Page 57 of The Last Thing You Said

I don’t wait to hear his reply, if he has one. I turn and am out of the kitchen in a flash. I head to the front porch where Hannah waits.

“We’re going,” I tell her. “I don’t care what he says, and I’m not even going to bother asking my mom. We’re going.”

“Yeehaw!” Hannah whoops and throws her pink cowgirl hat high into the air.

Sneaking out of the house Friday night is almost too easy. I stay up later than my parents, watching TV. I turn the volume down, set the timer for it to power off at 12:30, and slip out the front door a few minutes before midnight. I don’t bother to leave a note. They’ll figure it out soon enough.

I walk down our long driveway, where Dustin will have parked his truck. Simon will meet us there, too, although he’s going to South Dakota with his mother’s blessing, since she’s got an art fair in St. Paul this weekend. She told him to have a great time, that she was proud of him for broadening his horizons.

Dustin’s enormous red pickup is parked on the shoulder. Hannah’s with him, and of course they’re making out. She sits on the open tailgate, her legs wrapped around him.

I don’t see Simon. I clear my throat.

Dustin turns his head but keeps his arms around Hannah’s waist.

“Hey, Lucy,” he says, and grins. “All set?”

“Yep.” I shove my duffel bag into the covered bed next to Hannah. Simon shows up with a backpack and a plastic bag full of convenience-store snacks.

He pulls me close and kisses me hard. “This is going to be a weekend we’ll never forget,” he whispers.

The drive to Mitchell is seven long hours. Hannah promises to stay awake to keep Dustin company while he drives, but I’m tired. My knees are smashed against Hannah’s seat back, my cheek against the cold window. There’s a crick in my neck.

“Lucy,” Simon says after a while, “that can’t be comfortable.”

He pulls me toward him. He’s warm. His shoulder, his smell, have become familiar. He wraps an arm around me and I fall asleep there.

31 · Ben

Guthrie and I are out in the backyard at the fire pit when I get the text from Tami.

Have you seen Lucy today? No one has seen or heard from her since last night.

My first thought is, Why is Tami asking me? How the hell would I know? But then my stomach heaves.

Lucy is missing. I hit call.

“Tami,” I say when she picks up, “what do you mean no one has heard from her?”

“Daniel called.” She sounds worried. “Lucy’s parents are flipping out. They thought she was here today, but when she didn’t come home for dinner, her dad tried to call her. It went straight to voicemail. Same with Hannah’s phone. Have you seen either of them today?”

“No.” My stomach twists again. I don’t know what I’ll do if something happened to Lucy, too. “I’ll call you back if I find out anything.” I stand up and pace back and forth in front of the fire.

“What’s up?” Guthrie asks.

“Lucy. She’s missing.”

Guthrie takes a swig from his bottle of water. “She’s not missing. Everyone knows she went to South Dakota with Hannah and Dustin and Simon.”

Fuck.

“What? How do you know?”

“Hannah told me Lucy’s parents wouldn’t let her go to the rodeo this weekend, but they were going to go anyway.”

“When did you see Hannah?”

“I see her around,” he says.