Don't Tell (Don't 1)

“

I don’t care, Emily. He doesn’t get to do this. He doesn’t get to decide to suddenly be a parent. Put him on the phone.”

My father glanced at me. He knew she was upset. He had predicted it. He had tried to avoid it.

“I’m not going to do that.” I sighed. “I’ll call you when we get to Garrett’s. I will.”

“I can’t sit here like this,” she pleaded. “He doesn’t have a right to search for him while I stay at the house.”

Sitting. Waiting. They were the actions that led to crazy. The futility of hoping the phone would ring. I knew it would tear at her. It would begin to corrode her sanity. But there was something practical about sticking with my dad. His lack of emotion. His ability to move forward when everyone else was paralyzed with emotion—that was what would help us find Garrett. My mother couldn’t get out of her own way. I didn’t have another option.

“Mom, please…” I knew anything I said wouldn’t matter. She’d be hurt I left her. She’d be angry thinking I chose my father over her to help. “Just, hang in there. I’ll call you soon. We’re going to find him. I love you.”

I hung up and clasped the phone in my lap. I waited for it to ring. She usually called back within minutes, but a few miles later she still hadn’t tried.

“Want to stop to get some coffee or something?” Dad offered.

I nodded. “Yes. Coffee would be good.”

He pulled into a fast-food restaurant, ordering two coffees at the drive-thru. At the window he took one and passed it to me. He drove off before I could ask for creamer. He didn’t bother to ask me.

I pressed the plastic piece in the lid to let the steam escape.

“What’s the last thing you heard from the police?” I asked. “What are they doing to help us?”

He turned down the classic rock station. “They aren’t doing a damn thing. They checked the local holding cells. That’s about it. He’s an adult. He lives on his own. He’s not a threat to anyone. That’s what they told me.”

Silver Alert requirements were different in every state. North Carolina had its own set of qualifications and Garrett didn’t meet the criteria to pose a threat to himself or anyone else. We were the only ones who saw the peril he was in.

“Have you called the hospitals?” I pushed.

“I did. But not past Carteret County.”

That was something I could start working on while we drove. I pulled up a list of medical centers in the surrounding counties.

“What about his bank account? His credit cards?”

My father shook his head. “I don’t have access to that stuff. I don’t know where he banks.”

If Garrett had used his cards it would certainly give us a location. If he had left Atlantic Beach, it might make it harder to find him, but it would be something. Right now, we needed a starting point.

“Did you call Kelly?”

“No. Why? Why would I call her?”

“Dad, she’s his kryptonite. You didn’t try her?”

“What the hell does that even mean? Kryptonite.” He slowed as we approached a red light.

I sighed. “They had the most toxic relationship. If she came back to town, or reached out to him it would explain why he ran off suddenly.”

“What was so toxic about it?” He pushed on the gas as the light turned to green.

I stared at him in disbelief. “Have you actually blocked out the past five years of our lives?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“It means if you had paid any attention, you would know that Garrett dated Kelly off and on for years. That she’s the one who introduced him to coping with his problems with alcohol and drugs. She’s the one who convinced him he didn’t need therapy. She’s the one who thought they should get married and move to California.” I was so angry I could almost crumple the coffee cup in my fist. “She took his money, Dad. She cheated on him. She ruined him. Where were you for that? Where in the hell have you been?”