Page 24 of Say We've Found Forever
Soon, it’ll be one whole day since she’s seen Emma, and yet it already feels like a hundred.
They haven’t spoken about what might happen if they don’t find her soon. The odds of success drop with every passing minute. All she can imagine is that one day Wyatt will tell her they need to stop looking. That they have other, more important things to tend to, and slowly but surely, the focus will shift from her daughter to any number of other random crises.
“I’m getting ahead of myself, right?” she whispers to the cat. “Tell me it’ll be okay?”
She gets no reply except a headbutt into her stomach and increased purring.
“Wanna share your opinions on Wyatt?”
More purring as the cat curls up to fall asleep on her lap.
“Yeah, I guess he’s growing on me, too.”
Chapter 6
It’s been a week, and they haven’t found Emma.
Addison grows more despondent every day. She cries all night in her room, muffling the sound, but Wyatt still hears the quiet sobs. It feels like her soul is wasting away in front of him, and he is powerless to help.
Every failed search lowers the odds of success, but he isn’t about to give up. He still has plenty of hope. Addison does, too, even if she’s afraid to entertain it. She’s waiting for him to suggest they pack it in and let fate run its course. He can tell because she’s hesitant when asking if they can search, as if she’s prepared for a no.
She’d go without him if he refused and get herself killed. He’d feel differently if they had time for weapons training, but every second is devoted to scouring the woods. He isn’t about to lose both of them on his watch.
Today, they’ve packed enough supplies to venture at least five miles past the freeway. They’ve exhausted most of the land surrounding the house. The few muddy tracks they found pointing toward the forest are enough of a nudge in that direction.
Mostly.
“You ever do much hiking back east?” he says absently. “More than all this?”
She hasn’t come to sit with him at night in the kitchen anymore. Hasn’t said much of anything the longer this goes on. Wyatt hates to admit it, but he misses the sound of her voice. So, he asks a pointless question, hoping she’ll grace him with a few more words than usual.
“Actually, yes,” she says, surprising him. “The group was highly focused on physical fitness. We had trails along the back of the compound with decent elevation. Five miles three times a week before breakfast, those were the rules.”
“Sounds like boot camp.”
“We’ll never survive the end if our legs give out while running. That’s what my husband would say. No breaks, no excuses. If you could breathe, you could hike.”
“Did Emma go too?”
“Sometimes.”
He lets out a neutral grunt, his boots crunching leaves on the thick forest floor. “Seen any bears?”
“Only one, and it ran away the moment it saw us.”
“Sounds about right. Black bears are shy. It’s the Grizzlies out west you gotta watch for.”
“She asked me if there were bears here. It was right before you showed up. We were looking out the window, watching for Vincent.”
Her silence forces him to pick up the slack.
“I spent a lotta time around Seattle. Lots of good trails up there. I preferred the hot tubs at those mountain cabins even more, though.”
“What’s a hot tub?”
There’s no hint of a joke in her words, and he supposes it’s a valid question from someone who never left the cult farm. “A big bucket of hot water you sit in.”
“So, a bath? We called those baths.”
