“That’s a good way to think about it,” said Abby. “You must be relieved.”
Another faint smile flitted across Morgan’s face as she said, “I’ll be relieved when it’s over.”
Abby touched Morgan’s arm. “Get some rest,” she said. “And text me if you need anything—more snacks, or something to drink. Or if you want someone with you. I’m here,” she said. “And Kayla’s here. We’re all here to help. Whatever you need. We’ve got you.”
Morgan thanked her and closed the door. Abby went to her room. She ordered some Chinese food and lay in her bed, eyes closed. After the riding, and the rain, the accident, after the interlude with Sebastian and the stress of keeping Morgan’s activities a secret, she should have been exhausted. But she didn’t feel even slightly sleepy. She felt like she could run a marathon, or go dancing, all night long. Her mind was full of Sebastian: how he’d looked at her, what he’d said, how his mouth had felt against hers when he’d kissed her in the rain. It gave her the same feeling she’d had when she’d learned how to ride a bike—that she was weightless, that she was flying, that she was powerful and beautiful, and nothing could ever hurt her.
Abby
Day Eight: Seneca Falls
The day after the storm dawned bright and sunny—a perfect morning to ride a loop around Cayuga Lake. Abby had told the group to be ready to ride at nine in the morning. At seven o’clock, she woke up to find her phone vibrating with texts. She glanced at the screen, swallowing hard as she read the first few messages. Quickly, she tapped out a text to Morgan—What happened? Are you okay?
No reply came. Abby dressed quickly, brushed her teeth, and hurried down to the hotel lobby, where the Breakaway riders were gathered by the coffee urn. Eileen was perfectly dressed, in white linen pants and a hot-pink sweater set. Kayla Presser wore denim shorts and a tee shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail, her eyes were puffy, and her skin was still creased from her pillows. Lily Mackenzie was even more disheveled, with slippers and pajama bottoms visible beneath the hem of her bathrobe. Her voice was high and frightened. Her hands swooped through the air as she spoke.
“Morgan and I went to sleep at eleven o’clock last night, and when I woke up this morning, she was gone.” Lily’s voice was trembling as she pulled an iPhone out of her robe’s pocket. “I thought maybe she’d gone to get coffee or something, but then I found her phone. She left it in the room, so I can’t use it to track her.”
“Okay. Let’s not panic,” Abby said.
“She never goes anywhere without her phone. Not anywhere.” Lily sounded accusatory, as she looked from Eileen to Kayla to Abby. “I called her father, and her best friend at home. Nobody’s heard from her.”
“Okay,” said Abby, turning back to Kayla. “And Andy’s gone, too, right?”
Kayla nodded. “He was gone when we woke up this morning. I think he’s got his phone, though. At least, I didn’t see it in the room.”
“So they’re probably together.” Abby poured Lily a cup of coffee and ushered her over to a quartet of armchairs around a coffee table near the front doors. Kayla and Eileen sat down, and Abby said, “Start from the beginning. Start from last night.”
Lily wrapped her hands around the mug, took a sip, and began. “Morgan didn’t want to go out to dinner. She said she had cramps, and that she wasn’t hungry, so I let her rest. I ordered in food from a diner, and I think she had a little soup, and we watched a movie, and we were both in bed at eleven. Then, this morning, I woke up and she was gone.” Lily sipped more coffee, then licked her lips, the same anxious gesture Abby had seen Morgan make, before she turned to Kayla. “Did Andy say anything to you last night? Did something happen yesterday when Morgan was with you?”
Abby exchanged a quick look with her mother. Lily saw it, and her expression shifted from bewildered to suspicious. “Did something happen?” she asked. When no one answered, she said in a loud, jagged voice, “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
Eileen pressed her lips together. Kayla looked at her feet. “Is Morgan’s bike still here?” Abby asked.
“I don’t know.” Lily looked slightly less furious. Maybe she was just relieved to have a task on which she could focus. “I’ll check.”
Abby nodded. “Once we know whether she’s got her bike or not, we can make a list of everywhere she might have gone, and then we’ll start looking.”