The Romance Revival(85)
* * *
I drop my purse by the front door, calling out to him. “Luca?”
Honey bounds from the bedroom, and I bend to love on her a little. I’d heard that dogs can decrease human anxiety by causing increases in oxytocin, but I’d never experienced it firsthand until Honey came into our home. Doggo kisses are straight-up Xanax. I swear by it. “Hey, baby girl. Where’s Luca, huh?”
Annie comes in behind me and Honey moves to her excitedly. “Is he here?” Annie asks.
“I don’t hear him.” With my stomach dropping to my feet, I walk through the house, checking the other rooms and calling for Luca as I go. I head back to the kitchen and straight to check the garage. Crash was supposed to bring Luca’s truck over, but it’s not here.
“Emery.” Annie looks up at me from where she’s sitting on the kitchen floor, Honey in her lap. I follow her gaze to where the drawers of Luca’s desk are open, most of the contents on top. “Was he looking for something?” she asks.
“His memories have been triggered by something he was doing at the time; he was probably hoping it would happen again.” I close one of the drawers and motion over my shoulder toward the garage. “His truck isn’t here, but he hasn’t driven anywhere yet as far as I know. Maybe he went for a walk?”
“Without the dog?”
“Maybe?” My confidence feels forced, but I’m shoving bright optimism into my body the way I might stuff a doll with fluffy cotton. It isn’t working entirely; if I’m afraid to let Honey out of my sight, it’s hard to imagine Luca going anywhere without her.
Ten minutes pass, and then twenty. I open Find My iPhone again, but his location says not found. After a half hour of pacing the house, Luca’s voicemail is full, and I must admit he hasn’t just gone for a stroll. I decide to call Crash.
“Em!” he sings. “Where you been, Loca?”
Normally, this would make me laugh. Right now, I barely process the reference. “Hey, is Luca with you by chance?”
“Me? Nope. I haven’t seen him since this afternoon.”
“You talked to him today?”
“Yeah, I stopped by earlier.”
“Did he mention needing to do anything? Did you drop off his truck?”
“Yeah, left it in the garage. He was waiting for you to get back from work or something.”
I sit down at the desk with a resigned sigh. “Fuck.”
“I mean… you’re not worried or anything, are you?”
I laugh despite myself. Luca is an adult and can go wherever he wants. But he was also a dead adult, and I need to prove that in the next hour and a half. “Yes, Crash, I am very fucking worried. Luca isn’t here but he didn’t take Honey. He isn’t answering his phone, and I can’t even find his location. He’s just gone.”
Crash goes quiet on the other end. Finally, he says, “Okay, maybe I know something?”
My pulse ticks up, and I stand on instinct. “What do you mean?”
“When he was going through his desk, he found some papers and asked me if I knew about them.”
I look down at said desk, seeing the scattered folders and detritus with new eyes. Luca is so fastidious about organization and record-keeping I used to joke that he kept a label maker in a holster. But one of the files, the one on top, is noticeably blank of any label. Icy tendrils of dread climb up my chest as I open it. A sob rises in my throat, clogging my inhale, making me suck in a jagged breath as I see my name and Luca’s and the words divorce representation. “Luca was going to leave me?”
Annie’s eyes go wide.
“I’m so sorry, Em,” Crash says, “but I didn’t know what to say. He’s my best friend and I—”
“No, I know, Crash. This isn’t your fault.”
“Shit,” he says, and I can hear him moving, imagine him pacing. “Listen, things are good with you two now, right? They really seem to have turned a corner, so I wouldn’t worry. He’s probably just out clearing his head.”
I turn away from my friend’s horrified expression and blink several times, my vision going dark around the edges. “Right.”
“If you find him, tell him to call me?” Crash says gently.
“Same.” I try to sound okay. I try to sound like my entire world hasn’t just tilted sideways. This morning, I thought I had my perfect life in my hands. Now it’s crumbling in my grasp. “Thanks, Crash.” I end the call and stare, unseeing, at the wall in front of me.
“Emery?” Annie says carefully. When I don’t answer, she tries again. “Em? Does he know where Luca is?”
“No,” I say, trying to breathe but unable to pull air into my lungs.
“Em.” She moves to stand in front of me. I must be falling, because she reaches out to grab my arms, lowering me slowly to sit on the floor. “Breathe, honey. Breathe.”
I try to, but my body seems to shove every breath out as soon as I take it in.
“Can you tell me what he said exactly?”
I think she’s kneeling in front of me but colors swim in my vision, tears rolling in hot streaks down my face. “Luca met with a lawyer. He was going to leave me.” I give her the paper still clutched in my hand.