Page 56 of Alonzo

“Kidnapped?” He raised one eyebrow at me. “Really? Do people in your social circle regularly get kidnapped?”

“It could happen. Or”—I pointed back at him—“she got in some car accident. There was a snowstorm that day she disappeared. Maybe she’s in the hospital?”

Jesse placed both his hands on my shoulders, gripped them tight, looked me in the eyes and said, “She ditched you, bro. You scared her off. That’s just the truth. But all hope is not lost if you just heed my advice.”

“You didn’t give me any advice. You just told me to leave a suck-up message and never call her again.”

“Because we need to wait for her to make contact with us. Then the real game begins.”

“What if I never hear from her again?”

“Then…” He shrugged. “It’s over. And it was never meant to be.”

That was yesterday afternoon. And by the time last night rolled around I was starting to face facts.

We’re done. She’s out. It’s over.

And this morning I started to imagine life without Tara. I started to picture myself making a new dating profile on some other site. Maybe all the sites. Start this whole catfishing expedition thing over from the beginning.

But I couldn’t do it. I just can’t give up on her yet.

And just as Jesse and I were walking up towards the parents’ house to grab some family dinner I made a decision. If Tara didn’t call me back by tonight, I was borrowing my little sister’s jet and going to Colorado to hunt her down.

But that was before I heard my mom screaming inside her house.

That was before I rushed inside to find Rosalie Thompson in the kitchen being hugged to death by my mother.

That was before Rosie told me that Tara Tanner—my Tara Tanner—was outside my family home sitting in the back seat of a black truck.

She came here.

To me.

Jesse grins and points his finger at me. “What did I tell you? Eh? Was I right or was I right?”

All the words Rosie just blurted hang in the air for a moment and I forget all about how she disappeared eight years ago. I forget all about what happened to her family and friends just a week later.

Then my feet are moving of their own accord. I don’t even know how I make it to the front door. I just end up on the porch, pushing the screen door open with a bang.

And when I look down at the black truck and find her—Tara—staring back at me from the back seat, my heart begins to thump erratically inside my chest. So hard and so loud, for a moment I think the whole street must surely hear it.

“Tara?”

She frowns as I descend the porch steps. I walked right past her. Didn’t see her, didn’t feel her, didn’t even know she was there. Wouldn’t ever have known she was there if Rosie hadn’t told me.

It’s like that old saying. Two ships passing in the night.

That could’ve been us.

I’m crossing the yard towards the truck now. But just before I reach it, the dude in the driver’s seat opens up his door, gets out, and blocks my way. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

I stop short. Not because he’s big and intimidating. He’s tall, like Jesse. Yoked out and tatted up like me. But I’m a very big dude. I stop short because I need to know something before I go any further. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m her friend.”

I look at Tara, who is still silent and inside the truck. “Well, I’m her friend too.”

Her eyes are sad and a little watery. “You lied to me, Alonzo.”