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My gaze lowers at the utter devastation in his voice. “I don’t know… but I don’t plan to leave her side, so…”
“So you’ll take care of her for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
He hangs up, and I turn to Harlow, but she’s looking at somethingin her hand—a tiny cardboard box that must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I took out my phone. “What is this?” she asks.
Internally, I groan. Externally, I say, “That is… terrible timing.”
“What is it?” she asks again, and I wish that this wasn’t happening now. Not when her life is in shambles like this. I fear what’s in the box might only make it worse.
I stare ahead at the house next door. It feels emptier now than it has since Harlow moved in. “I got it for you after you told me it was your birthday, but I couldn’t find the courage to give it to you before we were…official, I guess. And then I kind of forgot about it, but you have it now, so…”
Harlow slides the inner cardboard box out of its case, revealing the necklace I’d bought for her months ago. The chain is silver, just like her earrings, and it’s thin, delicate, just like her. The pendant is made up of ruby-red jewels formed into the shape of a number five.
“It’s my brother’s number,” she chokes out, running her thumb over the pendant. “And his jersey color.”
“Yeah.”
“Jace…”
It’s not a big deal,I want to tell her, but it kind of is. It’s the first gift I’ve ever bought anyone, and I’m happy that it was for Harlow. I open my mouth to speak, but then she’s kissing away all other thoughts. The remnants of her tears linger on her lips, and the taste of them spreads on my tongue when she deepens the kiss.
I’ve dreamed of this moment. Fantasized about it on the nights when I sat up here, alone, wishing to one day hold the version of her I have now.
We pull apart when my phone alerts me to a text, and I assume it’s Harlow’s dad, but it’s not.
“Who is it?” Harlow asks, and I shake my head, heave out a sigh.
“My grandpa wasn’t home when I checked in earlier, so I messaged Mae. She owns the store.”
“Yeah, I know her.”
“She just got back to me now, saying my grandpa left there an hour ago.”
“So where is he?”
“I don’t know,” I mumble. I’d checked the house before letting Harlow in just in case my grandpa was in one of his moods. He wasn’t in the living room or in his room, and so I assumed he was still at Mae’s. But maybe I didn’t look hard enough.
“He might be here or in the yard. I should go check.”
I climb in through the window first and help her do the same, and once she’s on her feet, I say, reluctantly, “Stay here, okay?Please.”
She nods, and I make quick work of checking every room downstairs, as well as all the closets, the pantry, anywhere a drunk old man can fit. Having no luck there, I check the yard, all the way around the house, and still,nothing. I go back up to my room, finding Harlow exactly where I left her. “I’m so sorry to do this, but we have to go find him.”
“Findhim?”
I grab my keys from my desk. “He does this sometimes. Just… goes missing.”
She watches me for a moment, her eyes filled with sympathy, and after the night she’s had, this is the last thing she should be worried about.
“It’s not a big deal,” I assure.
“Right…” Her eyes trail from me to my bed, and she asks, “Do you mind if I just stay here then?”
I rub my eyes, frustrated at my grandpa for putting me in this situation. “I really don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I know, and I appreciate that.” She steps up to me, tugging on my shirt. “But I think I just need to crawl into bed and cry for a bit?—”