My Real (31 page)

“I said, what in the Hell are you doing in here?” I hear as I slowly swing my head toward the bathroom door where a tall, gorgeous blond woman is standing, in my towel.

I try to open my mouth to ask her the same thing. “Wha … who are you?” I ask frightened to hear the answer.

“I’m Samantha. Who the Hell are you?”

My head is spinning. Who is this woman taking a shower in Andrew’s shower like she belongs there? I start shaking my head. I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming.

“What are you doing in Andrew’s shower? Who are you?”

“I’m Andrew’s girlfriend,” she states. I gasp before she’s done saying it. I stand up straight still shaking and back out of the room grabbing my jeans on the floor.

“Andrew and I have been together for years,” she states.

“That’s not true. He just got a divorce,” I stammer. I dress quickly as I continue to back out the door.

“Right, from Jessica. I was with him the whole time they were married,” she adds.

I can’t hear any more. I turn and run out the door. I just run.

Why is she not answering her phone? She was supposed to be here over an hour ago. Maybe Ella knows where she is.

Andrew:
Do you know where Bailey is?

Ella:
No. I’ve been sitting outside of her house for 30 mins waiting for her. I thought she was at your house.

Andrew:
I haven’t talked to her since dinner two nights ago.

My phone rings. It’s Ella.

“I was talking to her last night, and she said someone came to the door. Two minutes later, she said that you wanted her to come over and that I should come over to her house early to help finish packing.”

“I wasn’t home all night. Jake and I went out. I ended up sleeping at his apartment. What do you mean someone came to her door?” I question.

“She was asking me for help. She said that she needed to go, because someone was at her door. Wait a minute, I’m going into her house now.”

“Is she there?” What in the Hell is going on? I text Bailey again while I wait for Ella to look around Bailey’s house.

“Andrew, there’s a bouquet of roses on the table.”

“I didn’t send her roses. She hates roses. Ella, what the Hell is going on? What else do you see?” I ask.

“Nothing. All her boxes are still here. Who are these flowers from?” Ella asks.

“I don’t know Ella, this is scaring the shit out of me. It’s not like her to not answer her phone. She has that thing on all the time,” I state.

“Okay. I’m going to look around here and see if I can find anything else. You keep calling her until she answers. I’ll come to your house when I’m done here,” Ella says.

I hang up before I can answer her and continue to try to get a hold of Bailey on her phone.

“Bailey, please call me back. Where are you?” I leave another message. My heart is racing, because I’m just not feeling good about this. The lump in my throat is growing to the point where I can’t breathe.

I’m pacing when the door clicks open. I run to see who it is. Ella walks in looking worried.

“Ella, have you heard from her?”

“No. I looked all over her house. It’s hard to see if anything is missing, because everything is in boxes,” Ella explains.

“I don’t understand. We had dinner together Thursday night, and everything was fine. We were talking about wedding plans,” I recall.

“What happened to her?” she gasps. “Do you think someone kidnapped her?”

Holy shit. Why would someone do that? “I don’t know. Maybe I should call the police.”

I grab my keys and head for the door. “Where are you going?” Ella asks as she follows me.

“I have to look for her, Ella.” I say.

I can’t bring myself to open the blinds. I’m not even sure what time it is, or what day it is. I don’t want to see the sun, it’s too bright and cheerful for my mood. This isn’t even a mood. A mood is a temporary thing. This feels like it will never end. A blackness has taken over my entire being.

I can’t go back to my house. Everywhere there are reminders of the life we were supposed to be starting together. All those boxes packed and ready to move into to his house. All the wedding plans we already made. All I can hear is that woman saying “he’s my boyfriend.” My boyfriend. Over and over again, I run it in my head. The singing, the beautiful long legs walking out of his bathroom, Samantha, my boyfriend. I start to dry heave at the thought. There is nothing left in my system to get rid of. It’s all gone.

“Did her mom call you back yet?” Ella asks. She looks as tired as I feel. We spent the entire night driving around looking for Bailey’s car.

“No, I’ve left three messages for her,” I say.

“That’s not surprising. What about Officer Thorne?” Ella inquires.

“No. I posted on Facebook hoping that someone has seen her or that she is at someone’s house.”

“Andrew, you’re exhausted. Why don’t you go up and get a few hours of sleep,” Ella suggests.

I pull my hands through my hair and plop on the couch in defeat. “I can’t go to sleep not knowing where she is.” I stand back up and start to pace the living room, trying to come up with something else to go on. I pass the dining room table where Ella threw her purse and all of the contents spilled out. I stalk up to the table when a little piece of paper catches my eye. I snatch it out of the pile and hold it up to Ella.

“Where did you get this?” I quickly ask.

“It was sitting next to the roses,” Ella confirms. I grab my keys and start toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I know who sent her the flowers.”

I speed down the road. Ella is in the front seat holding on for dear life. My face is on fire and I feel like my head might explode.

“Andrew, can you please slow down. I drive with a lead foot too, but this is ridiculous,” Ella begs.

I’m not slowing down. While I feel slightly better because I now know that Bailey hasn’t been kidnapped, my worry has turned into pure rage. I spin into the driveway and slam the door so hard the car shakes.

“Where are we? Whose house is this?” Ella asks on my heels as I stalk to the front door pounding it with both fists.

“Jessica, open this god damned door now,” I yell as I pound again. Ella gasps.

“Jessica sent the flowers? Why?” Ella asks with anger now in her voice.

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m going to find out,” I bellow.

Jessica opens the door with a bright smile on her face. She knew I was coming at some point.

“Andrew, what a pleasant surprise,” she feigns fakely.

“What in the hell is this?” I ask thrusting my hand with the now crumpled note in front of her.

“Well, it looks like a note.”

“Cut the shit Jessica. I know this is your handwriting. I know you sent the flowers to Bailey,” I say.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jessica’s fake innocent look is pissing me off even more. I push the door all the way open and push past her walking into her living room.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what the Hell is going on. What did you do to Bailey. Why did you send her to my house?” I question.

“Fine you big baby. It was just a little practical joke. I had my very gorgeous friend take a shower at your house. Bailey showed up thanks to my note,” she says. Jessica, looking very pleased with herself, sits on the sofa across the room from me. “I knew Bailey’s low self-esteem would take a hit seeing a leggy model coming out of your bathroom,” Jessica laughs. She actually has the balls to giggle at that.

“What did she say to Bailey?” I say through my teeth.

“I don’t know. I told her to make something up. What is your issue?” Jessica asks.

“Bailey is missing. No one knows where she is. She is supposed to be at school in tomorrow, and no one has heard from her,” I scream.

“Wow, she’s more pathetic than I thought,” Jessica says.

Ella, who has been silently standing behind me this whole time stalks to the couch when Jessica starts laughing again . Ella grabs a hold of her shirt and pulls her off the couch.

“Listen you bitch. I know Andrew is too much of a gentleman to hit a woman, but you’re not getting that luxury from me. What in the Hell did your skank friend say to Bailey that made her disappear,” Ella threatens.

No one has ever treated Jessica like that so she is frozen in fear. Ella shakes her hand jostling Jessica a little.

“Alright, alright.” Jessica yanks away from Ella and backs away to the other side of the room. “She told Bailey that she was your girlfriend. She alluded that you dated her the entire time you were married to me.”

“Why would do you something like that?” Ella beat me to the question.

“Emerson told me you were proposing to Bailey. That pissed me off. I always knew you loved Bailey more than me. I didn’t want either of you to be happy,” Jessica answers matter of factly.

“Where is Bailey now?” Ella asks clenching her fists together and slowly walking toward Jessica again.

“How am I supposed to know? Samantha said she ran out of there crying,” Jessica admits.

Jessica hit the floor before I could get my next question out. I look up in surprise as Ella shakes out her hand.

“Damn. I had no idea punching someone would hurt that bad. Let’s go,” Ella says still shaking her hand. We both glance at Jessica moaning on the living room floor, before we walk to the car.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“I know where Bailey is. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” Ella admits.

Ella gets in my driver seat of my truck and pulls out of the driveway. “What do you mean you know where she is?” I ask anxious to get to her as fast as we can.

“The day she walked in on Dave cheating on her, she just went home for lunch. She was supposed to come back to school. When she never showed I tried to call her. She wouldn’t pick up,” Ella explained speeding just as much as I did. “I called Dave to see if he knew where she went and he explained that Bailey had walked in on him and then left. It took me all night to find her.”