The next morning, I woke bleary-eyed and a little sick to my stomach, my belly churning with nerves. I put on a pot of coffee, and went to the door of the guest room. Lifting my hand, I rapped my knuckles against the door. No answer.

I knocked again and pressed my ear to the door. Nothing.

I heard nothing.

Bile crept up my throat as my world tilted. I threw the door open. The room was empty. The bed was a rumpled mess, and all Ash’s things were gone. I slapped my hand against the wall hard enough that my shoulder stung as ripples of pain spiked up my arm. I shook it out, appreciating the bite of the pain. Pain reminded me that I was still alive.

But Ash was gone, and now I had to find her. She was the only one who knew how to get hold of Shelly, and Shelly might know where Lynn was. I was sure I had fucked things up last night, and I needed to see how Ash was feeling, particularly since I sent her to a different room last night after I had sex with her.

I’d used her and then I’d sent her away.

I scrubbed a hand down my face and stumbled back to the coffee pot. Pouring myself a cup, I took a sip and tried to figure out how we’d gotten to this place. Lynn had been a runner ever since I met her. When things got hard, she took off. It had a lot to do with her history of abuse. She tended to shut down when times got tough.

If they got tough enough, she just vanished. She took a few days, and then she came back. She would send her friends into a maelstrom as everyone tried to find her. But one thing I always knew was that as soon as she worked her shit out in her head, she would come back to me. I knew that without a shadow of a doubt.

Usually, though, I knew what set her off. When I got accepted to college, and we knew I would be leaving, she disappeared for a month. And when I started my residency, she left for two weeks. No one could find her, not even her friends. When I suggested we move in together, she left for twenty-four days. Twenty-four days I went without her. But I always knew she’d be back.

This time, I had no idea what had set her off, so I didn’t know if she’d be back. For the first time ever, I wasn’t sure if the love of my life would be back. And it was eating me up inside.

I froze as I heard a knocking sound from my garage. Surely Ash wasn’t in there. I walked to the door and flung it open. Legs covered with dirty brown overalls poked out from beneath my car, which was lifted in the air by a jack.

“Who’s there?” I called. But I already knew. There was only one person who could have that much grease on her and still look like a woman. “Jamie?”

She slid out from under the car, the rolling sled she was on gliding along the garage floor. Jamie’s sky-colored eyes blinked up at me, framed by the most amazing whiskey-colored lashes. “Oh, hey, Mason. Lynn asked me to come by and take care of your car,” she explained. She pressed with her feet to slide back under the car, but I stuck my leg out and caught the sled with my foot. I pulled her back out.

“When did Lynn ask you to come by?” I asked, kneeling down next to her. My heart hammered in my chest.

“A couple of weeks ago. I’m sorry it took me so long.” She laid there staring up at me, her knees bent and feet flat on the ground as she waited for me to continue. But my heart was already sinking. I had hoped she would say yesterday.

“You know Lynn’s gone, right?”

She nodded. “Ash told me.” She looked toward the ceiling, staring at nothing. “She’s looking for her.”

“Do you know where Ash is now?” Ash hadn’t been gone long. She couldn’t have been.

“She’s looking for Shelly. If anyone can find Lynn, it’s Shelly. She’s probably the only one who knows Lynn well enough to find her and bring her back.” Jamie blew an errant lock of hair from her eyes. When it didn’t move, she rubbed her finger across her forehead, leaving a trail of grease from one side of her eyebrows to the other. I laughed and she asked, “What?”

I pointed to my forehead. “You got a little grease right there.”

She chuckled. “What else is new?”

“Is she okay?” I asked, weight settling against my heart like a stone.

Jamie rolled the wrench she was using in her hand, not looking me in the eye. “Lynn? I think so.”

“But you don’t know.” Of course she didn’t.

“Not for sure, no.” She sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “Ash is looking for her. Or Shelly, whoever turns up first.”

“Do you know what happened?” I asked. I held my breath.

“No. She didn’t tell me. I haven’t talked to her since she asked me to work on your car.” She continued to roll the wrench in her hand.

“I just wish I knew if she’s okay,” I rushed to say.

Jamie nodded. “I know. You love her. We’ve never doubted that.” She jerked her chin toward the car. “Let me finish this, and I’ll come inside. We can talk.”

“Okay,” I said quietly.

I went back inside, closing the door behind me. Just then, my front door opened. I don’t know why my heart leaped, because in the back of my mind I knew it wasn’t Lynn coming back. It wasn’t even Ash. It was my mother.

She held up her keys. “I used the key you gave me.”

“It’s okay.” I refilled my coffee mug and got one down for her. My mother never turned down coffee. I handed it to her and she lifted it to her nose to sniff. “Jamie’s here,” I said with a weak sort of smile.

Mom squealed. “Oh, my God! I haven’t seen Jamie in years. Where is she?” She looked around like Jamie would be hiding in a corner, just waiting to jump out at her.

“She’s in the garage. Lynn asked her to work on my car.”

Mom’s smile fell. “Lynn sent her.”

“Yes.” I set my cup on the counter.

“I wonder what that means…” She drummed her fingers on the counter. Then she shrugged. “I’m going to go talk to Jamie. I haven’t seen her in so long.” At the last moment, she turned back. “Mason?”

I looked up. “Yes, Mom?”

“Those girls bonded over tragedies, Mason. Never forget that.”

I knew. I could still remember the first time I met Jamie. I’d gone to visit Lynn at Mom’s work. I’d knocked on the door to the office Mom let Lynn use, but no one had answered.

“She’s in the workroom,” Dad had told me with a smile as he walked by. “I think she said something about making some robot toys for some of the kids. She’s helping them put them together.”

But I hadn’t found Lynn in the workroom. I’d found Jamie.