Page 11 of No More Words

Josh takes interest in a stack of books she toppled. He stoops and selects one, a coffee-table type of California beaches she keeps for aesthetics over content. He hugs the book close like a security blanket. Okay, not the subject matter she’d expect would fascinate a teenager.

“Are you going to call Lily?” Amber asks. Her empty wineglass and half bottle of wine click together in her hand.

“I don’t have her number.” For the first time since Lily ran, she regrets the fact she doesn’t. She has no way to reach her.

“What about Lucas or your parents?”

“I’d be surprised if they have it. We never talk about her. They don’t know where she lives any more than I do.”

“San Diego?” Amber taps her forehead to indicate Josh’s Padres cap.

“Possibly.” The annual note cards Lily sent with Josh’s school photo never had return addresses. The postmarks changed every year, random locations along the western coast.

“Are you going to go to the police?”

“Why?” Olivia frowned.

“Lily could be missing.”

Maybe that’s why Josh came. He needs her help.

She chews her bottom lip. The first inklings that something isn’t right drizzle like raindrops, the stain spreading, beckoning her to do something. Amber’s right. Highly doubtful Josh’s visit is a social call.

“I probably should.” But she wants to give Lily the chance to show. She could be on her way at this moment. And Josh needs food. He’ll feel more settled and less like a skittish kitten once he’s eaten. He’d hide under the sofa if he could.

Olivia taps open the DoorDash app. “Any food allergies, Josh?”

He watches her curiously, then shakes his head.

“What do you want on your burger? Cheese? Grilled onions? Mayo?”

“Yes.”

“Yes to what? All of it?”

He nods.

“Mushrooms? Pickles? Tomatoes?”

He nods again.

“Slugs?”

His face draws a blank. After a beat he grimaces.

“Noted. No slugs.” She cracks a smile and is almost certain the corner of his mouth twitches. For a moment there, she wondered if he was understanding any of what she asked or if he was saying yes to everything. She frowns at his customized order. He understands her but is slow to comprehend. His speech is broken. Does he have a speech disorder? Was he born this way?

Amber points at the menu on her screen. “Get fries, the curly kind. Kids like fries.”

Olivia adds fries to the order. “Want anything?”

Amber shakes her head. “I’m meeting Mike at the hospital cafeteria.”

“Sounds romantic,” Olivia says of Amber’s dinner with her boyfriend, Michael Drake, an emergency physician. “When does he get off?”

“Late. But I’m going home after. I have a ton of emails waiting and a client’s books to balance.” Amber gave up on her art major and transferred to San Francisco State their junior year to study accounting. “Walk me out?”

“Sure. Josh?” He turns around, the book plastered against him. She almost blurts that he can keep it. She won’t take it away. It’s okay to chill. He’s safe here. Thank god that old woman brought him here and didn’t kidnap him. What if that Golden Girl was a human trafficker? Josh could have been forever lost to Lily. As much as Olivia doesn’t want to admit it, she felt empty after Lily vanished. Her pang of loss was minuscule to what Lily would feel if Josh disappeared. She doesn’t have firsthand experience, but friends with kids have told her nothing compares to a mother’s pain when her child is wounded, or god forbid, dies.