Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Dad,” I start, putting my hands on his arms. “Dad, I need you to find Jennifer.”
“What are you talking about?” my grandfather asks, getting on the other side of me.
“No one knows where she is,” I tell them. “People are all around, I don’t know what they are doing, but no one is looking for her.”
I’m about to say something else when I look to the side and see a van get here. The two doors open, and they walk over to the police officers who are there. Another van follows the first. One of them approaches us, and my grandfather stands by my side.
“Good evening, I’m Lieutenant McCaffrey,” he introduces himself. He looks at my grandfather, then down at me.
“Please,” I plead, “my girlfriend is missing.”
He nods. “We have the K-9 unit coming in, and we’re also assembling a search party,” he informs us, looking at my father next. “It’s just we’ll see more when daylight hits.”
“Fuck that,” I say, trying to get up but wincing, “she could be hurt and need help.”
“Charlie,” my father assures me softly, “we’ll find her.”
“In the meantime,” Lieutenant McCaffrey says, “it’s best we get you to the hospital and get you taken care of.”
“I’m not going anywhere until they find her,” I grind between clenched teeth.
“Charlie.” My grandfather now gets down beside me. “I think you should go and get taken care of, and as soon as they fix you, you can come back here.”
“No,” I snap at him, “I’m not leaving.”
“You can’t do anything for her sitting here with your back against the tree,” he reasons. I hate that he’s right, but there’s no way I’m leaving her.
“I’ll stay,” he tells me. “I’ll stay here and search with them, and I promise you I won’t stop until we find her.”
“No one else I would trust more,” my father declares. “It won’t take us long,” he tries to persuade me, “to get your leg set and in a cast, and then you can come and help search.”
I look over at my grandfather. “Promise me.”
“I’ve never once let you down,” he speaks the truth, “and I won’t do it now. I promise I will not stop searching, and when you return, we can search together.”
I look at the two of them and then at the lieutenant. “Okay, I’ll go and get sorted.” The lump in my throat feels like a baseball. “But I’m coming back here.”
He nods. “Sounds good.” He waves over to the waiting EMT, who rushes over with a gurney.
They load me up into the ambulance, and my father gets in with me. They put the blood pressure machine on me. “What the fuck happened?” my father asks.
“We were driving, and he looked away for a second. The next thing I know, we were flying through the air.” I swallow. “I woke up and was upside down. I was stuck to the fucking dashboard.” My father puts his elbows on his knees and hangs his head. “Dad,” I call his name, and he looks up at me with tears in his eyes.
“I could have lost you,” he finally croaks out. “Did you see that fucking truck?”
“Jennifer, she’s out there somewhere.”
He puts his hand on mine. “We’re going to find her.” His hand squeezes mine. “We are going to fucking find her.”
“When we find her, I’m going to marry her,” I tell him, and he looks at me. “I’m going to fucking marry her tonight if I can.” He doesn’t say anything to me. He just nods because the ambulance stops and the doors swing open.
The paramedic starts talking to the doctor about my blood pressure and all that. “I just need my leg checked,” I tell him, “and then I’m leaving.”
“Let’s get you checked out.” He looks at my father. “We need an X-ray.” They are wheeling me down the hallway, and I spot Waylon’s father going in and out of the rooms looking for his son, I’m assuming.
They take me down to X-ray, and it’s no surprise my leg is broken in two places. The doctor says something about surgery. I look up and see that over an hour has passed, and by the time they get someone in to stitch up the cut on my side and put the cast on, it feels like it’s been five days.
I’m sitting on the side of the bed, waiting for the nurse to cover the wound, when I look up and see my grandfather standing in the doorway. I sit up, and my father stands, coming over to my side of the bed. “What are you doing here?” I ask, but the look on his face should have been my first clue.
“Charlie,” he says my name, and his voice is hoarse.
“Did you find her?” I’m ready to jump off the bed. I grab my father and stand, ignoring the shooting pain from my foot. “Where is she?” I look over his shoulder to see if maybe they’re wheeling her in.