“I’m not going to be wearing dresses.”
“I’ll go find you something perfect. Every girl needs a little black dress.”
“Hunter and I don’t exactly go out much.”
“That might change. You are going to the city you know.”
“Yeah, I get the sense he’s not going to want to take me out.”
“I can see that. He wants to keep you in.” She nudged me. “Go ahead and pick up some boring stuff while I take care of the dress. Just don’t leave this store. Hunter will kill me if you wander off on your own.”
“I’ll be here. Where else would I go?”
She smiled, and it screamed of fake. “I don’t know, I guess nowhere.”
I quickly picked out some sensible clothes, two pairs of jeans and a few tops. I paid with more of the money from Hunter. I still had a few hundred left. I wanted to keep it for later, so I hoped Jocelyn was planning to cover the dress.
I went over to wait in the sitting area. Two girls were sitting next to each other on a couch. I took the remaining chair.
“Did you hear they think they found those missing college students?” one of the girls said to the other.
“Alive?” the other girl replied.
Missing college students? Were they talking about Gage and me?
“No. They found the guy’s truck though. It’s so sad.” She held out her phone.
“I can’t imagine. Did you hear the girl’s boyfriend being interviewed? I guess he begged her to get a ride from him, but she refused.”
Boyfriend? Ok, maybe they weren’t talking about me. Unless. Rob wouldn’t say he was my boyfriend, would he?
“It was so sad. The guy was so in love with her. I don’t see why the other guy was dumb enough to drive in that weather. It’s another example of a girl picking the bad boy and getting in trouble. That’s why I stay away from bad boys.”
“Me too.” The second girl crossed her arms. “There’s no point ending up in a ditch just because a guy’s good looking.”
In a ditch? This had to be about me. There had to be TVs around somewhere, but I’d told Jocelyn I wouldn’t leave the store. I’d already been worried about my parents, but this made it worse. What did they know? What did they think? I’d planned to get word to them eventually.
“Listen to the girl’s parents. It’s so tragic. It makes you think about your own life, right?” She handed her phone to her friend.
My mom’s voice had my chest clenching.
“Thank you to everyone who has aided in this search. I know it appears that we have found Gage’s truck, but we’re not giving up hope on finding them.”
“Neither are we.” A woman, I could guess was Gage’s mom, sniffled. “We will keep up our search until we find proof.”
“I just—” My mother started to cry, and even without being able to see her, I could picture her face. The look of despair.
My stomach churned, and I ran into the bathroom. We had to do something. I couldn’t let my parents suffer. It wasn’t fair. It had been a little over a week since our disappearance, and I’d contented myself with thinking I’d find an excuse, a way I could see them again. But how long was that going to take? Was it even possible? And what about Gage? Would he ever be able to see his parents again?
I waited until I assumed the girls were gone before walking out. They hadn’t looked at me earlier, and I didn’t need to take the chance of them recognizing me. I ran into Jocelyn. She was holding a plastic bag covering several hanging garments. “I found you some fabulous dresses. I can’t wait for you to try them on for Hunter later.”
“Thanks.” I blinked back another round of tears.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I am.” I tried to compose myself. “Shouldn’t we go meet Hunter?”
“Missing him?”
“A lot.” I was missing my parents so much more. Maybe I could convince Hunter to let me call them. We could make up some excuse.
“I know why you’re upset,” she whispered.
“You do?”
“And I have a plan.”
“Why? Even if you did know, why would you help me?”
“Because I want the hunt to end. If there’s any chance you can help do that, I’m willing to support you.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing. Let’s go meet Hunter. Act like everything is okay. He’s going to ask you a million questions if he sees you like this.”
“I can’t.”