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Rio

“Thanks, man,” I say to the rideshare driver as he drops me off at the airport. “Appreciate it.”

Grabbing my bag, I head inside the Montréal airport.

We just won our game, and I’m eager to get home. Hallie’s birthday is tomorrow, and I refuse to miss another one, so I got approval from team management to catch a commercial flight home tonight instead of waiting for the team plane to leave tomorrow afternoon.

I haven’t told her yet. I’ve been keeping this surprise to myself, and I can’t wait to see her face when I walk in the door tonight. I should be able to get there before midnight and spend every second of my favorite day with my favorite girl.

Heading straight for the security line, I pull out my phone to check in with Wren, wanting to give her a heads-up that I’ll be sneaking into her house later.

Me: Hey, Wren. Keep this between us, but I’m catching an earlier flight home. Hal doesn’t know, but I should be there before midnight. Wanted to give you a heads-up that I’m going to come over when I get there.

Wren: So cute, Rio! But I don’t think Hallie is in town right now. She left early this morning with a suitcase.

Me: What are you talking about?

Wren: She left while I was still sleeping, but I checked my doorbell camera and saw her leaving with a bag.

Me: And you have no idea where she went?

Wren: No. I texted her but haven’t heard back. I kind of assumed she was headed to meet you on the road.

Could she be headed here? No. No, there’s no way. She doesn’t know where the team is staying, and if she got that information from Stevie, Zee would’ve stopped me from leaving if he had any inclination that she was on her way.

Me: Can you let me know if she comes home?

Wren: Of course.

Something feels off. Something in my gut is telling me to not get in the airport security line, so I don’t. I stand off to the side and text the girls to see if any of them have heard from her.

They haven’t.

I didn’t call Hallie after my game because I was trying to surprise her, and I’m shit at lying but fuck it. I dial her number, but after it rings too many times, it goes to voicemail.

Panic starts to take over because the last time she left the house with a bag and wouldn’t answer her phone was when her dad was in the hospital. Did she go back to Minnesota again?

If Hallie isn’t going to answer her phone, there’s only one other person to ask.

I call Luke.

Things were fine between us at the hospital, but Hallie is going to be in my life forever. Things between her brother and me need to be better than fine, so I got his phone number from her a few weeks ago with the idea of inviting him and his family down when the house renovation is finished.

“Hello?”

“Luke? Hey, it’s Rio.”

He hesitates for a moment. “Hey, man. Is everything okay?”

I glance around me, watching the security line build up with passengers. “I’m not sure, actually. Is Hallie there?”

“Is she here in Minnesota? No...”

Fuck.

“Is your dad doing all right?”

“Yeah, he’s doing pretty great actually. I don’t think she’s headed this way unless she didn’t tell us.”

“She would’ve been there by now. She left early this morning.”

There’s a long beat of silence on the line.

“Let me call her,” he suggests. “I’ll text you back when I know more.”

“Yeah. Thanks. I’d appreciate that.”

“I’ll let you know.”

He hangs up the phone and I pace the airport as I dial her again.

No answer.

Something feels off. Something isn’t right.

When I analyze everything a little more, she has been a bit distant this week. Calls were shorter than usual. Texts were more infrequent. I summed it up to her being busy with the renovations because that’s what she told me, but now I’m thinking there was something going on that I wasn’t aware of.

I lift my phone to call her again when it dings with a text.

And the message on the screen is one I never thought I’d read.