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We search the property, calling for our dog.
“Maybe he’s with Nana.” Bryce stops, and turns to face me. “I’ll check inside, and you search the backyard again.”
I nod, and bolt back into the yard. “Edward, come on, bud. Where are you hiding?” My eyes bounce from the lounge chairs, to the pool, to the gazebo. I search behind trees, in the rose bushes, and around the entire perimeter of the guest house until Bryce meets me out back.
He shakes his head. “Nana hasn’t seen him.”
My heart leaps into my throat. “Oh, God. He ran away. What if he gets hit by a car? What if someone takes him? What if we never see him again?”
Bryce pulls me against his chest, smoothing his large palm over my back. “We’ll find him.”
I want to take comfort in his words, in his touch, but I can’t find solace with a man who no longer wants to be with me. I push out of his embrace, and wipe my eyes. “We have to keep looking.”
Bryce follows me to the front of the inn, and we walk along the edge of the road, down the block, and back in the opposite direction, calling Edward’s name over and over again. We search in neighbors’ front yards, and check beside parked cars along the street. We ask people as we pass if they’ve seen an auburn-colored pit bull, but they just shake their heads.
After a while, Bryce stops and rubs his lower back. “Let’s head home. Maybe he’s waiting there for us, and we missed him somehow.”
I give him a reluctant nod, and we walk back in silence. I hold my breath as we approach the inn, hoping with every fiber of my being to see Edward’s tail thrashing left and right.
But he’s still nowhere to be found.
Bryce runs his fingers through his hair. “We should call it a night. We’ll have better luck tomorrow in the daylight.”
My mouth flaps open. “You want to give up?”
Give up on Edward just like you’re giving up on me?
“We can continue the search tomorrow. We’ve looked everywhere we could think of right now.”
“We didn’t look everywhere, because we didn’t find him. He didn’t just disappear into thin air. He has to be somewhere.” I swallow the sob throbbing against my throat as I turn to walk away. “I can’t lose him too.”
Bryce
I remain in the backyard long after Charly disappears.
I just stand there, frozen.
If Edward ran away, there’s nothing we can do to find him if he doesn’t want to be found. He knows where we live, and he’s smart. I’m confident he can find his way back. If I followed Charly, it’d only prolong her hope of finding him. And we might never find him.
That’s where Charly and I differ. She’s the hopeful sunshine, head turned up toward the possibilities, and I’m the one with both feet rooted to the ground, looking at the facts in front of me.
I think that’s why I can’t move. It’s all hitting me at once. This summer, I deluded myself. I allowed myself to see life through Charly’s lens. Now, I’m forced to focus on reality—a reality without her. And it’s crushing me.
My stomach twists. My muscles ache. A headache pulses at the base of my skull. Stress affects everyone in different ways. But for me, being disabled, stress wreaks havoc on my body. It exacerbates my pain. If I don’t calm down, I could have a flare-up and be laid out for days. So, I drag myself inside, and try to relax.
A warm breeze blows through the open bay window in the living room, but I don’t have the energy or the strength to push it closed. I lumber down the hall, and into my bedroom, swiping the CBD bottle off my nightstand. I squeeze a full dropper of oil into my mouth, and spend a few minutes doing the breathing exercises I learned in therapy. But the deep breaths don’t do much to quiet my chaotic thoughts, nor do they heal my aching heart. At least a hot bath can help soothe my physical pain.
I flip on the lights in the bathroom. The sound of jingling metal draws my eyes to the tub, and two amber eyes meet my gaze. Edward trembles like a leaf barely holding onto a tree during a winter storm, but the tiny tip of his tail wiggles as I step closer to him.
Relief floods my veins. “What the hell are you doing in here, bud?” I lower myself onto the edge of the tub, gritting my teeth as pain shoots through my lower back, and down my right leg. I reach my hand down, and he gives it frantic licks. “Your mother is worried sick about you.” I slip my phone out of my pocket, and scroll for Charly’s number.
She answers on the first ring. “I’m not coming back until I find him, so you can forget about—”
“He’s here.”
“W-what? Where? You found him?”
“He was hiding in the bathtub. He must have come through the open window in the living room.”
