Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nate
It was about lunch time when I got back to the resort. Noon: the time I'd usually be getting up. This was nice. You actually got a lot done when you woke up earlier in the day. Who knew?
I wanted to see Abby. Her boss and I had an understanding. I'd just ask him to let me steal her away on a tour of the island or something. He'd let her if it was me. I wanted to start now. We'd go out to eat or something. Or even stay in my suite together and order food up. Go to the beach, stay at her house. Anything. I just wanted it to be with her.
I got to the main building, making a beeline for the desk before I stopped short. The person there wasn't a gorgeous, petite blonde. It wasn't Makani, either. I slowed down walking over to her.
"Good afternoon, sir; how are you today?" she asked me, smiling.
"Great. Thanks. Where is Abby? She's usually at this desk. I need to talk to her."
"Abby isn't working today. I'm sure I'll be able to assist you with your inquiry."
"Why not? Where is she?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that for you. She took the rest of the day off. What did you want to ask her? I'm sure I can help you," she said.
"Where is the manager? I need to talk to him," I said. I watched her face as she seemed to sit there and contemplate whether she was going to do what I had just asked her to do.
"One moment, please," she said. She picked her phone up and dialed a number.
"Are you calling him?" I asked. She nodded, answering the phone. "Tell him Nate Stone wants to talk to him," I said.
"One moment, sir. I'll be right with you," she said to me placing her hand on the mouthpiece.
"Let me talk to him," I said again, louder. I was getting irritated. She listened to her boss on the phone for a few seconds before she looked at me.
"Mr. Kalo has asked to speak to you," she said quietly, handing me the receiver. Didn't I fucking tell her? I put the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Stone. How are you?”
"Yeah, great. I need to know where Abby is," I said, impatiently.
"Abby requested to take the rest of the day off," he said
"Why? Where did she go?"
"She said it was an emergency. She will be back at her station tomorrow morning," he said. I thanked him and handed the phone back to the desk girl. I walked away, up towards my suite.
Emergency. She had had an emergency. What did that even mean? Where the hell would she go? Something in me hoped that when I opened my suite, she'd be up there. That she'd have gotten one of the people from housekeeping or something to let her in and wanted to surprise me.
Would she really lie like that to get out of work just to see me? It seemed a little unlikely, that wasn't her, even if I sort of wished that was something that she would have done. She loved her work. I got to my suite and threw the door open, walking straight to the bedroom. It was empty. Spotless, but empty. I checked the other rooms, even the deck, looking for her. She wasn't there.
Stay calm, man. Everything is fine. I was probably just looking in the wrong place. I needed to check her house before I started jumping to conclusions. I went back down the stairs and started down the trail Keno and I had used to get to her house the night before. This was the first place I should have come looking for her, I thought. She was there taking care of whatever her emergency was.
I got down to the beach and walked up to her back porch, climbing the short flight of stairs. I banged on the door, knocking.
"Abby?" I called. Nothing. I knocked again, calling her name louder. Still nothing. I couldn't even hear anything inside. I walked around the house and tried the door on the other side. Same thing. Nothing.
Shit. She was a grown woman and this was where she lived, but now I was getting worried. Where the hell was she? I started back up towards the hotel. Her boss had said that she had an emergency, but if that was what it was, why had Makani been gone, too? What was going on?
I didn't want to freak out and then find she had just gone to the store or something. Where was Makani? She was her best friend, she had to know something. Keno was her friend, too; maybe he knew something. He was at the bar. I took a detour, heading for the bar instead of the hotel building. I spotted Keno where he usually was. With him was Makani, strangely. She was sitting at the bar across from him.
"Nate," Keno said, noticing me. Makani stopped talking and watched me as I approached, smiling when she saw me.
"Looks like Abby and I weren't the only ones who made up last night,” I said walking over to them. I saw Makani blush while Keno laughed.
"Your girl knows how to put together a good night," he said. Good night? Yup, he had definitely gotten lucky, I thought.
"Looks like everyone got what they wanted," I said.
"You were down at the beach?" Makani asked.
"No, well, yeah. I actually went to check on Abby."
"Is she all right?" Makani asked. I blinked.
"You don't know?"
"Know what? She left earlier. She told me she needed a little time. Was she all right when you talked to her?"
"I didn't. She wasn't there. I wanted to ask you whether you knew where she could be." Makani and Keno exchanged glances.
"Can't help you, brother; I haven't seen her since last night," said Keno.
"Just wait for her. She should be back before nightfall."
"What happened?" I asked her. She bit her lip, looking down for a second.
"There was a little…incident in the morning when we were working."
"What?"
"It isn't my place to tell you. She will if she feels like she should. She isn't in trouble. She's a strong girl, Nate. Don't worry about her. Just wait. Let her come back when she's had time to think."
"Are you serious?" I spat.
"Nate, come on. Relax," Keno said.
"How can you two just stand there when Abby's missing?" I demanded.
"She isn't missing. She just needs a little time alone. We know her. She'll come back when she's ready." I ran my hands through my hair.
"Just tell me if you see her, okay?" I said. They both agreed that they would. I walked back to the hotel. She wasn't there, I had already checked. Where was I going? My suite? Sure. Why not? I'd be spending the afternoon alone anyway. Might as well play or try to write.
I got to my suite and fell on the bed, lying on my back. Great. Now what? I reached for my phone, remembering I didn't have her cell number. I laughed a little. Why the hell hadn't I asked her for it? Now I had to wait for her to show up from wherever she had gone to hide.
If something had happened at work and she had had to leave, she must have been upset about it. Whatever it was, it had been bad enough to knock her off her game for the rest of the day. It wasn't an injury or anything. She hadn't been hurt. Keno and Makani wouldn't have refused to tell me what the deal was if that was it.
I just wished I knew. I wanted to know so that I could be with her wherever she was. If something bad had happened, why hadn't she told me? What the hell could it even be? I thought we had cleared the air between us, like she could feel like she could tell me things now. Did she still not trust me?
No. Fuck this. I couldn't wait. I had to know where she was. That would have been great if she was in one of the places I fucking knew where to look for her. The island was only so big, but I didn't have her cell number. Where else was there?
What was wrong? I didn't know how Keno and Makani were just letting it be. Did she do this often? Was that why they were easy breezy about it? She was just so great all the time, happy and optimistic. This wasn't like her. Something was wrong, and I knew it would eat at me until I knew what it was.
Where the fuck are you, Abby? I thought. Why the hell didn't she come here? I could have helped her, whatever it was. I wanted to help her. Look at all the shit she had already done for me. It all felt like so long ago, that night she kept me from using; we were right here on the bed. It was the first night we spent together, right after coming back from...
Fuck. That was it. I stood up and bolted for the door. I needed to find Keno – I knew where she was. I used the stairs, racing down them and walking quickly out to the bar. Keno was still there but Makani had gone.
"Hey, you're back," he said.
"Yeah. Listen, I need to ask you a favor," I said hurriedly.
"What is it?"
"Can I borrow your car? I need to go somewhere, like, right now."
"Sure, no problem," he said, reaching into his pocket, handing me a bunch of keys. "Where are you going?"
"I can't explain, but it's important," I said. He smiled knowingly.
"Just have it back by the time my shift is over. Go get her."