Love Me Again, Cowboy

I’m just about ready to drive out to Sunset Tower Hotel for my audition. I slide rouge lipstick on, using the mirror in the foyer. I move one of the many vases of flowers off the table beneath the mirror to get a better look at my reflection. Dozens of vases and bouquets of flowers from well-wishers fill the entryway of my home. Some are just blooming; others have already wilted. Even more crowd the outside of my home. My house cleaner stopped bringing them in at some point. Their overpowering sweet scent is a reminder of my deception of those concerned fans who sent them.

I stare at myself. My makeup is perfect, not a hair is out of place. I tilt my head from one side to the other. There’s no doubt I’m beautiful . . . and a compete fraud. I sigh and promise myself that I will write back everyone who wished my speedy recovery and ask if there is anything that I can do for them; whatever it is, I’ll do it. Unless they want me to break the law, of course.

My phone rings. It’s Jax. I ignore the call. The last thing I need right now is for Jaxon Wyle to make me cry again right before my audition. As it is, I had to sit with frozen cucumber slices over my eyes for an hour to get the puffiness to go away.

When I got back home from Bisbee, everything was exactly as I had left it and yet entirely different. The big, beautiful house is far too quiet and cold. There’s no life in these grey walls. No laughter, no one to have my morning tea with.

There are reminders everywhere of how lonely and dead this place is. I stare at my Emmys on the mantle, wishing family pictures stood there instead. I look out at the pool in the backyard, wishing Audrey was jumping off the diving board, telling me to watch her cannonball. I stare at the flowers, wishing my mom were pruning the leaves in her big-rimmed hat. At breakfast, I sat at my big table eating alone, hating that dad wasn’t here with his mug and newspaper, grunting at the pages and occasionally sharing an interesting tidbit. Or hearing my sister call to her husband to bring her this or that since she’s still on bed rest. I miss Jax’s brothers’ bickering and Kitty chiding them. I miss the way they all function as a team. I miss their laughter. I look down at my hand and miss Jaxon’s rough calloused one with it. I touch the spot where my neck meets my shoulder, missing his soft kisses.

I shake my head as if I can shake Jax from my thoughts and cap the lipstick. How did a life I sought after for so long become so empty and deeply lonely? All I want is to go back to Bisbee, even with the insufferable Jaxon Wyle. Who am I kidding? Especially with the insufferable Jaxon Wyle. I grab my purse and slide my lipstick in the side pocket. I take out my keys, and my phone rings again. I glance at it and see it’s Jaxon again. I send it to voicemail. Let him see what it’s like to have his calls ignored. I do realize I’m being petty, but I have to focus on my audition.

A few seconds later, he calls again and then texts.

Jax: Pick up the phone. It’s an emergency. It’s Audrey.

My stomach fills with dread, and I call Jax immediately.

“About ti—” Jax says.

“Is Audrey okay?” I ask, cutting him off.

“I don't know. She’s missing.” The worry and pain come through clearly, as if I could see it on his face, and it matches my own. Missing?

I sit hard on a chair. “What do you mean missing?”

“She wandered off, or maybe . . . probably . . . ran away. She’s mad at me for breaking up with you.”

“She’s a bright girl,” I mumble. “Where have you looked?”

“Everywhere.” His voice is strained. I can just imagine him desperate enough to call me, pacing with his free hand running over the back of his neck in frustration. My heart softens toward him.

“Jaxon, it’s going to be okay. We’ll find her.”

“We’ll?”

“I’m going to charter a plane back to Arizona.”

He pauses for a moment, and I wonder if we got disconnected. “Don’t you have the audition tonight?”

I pace the foyer. “All that matters right now is finding Audrey.”

He pauses for a long moment, and I wonder if we got disconnected. “Do you have any ideas where she might be?” His voice is tight. “Any secret places she mentioned?”

“I—I don’t know.” I try to remember every conversation we ever had about the ranch. “You know her better than I do. What happened before she went missing?”

“She told Landon and the others that they were useless at fixing problems, and she went to her room. Then she disappeared.”

She wants to fix things. A thought occurs to me. “What if she went to the wishing tree?” I say in a rush. “If she wants to fix things, maybe she thinks she can make a wish on the tree.”

“The wishing tree? I didn’t think about that. That’s a good idea.”

“Call me back once you get there. I’m heading to the airport.”

“Malia?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”