by Carrie Elks
Right now it felt like the worst idea in the world. She pressed her lips together, trying to stop herself from crying. What on earth had Riley thought, seeing the two of them naked beneath the sheets? The same thing she would have thought if she’d caught somebody she’d considered a friend sleeping with her own father.
Betrayed, disgusted, but most of all completely devastated.
And now Riley had run off to God only knew where – and it was all Ally’s fault.
“Riley? It’s me. Again. Call me back as soon as you can. We’re so worried about you.” Ally took a breath to try and calm down her pulse that hadn’t stopped racing since Riley had caught them on the terrace. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into the mouthpiece of her phone. “Please come home.”
She’d been calling Riley for the past half hour, but every time it clicked straight to voicemail. It was the middle of the night, it was dark, and Riley was all alone somewhere.
Please let Nate find her. Or let her come home. Ally squeezed her eyes closed for a second, sending up a silent prayer. Surely somebody had to be listening up there.
When she glanced at her phone again, she saw the notifications flashing at the top. She slid her finger to drag them up, and saw a voice message that had been received hours earlier.
From Riley.
It felt as though Ally’s heart had risen up from her chest and into her throat. Her fingers shook as she keyed in her pin. Why hadn’t she had her phone outside with her last night?
Because you were too busy, the little voice in her head told her. Too concerned about being in Nate’s arms to care about his daughter.
She closed her eyes as her voicemail connected.
“Ally?” Riley’s voice was tremulous. “Can you call me?” A tiny sob echoed down the line. “Please…” A loud click was followed by nothingness. How long ago had Riley tried to call? Ally quickly brought up her call log to see the message was left at nine the previous night. It was almost three-thirty in the morning now. If Riley arrived home at two–thirty, then she must have left Los Angeles almost as soon as she’d failed to speak to Ally.
She jumped when her phone rang out – loudly this time, thanks to the full volume she’d been sure to switch on.
“Any sign of her?” Nate asked as soon as she picked up the call.
Ally swallowed. “No. But she left a voicemail last night.”
“What did she say?”
She tried to ignore the impatience in his voice. He was just worried. “Nothing. Just asked me to call her.” She took a ragged breath in. “But Nate, she was crying. So upset.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, biting into it. “What’s happened to her?”
“The school realized she was missing around midnight,” Nate said. “After they couldn’t get ahold of me they got the police involved.”
She covered her eyes with the palm of her hand. “Do they know how she got here?”
There was a pause. “She stole her teacher’s car.”
“Oh shit.” Ally felt his words like a punch in the gut.
“It’s not the first time she’s been in trouble. I’ve just spent the last ten minutes persuading them not to press charges. The only problem is she’s still got the damn car somewhere. She could be anywhere by now.”
Ally was trying not to hyperventilate. The thought of Riley driving in the state she’d been in made her hands shake like crazy. She’d passed her driver’s test back in Seattle – that much she knew from Nate – but she was still a new driver. Anything could happen. Anything at all.
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Nate admitted, his voice tight. “I’m just driving around looking for a car that matches her teacher’s. Any friends she has here are still in LA. She’s not at the coffee shop or by the beach. I just drove up to the cliff where…” his voice faded. “Yeah, she’s not there either.”
“She’s not going to do anything stupid, is she?”
“She already has,” Nate said. “So many damn times I’ve lost count.” His words were so sharp she could almost feel them cut. “I don’t know where my daughter is and it’s fucking killing me.”
“Come back here,” she said, trying to keep calm. “I’ll call the police here in Angel Sands. They have way more manpower than we do, and they can spread word into neighboring towns, too.”
She could hear the soft rumble of the engine over his Bluetooth connection, and the sound of his indicator, as he must have taken a turn from the road. Finally he sighed, and she imagined his shoulders slumping as his fingers tightened on the wheel. “Yes,” he said. “Please do that.”
“She’ll be okay,” she whispered, as much to herself as to him.
“I just want to find her,” he said, his voice cracking. “Make her safe.”
Of course he did. He was her dad, after all. And wasn’t that what any good father would want to do?
24
The doorbell rang sometime after four that morning. Nate had come back from searching for Riley, his expression dark, and he’d hardly said two words to her before he made his way to the office. That’s where he’d been since – making phone call after phone call, emerging once to pour himself a cup of black coffee before disappearing back in there again. He looked like hell. They both did.
Ally made her way up the hallway on her crutches, opening the door to see two uniformed officers standing there. “Thank you for coming,” she said, standing back to let them in. “The living room is the first door to your left.”
Nate must have heard the doorbell from the office, because by the time they reached the room he was there, shaking their hands. She looked at him as soon as she walked through the doorway, but he seemed to be studiously avoiding her eyes.
“Can I get you a drink?” Ally asked the two officers as they sat on the easy chairs facing the sofa. “Coffee or orange juice, maybe?”
“No thank you, ma’am.”
“Nate?” she asked, looking at him. He shook his head but still wouldn’t look at her.
Okay, then. She gave them a nod and went to turn away.
“Miss Sutton?” the male officer said. He looked to be around her father’s age. “Could you stay, too? We may have some questions for you.”
Ally pressed her lips together and nodded, sitting on the sofa next to Nate, though there was at least a foot of distance between them. He was still looking at the older officer, his back as straight as a poker, his jaw tight. He looked so uncomfortable and nervous it made her stomach churn.
“I’m afraid we still have no news on your daughter’s whereabouts,” the older officer told them. “All our cars have her details, and a photograph thanks to the one you sent over. And I can confirm that none of the local hospitals have had admissions that match Riley’s description.”
Ally let out a mouthful of air.
“We have a few questions that might help us find her.” The female officer leaned forward, flashing a brief smile as she pulled out a pencil and notepad from her pocket. “Obviously you’re her father, Mr. Crawford. And Miss Sutton is Riley’s stepmother, is that right?”
“No.” Ally shook her head. The officer’s cool eyes gave nothing away. “I’m just a… friend.”
“But you’re living here right now?”
The corner of Nate’s jaw was dancing rhythmically as he ground his teeth together. Ally felt herself begin to flush.
“I hurt my leg,” she said, looking down at the cast as though they hadn’t noticed it as soon as they walked in. “I’ve been staying in the spare room while I recuperate.”
“Okay.” The officer wrote something on her pad. “You said that Riley came home at little after two this morning, then left right away. Did something happen to make her leave?”
It was as though a snake had wrapped itself around her chest, making it impossible to breathe. “She, um…”
“She found me in bed with Miss Sutton,” Nate said, his voice low. He kept his gaze firmly on the officer. Ally winced, wa
nting to crawl into a hole and die there.
“But you’re not in a relationship?”
This was excruciating. Ally shifted on the sofa, moving her leg in an attempt to get comfortable, but it did no good. Nate was showing no emotion at all.
“It’s not unusual for teenagers to run off for a while,” the male officer said. “Especially in a situation like this one.” His gaze flickered to Ally then back to Nate. “We’d usually expect her to return within twenty-four-hours, once the novelty of running away wears off.”
“She was very upset,” Ally said. “She’d tried to call me the previous night and left a tearful voicemail.”
“Can you let my partner hear it?” the officer asked, standing up. “And in the meantime, can you give me a few more photographs, Mr. Crawford? I assume you keep some around here.”
“I have a good one in my office.”
“Great. Let’s go take a look. And if you can also give me the contact details for any other members of your family, just so we can alert them that she may be headed their way.”
Ally watched as the two men left the room, leaving her alone with the female officer. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she dialed her voicemail again, putting Riley’s message on speakerphone for the policewoman to hear.
“She really did sound upset,” the officer said as the message ended. “Do you know if something happened in Los Angeles?”
“I’ve no idea. She has a friend, Laura, she may know. And there’s a boy she likes, too. His name is Leo.”
The officer gave a rueful smile. “In ninety-nine percent of cases like this there’s always a boy or girl.” She took note of their names on her pad. “Please try not to get too worried. There’s every chance we’ll track her down before the day is up. It’s almost textbook, really. Emotional teenager discovers her father has a girlfriend?” She shrugged. “When they suddenly realize their parents have a sex life it shakes them up and makes them mad.”
A shiver went down Ally’s spine. She’d been that teenager once. Hated Marnie as much as she’d hated her right back. She’d demanded his time, his money, his constant attention. Which meant that when Ally needed him he wasn’t there.
Just like Nate hadn’t been there when Riley needed him. Because he’d been naked beneath the sheets. With Ally.
The embarrassment felt like being covered in shards of glass.
Nate walked back into the room, swiftly followed by the other policeman.
“We’ve had a lead. Mr. Crawford’s credit card was used two hours ago to buy a single plane ticket to Boston.”
“Where my sister lives,” Nate said.
“We’re pretty sure she’s headed there.”
“Has the plane taken off yet?” the female officer asked. Ally looked at Nate. His face was as tight as ever, his breath as shallow as hers.
“Half an hour ago. We’re requesting the flight manifest now.”
“I’m going to pack a bag and head to the airport,” Nate said, his eyes landing on Ally’s. “I’ve called Kirsten to let her know.”
“Kirsten’s your sister?” the officer asked. She made another note.
“That’s right.”
“We’re calling the Boston Police Department, too. Riley should have a big welcoming committee waiting for her at the other end.”
Ally waited for relief to wash over her, but it didn’t arrive. All she felt was that same churning feeling in her stomach that had been going on all morning. At the thought of Riley – so upset by seeing Ally and her dad that she had to jump on a plane to escape.
“We’ll head out to the car and make a couple of calls while you pack,” the male officer said. He inclined his head before he made for the hallway, his partner following right behind.
It was just the two of them again. Nate raked a hand through his thick hair, curling his fingers around the back of his neck. There were shadows beneath his eyes and his skin looked pale in spite of the California sun outside. “I should go grab a bag,” he said, still hovering by the door.
“Yes.” Ally nodded.
“Can you stay here again?” he asked, his tone business-like. “Just until I know she’s safe. If she isn’t on that flight, or if something goes wrong I need somebody here.”
“Of course I can.” Her voice was soft. “Whatever you need, I can do it.”
“I’ll let you know when I get to Boston.” He still wasn’t looking at her.
“I’d appreciate that. I want to know she’s safe.” She moistened her lips with her tongue. “Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell her I’m sorry?”
He frowned. “What are you sorry for?”
A humorless laugh escaped from her lips. “I don’t know,” she said, her brows knitting together. “For not answering her call. For not being here when she needed me.” Because I took your attention away when she needed you the most?
“I’ll tell her.” He gave a short nod. “I should go. They’re waiting for me.”
A moment later he was headed to his bedroom – the one that was still minus a bed. A loud creak told her he was opening his closet, no doubt throwing clothes into his overnight bag.
And then there was one. Just Ally, this huge house and all the dark thoughts that threatened to rain down on her.
Her chest ached with a sense of loss she couldn’t quite understand. Because she hadn’t lost anything had she? Or at least she hadn’t yet.
“Okay, everything’s back where it belongs.” Lucas walked into the living room where Ally was sitting with Ember and Brooke. Griff, Lucas’ best friend, was hovering behind him, having come over to help carry the bed back from the patio. “We’ll head out and leave you ladies to it.” He winked at Ember who smiled back at him. “See you later, babe.”
“Thanks for all your help,” Ally said. Her voice was fragile as glass. “I appreciate it.”
“Any time.” He gave her the softest of smiles. He really was a good guy. No doubt Ember had filled him in on all the gory details while they were on their way over. “If you need anything else, call me, okay?”
“I will.”
The two of them left, heading out to Griffin’s truck, where their surfboards were stashed in the flatbed. It was strange, knowing that normal life was still going on while Ally felt as though she was at the center of a storm. Surfers still surfed, teachers still taught, even the coffee shop was still open. For most of Angel Sands it was just another Friday.
Not for Nate and Riley, though. Or for Ally.
“What time is Nate’s plane due into Boston?” Brooke asked, checking her watch.
“Any minute now. He got on the first flight out once the police confirmed Riley was on the earlier plane.”
“And his sister was going to meet her?”
“Along with some police officers. They were going to escort his sister to the arrival gate so she doesn’t have to wait in the hall.” She gave a wan smile. “I guess she’s there already.”
“At least you know she’s safe.” Ember reached out for her hand. “What a mess this all is. You must be exhausted after everything that’s happened. Maybe you should go lie down.”
Ally shook her head. “I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to.” Not with all these thoughts racing through her head. Every time she thought about Riley seeing them out on the deck it made her feel sick. Not because of her embarrassment, but because she hated to think what Riley must have thought of her.
She came home because she was upset and wanted Ally’s support. Then she found her in bed with her father. She must have felt so alone, so betrayed. Exactly the same way Ally would have if she’d been in her place.
Her phone buzzed and Ally grabbed it.
Made it to Boston. Riley’s safe with Kirsten. I’m heading there now.
That was it. Nothing else. Ally stared at his words, trying to take them in.
“Is that from Nate?” Brooke asked. “Is everything okay?”
“Um, yeah I think so. He’s
made it to Boston and Riley’s with his sister.”
Ember squeezed her hand. “That’s great news, isn’t it?”
Ally nodded. She had to press her lips together to stop herself from letting out a sob. Of course it was great news. It was such a damn relief. But there was still that self-loathing deep inside that seemed to be slowly eating its way out.
“She’s safe and that’s the main thing,” Brooke said, smiling at her. “Though I bet Nate will be reaming her out when he sees her. Man, it’s tough being a parent sometimes. One day we’ll all be talking like this about Nick and wondering where I went wrong.”
“It’s tough being a kid, too,” Ally said. “Poor Riley. First her mom dies, then she moves here and has to make a whole bunch of new friends. And now…” She couldn’t say it again. She could think it, though. Riley had been let down by the two people she thought she could trust.
“And now she’s safe.” Brooke finished the sentence for her in an entirely new way. “They’ll be back later and this will all be forgotten in a week.”
“I’ll be back in my apartment by then.” Ally smiled wanly. “That’ll be a good thing for everybody.”
“But you’ll still be seeing Nate, won’t you?” Ember asked. “This doesn’t change things between the two of you, does it? It’s embarrassing, yes, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“I don’t know.” Ally shook her head. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.”
Maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t see that expression on Riley’s face every time she closed her eyes. The confusion that morphed into hurt and disgust before she turned on her heel and ran away.
Yeah, maybe tomorrow would be a better day. Because God knew that today was pretty much rock bottom.
25