bumped into him on his way out.
A gold object fell on the floor.
Abbott looked at Sam, then back at the object on the floor. He froze and wiped at his forehead.
“You don’t understand,” Sam said. He leaned to grab the item, letting the gold chain dangle in his fingers.
Abbott’s body tensed. “What the hell is that?”
Sam’s hand opened, and an owl locket just like the one that was left after his daughter’s disappearance lay in the palm of his hand.
Abbott rubbed his head and stepped backward. “You jackass. You’re involved in this. Do you know where Aspen is?”
“Don’t do this here. Let’s go outside and we’ll talk.”
“I don’t take orders from you, brother. Tell me what I need to know right now.”
Placing the locket in his pocket, Sam put his hands out and stepped toward him. “I know things, okay? You need to be quiet before you get us killed.”
He glanced around the café and noticed other people staring at them. A lady at the counter with a cup of coffee in hand seemed especially interested in what they were saying. She dressed professionally and had the glare of a lawyer accusing him of something he didn’t do. Abbott sarcastically waved at her, and she turned back around to pay for her drink.
“Get in your car and meet me at my house. Make sure you’re not followed,” Abbott said. “Don’t you take off on me. I will find you if you do.”
Sam held his hand in his pocket and glanced back toward the café. “Will do.”
Thirty-One
Cache Rushner
Grand Capital Motel
7:30 a.m.
It’d only been a day since he got kicked out of his house and sent away without a clue of when he could come back home. Staying at a trashy motel and waiting like a pathetic loser for Adaline to call was sheer torture. He wasn’t about to let his marriage fall apart or sit around while she called the shots. He wanted to make things right with her.
A pizza box sat on the bed, and his suit smelled like pepperoni. He grabbed a new shirt and went to take a quick shower. The water was lukewarm, and the bathtub looked similar to his first place on Buckington Avenue when he was a dirt-broke college dropout. Mildew, rust, and mold clung to the shower.
Cache closed his eyes for the few minutes he was in the shower. He put his shirt on, brushed his teeth, and sprayed some cologne on his shirt. Adaline always complimented him on how good he smelled, and he hoped the cologne still had some of the same charm for her that it used to. On their first date, he had worn the same cologne, and she’d brush her nose against the side of his face, inhaled, and nuzzled into his neck.
He smiled at the thought.
Cache looked at himself in the mirror, pretending to be confident. He felt anything but that about this whole situation, but he loved her, and that’s all that mattered to him. He peered at his watch. Just enough time to get flowers and drop by her store before he went to work. Getting into his car, he turned some jazz music on to soothe his nerves. This felt like their first date, and he would either score or flunk out.
Pulling up to Ivy Lane, he parked and got out of his car. He grinned, seeing Adaline’s car in the parking lot.
Here we go.
A couple of stores down, a flower place called Magic Petals had an open sign in the window. Stepping inside, a wave of roses and tulips overwhelmed his senses.
“How can I help you, sir?”
“Yes, I would like a dozen roses and one Gerber daisy.”
“Do you have a preference on colors?” the older lady asked with a smile.
“Six yellow roses and six red. The Gerber daisy needs to be white.”
Adaline loved white Gerber daisies. She said they looked as though they still needed to be painted. When she was a kid, she’d imagine a color in her mind, touch her finger to the flower petal, and she’d pretend it would change into the shade she thought of.
“This woman must be a keeper with you buying love and friendship roses.”
“She is. We’ve been through a lot, but I’m hoping we can get back to where we started.” He paused. “How much do I owe you?”
“For you? I’ll say twenty,” she said. “Take it from me, no marriage is perfect, but if you give it water and sunlight continually and care for it often, it will flourish. Just like your bouquet there.”
Cache grinned and took out twenty-five. “Keep the change. Thank you.” He left, headed down to Adaline’s store on the corner, and used his copy of the store key to get inside. Walking in, he heard laughing from the back of the store and moved through the aisle towards the noise.
Adaline’s eyes opened wide. “Cache. What are you doing here?” She glanced toward a man that Cache didn’t recognize.
He stared the man down. “I could ask you the same thing.” Cache held the bouquet in her direction. “I came to see if we could talk and to bring you these.”
“They’re beautiful. Thank you,” she said. “I’m sorry. Let me introduce you.” Adaline pointed to the man with blond hair. He was tall, muscular, and around his age. “This is Sam. Sam Wendell.” She paused. “I told you about him.”
Cache scrunched his nose and chuckled. “You’re the boy that proposed to my wife and then she ran off on you.” He bunched his fist behind him. “Didn’t you think trying to get with my wife once was enough?”
Sam looked away. He clearly hit a nerve.
Adaline gazed at him. “Stop it. That’s enough.”
“I’m just stating who he is.”
She straightened her shoulders. “He’s also the boy that helped me when I was younger with my mother when she did those horrible things to me.”
“I remember.” He looked toward Sam. “Why are you here?”
Adaline glared at him. “Cache, you’re being rude.”
“Am I? Because you’re my wife, and you won’t talk to me, but you’ll talk to him.”
She peered at the ground.
“I miss you. Can we talk without him?” Cache asked.
“It’s not her fault,” Sam said. “I thought you both could use my help.”
“Or rather you thought she could use your help.”
Sam nodded.
Adaline covered her face. “I miss you, too, but you don’t want to be a part of my life.”
“I do.” Cache gazed at the flowers he held in his hands. “Remember our first date? I asked you what your favorite color of flower was, and you told me white.”
“Yes. I remember,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “That was a long time ago, when we could trust each other. You don’t believe me anymore, but Sam does, and I need someone that will help me find our girls.”
“Sam believes you. How convenient. So, what does this mean for us?”
“I told you I needed time.”
“Wait while someone else tries to come in and manipulate you? I don’t think so.”
Adali
ne sneered at him. “I gave you chances. Many. I know very well what manipulation looks like, and I can take care of myself.”
He bit his lip, trying to hold his tongue. “You want time? You come get me when you’re ready. I’m done playing games.” Cache threw the flowers on the counter and stormed out of the store.
Thirty-Two
Adaline Rushner
Lost Treasures
8:00 a.m.
Sitting on the floor, she hung her head and held her stomach, trying to contain her emotions. She hadn’t expected Cache to come visit her at the store, but seeing him brought hope, until he threw flowers at her and left. The satin fabric from her skirt clung to her leg from the tears blending into the white material. Adaline could drown her sorrow in the cloth, and no one would even know about the tears she had shed.
“Adaline?”
A hand touched her back gently, but she didn’t look up at him.
“Talk to me. Come here,” Sam said.
She brought her head up off her skirt just enough to speak, but not enough for him to see her. “Please leave, Sam.”
“You need a friend right now. Let me in.”
“What I need is not a friend, okay?” Adaline wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“You do this when you’re upset. Hide so no one can see your emotions.” He paused. “I’m not just someone.”
“Once I share my feelings, you might not like what I have to say.”
His feet shuffled on the floor behind her.
“Maybe not, but you need to let things out sometimes. You can’t keep holding all that built-up anger inside like this.”
Adaline stood up and peered at his handsome face. She didn’t see the face he wore now, but the face of the little boy who helped her as a child. He still was the same person, trying to save a damsel in distress. She was tired of being saved and having people view her that way.
“You want to know what I’m thinking?” The words came out so quickly that spit lingered on Sam’s arm.
He wiped it off with his shirt and looked at her. “Yes.”
Her body shook like a volcano ready to explode. “I’m tired of people thinking I’m crazy and delusional. I know that’s what you, they, everyone thinks,” she said. “I can see it in your eyes when you look at me. Poor little Adaline needs help once again.” She paused. “Well, I don’t. I don’t need anyone’s help.”
“I heard you fell unconscious in the snow, and no one was there to help you.”
“Dammit, Sam. People fall all the time.” She put her hand on her hip and glared at him. “My girls are alive and I want them back. I want my marriage back, and I need things to be the way they used to, but we don’t get what we want, now do we?”
“No, we sure don’t.”
She hesitated. “I’m not talking to you anymore, and I want you to stop thinking you need to save me. Go back home where you belong. I’m not yours to worry about.”
He tightened his jaw and continued to stare at her.
She wanted to apologize, but she was tired of that, too.
It’s not your fault.
“You know where to find me,” he said, brushing past her toward the front door.
Adaline stared angrily at the antiques on the shelf closest to her and picked up an item. She squeezed a glass paperweight in her hand and threw it on the floor. Adaline screamed and grabbed objects, one by one, letting them shatter as they hit the ground.
Now you really are alone.
“Girls, don’t leave me too. Mommy wants to play hide-and-seek still, and I’m getting warmer on finding you.” Adaline closed her eyes and watched a slideshow of memories play in her mind of her girls. “There you are.” She took a deep breath and sighed.
Melting to the ground, she held her legs and took in the damage she’d just created.
Maybe I am crazy.
A piece of glass clung to the wood floor near her foot, balancing itself up and down. Adaline picked it up and gently placed it in her palm, staring at the sharp edges on the corner. The glass was beautiful broken. Why did people always feel the need to fix things that were broken? She brought the glass to eye level. Taking her finger, she held it over the sharp edge and pressed down as the blood oozed off the tip.
This was real.
The prick of her finger.
The jagged glass piece in her hand.
Blood.
Pain.
Her reality.
Right here, in her store. The fire inside her that the girls were still alive continued to burn. Bristles brushing against the wood floor stole her attention.
“Step away from the glass, ma`am,” Seth said, sweeping the floor.
“When did you get in? I didn’t even hear you.”
“I’m sorry. Is this a bad time?” He aimlessly looked around the store. “I thought you said to come back at eight today.” Seth handed her a Kleenex.
Adaline wiped the small red clot on her finger on the napkin. “I did. I must’ve lost track of time.” She pressed her hand to her face. “Why would you want to come back? To my store, I mean?”
“Ma’am?” he said, raising his eyebrows.
“You know, with all the rumors and news surrounding me. Why would you want to stick around? Most people would rather stay away.”
Seth stopped sweeping. “Everyone deserves a second chance, right? You gave me one, and I’m very grateful.” He let the broom lie against the wall and walked toward her. “You know, there’s good in every one of us. Sometimes the bad outweighs the good, but it only takes one person to see it to make all the difference.” He looked down at the ground and turned away from her.
“Thank you, Seth.”
“For what?”
“For saying something that made a difference to me, and please, will you stop calling me ma’am? I’m too young for that.” She smiled. “What was prison like? I mean, you don’t need to answer that if you don’t want to.”
Seth didn’t turn around. “Kind of what you might think it is. Hell. A deep, dark, and lonely place where you pay for what you rightfully deserve. I was in my own personal prison for a long time before I was locked away, but at least in that place, I felt like I was atoning for my sins. It gave me clarity on what I needed to do to make up for all the damage I caused.”
“You really think people can change?”
“Yes. It’s got to be up to them. You can’t force someone to change or be something you would like them to be.”
If only my mother could’ve been different and lived long enough for me to see a change in her.
“I sure hope you’re right,” she said, pulling back her hair.
Seth grabbed the broom and began sweeping the glass pieces into the dustpan. A sense of loss, watching him shovel it all in the plastic tray to throw away, pained her.
“Stop.”
“Yes, ma’am? I mean, Adaline.”
“That broken glass still has a purpose. We shouldn’t throw it away just because it’s severed. Everything can be fixed piece by piece, right?”
He smiled, placed the dustpan on the counter in front of her, and walked away.
Thirty-Three
Officer Abbott
Thursday, November 11th
Noon
He opened the brown paper bag that sat on his passenger seat and took out a large bottle of Vodka. Staring at the glass jar, Abbott licked his lips with anticipation for the gulp he’d craved in the few months of being sober.
Since when did Sam become deceitful?
Sam never showed up at his house. He told Abbott he knew nothing that could help with his daughter’s case, yet he had the same necklace left at the crime scene of Aspen’s disappearance a year ago. That piece of worthless jewelry held the last sweet memory he had of her.
He came home early to take her on a daddy/daughter date. They’d talked about it for days. Walking into the house, he tiptoed and closed the door quietly, so she wouldn’t realize he was home. Singing came from inside her room,
and the smell of chocolate chip cookies from her Easy Bake Oven filled the air. He tapped on the door, and she ran to it, squealing his name. Picking her up, he swung her in the air and they danced. She giggled for a while until she informed him he was dancing all wrong. After a few cookies and some karaoke, she smiled at him and sweetly asked for privacy to get dressed for their date.
Once she had finished getting ready, he could barely speak. Only seven then, but she looked at least four years older. A young lady, not a little girl. She had a green, sparkling dress on, with gold earrings, silver flats, and a frown. He lifted her chin and asked what troubled her. She sniffled and explained she’d made a bracelet for him, but she couldn’t find it. He reassured her that it’d reappear. She nodded and put on her coat as they headed off on their adventure together. He’d never fully grasped why girls insisted on being put together from head to toe, but he understood some when they walked into the nail salon. Aspen’s eyes grew wide, and the more sparkles the nail polish had, the further her mouth opened. She took her time gazing at each color, making sure she found “the perfect one.” At last, her finger pointed to a silver and emerald mix. She grinned and exclaimed how perfect the color would blend with her green dress. On the way home, they got ice cream and talked about her day. He never knew that would be the last time they would share chocolate mint ice cream and talk about her friends.
She was so much like her mother. She enjoyed talking, ice cream, and the finer things in life. He missed both of his ladies every single day. One smile from Aspen made the world a better, happier place. She changed him. He felt like an honorable man and a good father being around her.
Abbott brought the bottle of vodka to his lips. He could smell the strength of the alcohol and smiled.
Only a sip. I can control myself this time.
He missed that feeling of doing something right by someone in the world. Being something other than a screw-up. She adored him, and he wanted to be the man she thought him to be. Aspen wouldn’t have liked the drunken version of himself.
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