“I know, I know.” Olivia props her elbow on the table and rests her forehead on her fingers. “There’s got to be something we can do. I’ve got her son. We need to find her.”
“What’s her home address?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm.”
“He does, but he hasn’t been able to tell me.” Olivia glances at Josh, who’s staring at the table. His body vibrates, coiled tight. He grinds his teeth. She’s as desperate as Josh to find Lily. Her sister might have slept with Olivia’s boyfriend, but Josh doesn’t deserve to be separated from his mom, no matter the circumstances.
“What about region?” Olivia points at Josh’s ball cap. “He’s from the San Diego area. Right, Josh?” He nods, and she looks hopefully at Tanya. “Does that help?”
Tanya flips open the tablet. “Tell you what, Ms. Carson. We’ll file a courtesy report and distribute to the San Diego law enforcement agency. Without her legal name and address, or a last-known location, it won’t do much good.”
“But it’s something. Right?” She looks at Josh again. He’s frowning, bouncing his fist on the table. A new worry bubbles up in her. “What’s wrong?”
A noise vibrates in the back of his throat and her heart speeds up.
“If you can get the address,” Tanya says, jerking Olivia’s focus back on her, “I can contact local law enforcement to do an in-person wellness check. They’ll send out an officer to knock on her door and talk to her neighbors. Likely, she’ll show up in a few days. Most do.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
Tanya pushes back from the table, ready to leave. “Find her address. Talk to her friends. Someone is bound to know something. When you do find out more, come back.” She pushes her business card across the table.
Josh swipes it onto the floor. “No! Fuck, no!” he explodes like he did the other day with Lucas in her kitchen. He pounds the table with his fists and lunges at Tanya. “Fuck you. You . . . hop . . . help.”
Tanya leaps back from the table, hand on her holster.
Olivia jumps in front of Josh, heart clogging her throat, eyes huge. Liquid hot panic heats her chest. “Whoa. He’s just a kid.”
Any emotion Tanya might have shown melts off her. She turns her blank expression on Olivia. “Ma’am, calm your nephew down.”
“We’re sorry. He’s upset. He just wants to find his mom. Josh.” She turns to him.
He kicks the chair. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. She help. My mom . . . mom . . .” He cries out. “She’s gone. Gone!”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Let’s go home. We’ll solve this.” Josh stomps from the room. Olivia grabs her purse and his backpack. “Thanks for your time, Officer,” she says over her shoulder and follows Josh out of the station.
She meets up with him in the parking lot. He circles the car, pacing. While he blows off steam, she lights a cigarette. “I’m sorry she couldn’t help.”
He jabs a finger at her. “You promised.”
“I did. But I need your mom’s name. The police can’t find her—I can’t find her—until we get that name. What is it?”
His mouth tightens until his lips turn white, head shaking. Then he lets out a roar of frustration. Folding his arms, he leans against the passenger door and sulks.
“Josh.” She drops the cigarette, crushing the butt, and waits until he looks at her. “I’m not giving up. You’d better not either.”
CHAPTER 14
Olivia met Ethan Miller the first day of their senior year in high school. He took the empty seat behind her in American Government. It took him two weeks to work up the nerve to talk to her, even though she smiled at him every day. But it takes him less than twenty-four hours to show up after she called. He arrives promptly at seven, as promised, and all the way from Los Angeles.
Despite her looming doubts that he’s the father and wondering whether Lily lied to Dwight to spite Olivia, Ethan’s offer to visit, his willingness to drive up here with just one phone call after fourteen years, leaves her with the impression he either knows something about Lily he couldn’t share over the phone—wishful thinking on her part because she’s starving for information—or he is Josh’s father and he wants to meet his son.
She’s been eager to talk with him all day. After the police station, she tried to reach him only to remember he was in meetings.
Now Ethan is standing on her porch, swathed in artificial light, and he looks like a memory from her past, with the creases that bookend his full mouth like parentheses when he flashes a smile after she opens the door. Arms loose at his sides, hands in his pockets, he regards her with an open expression. He wears a black tee and cognac utility pants, his tawny hair mussed from running his hands through it, something she remembers he does when he’s stressed. She can see the grooves left by his fingers. It’s the only sign he shows he might be as nervous as her. But that smile, his mouth, those eyes . . . him. They always made her heart sprint like she was catching up to him. This time, that reaction is noticeably absent, and her heart races for a different reason: Josh. She wants to know what Ethan knows.
She invites him into the house. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” Ethan’s presence fills the entryway. He’s the last person she expected to set foot in her house. He scans the room, taking in the changes since he was last here. He once spent a weekend helping Dwight repair the drywall in between tenants. His gaze eventually finds hers.
“It’s good to see you again, Olivia.”
“You too.” If anything, it’s good to know she doesn’t feel for him the way she used to.
Josh enters the room, lured by their voices. He looks expectantly at Olivia. She’d told him earlier a friend was visiting. He might know something about Lily.
“Ethan, this is my nephew, Josh,” she introduces.
If Ethan has any reaction to meeting his son for the first time, he doesn’t show it. He offers Josh his hand, his smile friendly. “Ethan Miller. Nice to meet you.”
“Josh. Same.” Olivia notices his grip is solid, but his eyes waver back to her. They glimmer with expectation. “He . . . help?”
Ethan’s pale blue eyes find hers. His brows draw together.
“We’re hoping you might help us find Lily.” She answers the question she knows he wanted to ask.
Ethan slides his hand into his pocket. “I’ll try my best.”
“Thank you.” Josh’s relief is visible.
“Josh, why don’t you finish your movie while Ethan and I talk out back?” He’s only thirteen, and after what happened at the police station, she doesn’t want him to overhear anything upsetting and explode again.
Josh hesitates, clearly reluctant to leave the room.
“I’ll come get you if I learn anything new, promise.”
He nods, and after a moment he retreats to the living room, where he left the latest Marvel release on pause.
“Let’s talk outside.”
She leads Ethan through the kitchen and out to the back. Her yard is an oasis, thanks to Blaze and his team. Raised garden beds on the left. A firepit to the right. A ten-seat pastoral table underneath a pergola covered in jasmine draws the eye to the center of the yard. Wind chimes Blaze crafted sway in the light breeze. Any other given night she’d find the rustic music relaxing. But not tonight. She’s too wound up. Her drive to discover what happened to Lily too pressing, like a palm on her back shoving her forward.