It goes to voicemail.
“Josh. Hey. I’m at your dad’s place. Are you here? Come answer the door.”
He doesn’t.
And he doesn’t call back.
I start to text him, but I spin around when a car pulls into the drive. It’s him, it’s him, it’s…Dylan.
“Whatcha doing in town, Gem?” he calls from his car window. “Mom’s making pancakes and bacon this morning, want some?”
I stare at Dylan. He works the night shift and when he’s lucky, my mom pampers him with breakfast before he heads to his place and crashes.
“Gemma? I’m tired. You want pancakes or not? Stop knocking on Josh’s door. He’s not there.”
My stomach drops. “Where is he?”
Dylan gives me a funny look. “He took the train down to the city this morning. Or last night. Dunno. He has a flight to London today.”
I hurry over to Dylan’s car and jump in the passenger seat.
Josh already left for his tour? He didn’t say goodbye. Does that mean he’ll be gone for a year? That he doesn’t think there’s any hope?
He didn’t say goodbye.
“So, you’re up for breakfast? Cool, sis, cool. I’ve been meaning to ask you—”
“Take me to the train station.”
“Huh?”
“Dylan. If you care about your personal health and safety, put this car in reverse and drive as fast as legally permissible to the train station.”
He looks behind him, then back to me, then behind him again.
“Dylan! Just drive.”
Maybe if I can get back to the city in time I can catch Josh before he leaves.
“I can’t,” Dylan says.
“Why not?”
He gestures behind him.
I turn and look. Leah, Oliver and the four kids are loaded into one of those twelve seat rental vans. The kids wave at us from the windows. They’re blocking the driveway so Dylan can’t pull out.
“What the heck?” I jump out and run to Leah’s window.
“Hey Gemma! We were going to come down to the city and surprise you. Mom and Dad were coming too. We’re going to do Broadway and dinner.”
“Hey Auntie Gemma,” all the kids chorus from the back.
“Hey guys, hey Oliver,” I say.
Dylan shouts out his car window. “I’m tired, Leah. I want Mom’s pancakes. Move your creeper van!”
Leah rolls her eyes. “Anyway, what are you doing up here?”
My stomach flips over and my purse feels heavy with the weight of Josh’s journal and print-outs of my favorite parts of his comics.
“I have to talk to Josh,” I say.
“He’s flying to London,” Dylan calls. “Forget it. Let’s have breakfast.”
I grind my teeth. Brothers. Why?
“I need to go to the train station. I have to get to New York as fast as possible.”
Leah frowns at me and then her expression clears. “You like Josh,” she says.
I nod.
Then her eyes widen and fill with understanding and she says, “You really like Josh.”
I nod again.
“Oh. Wow. Okay.” She sends me a look that says she’s here to help, whatever I need.
“Did you just say that Gemma likes Josh? My best friend, Josh?”
I turn around. Dylan has left his car and is standing behind me, his arms folded across his chest.
Leah glares at him and puts on her mom-of-four-little-kids voice. “Yes, I said it. Get over it.”
Dylan stares at me, then at Leah, then he shrugs. “Fine. Whatever. Can we have pancakes now?”
Leah scoffs. Her phone rings, she looks down at it, then answers, “Hey Mom. No, we’re on our way. We ran into Gemma. Mhmm. No, she has to catch the train down.” Leah pauses and her forehead wrinkles. She says to me, “Mom says there’s a four-hour delay on the southern route.”
My chest squeezes and I shake my head. “When is Josh’s flight?” I ask Dylan.
“I don’t know, sometime today. He said he was going to stop by his place in Williamsburg first.”
I blow out a breath. “Okay.”
“Mom says we can all ride down in the van. It’ll be faster than the train,” Leah says.
“No breakfast?” Dylan asks.
Leah rolls her eyes. “Mom says she’ll pack up the pancakes and bacon in Tupperware if you want to ride in the back and sleep on the way to the city.”
“Cool. I’m in.”
Leah gives me a searching look. “How about it, Gemma? Oliver won’t speed, but we’ll still beat the train. We’ll help you catch Josh before he flies out. That’s what you want, right?”