months.
“Her name is Hayden,” I say quietly, my heart cracking a little when his eyes fall closed.
“You gave her my last name?”
“And mine,” I say, pushing past the pain in his voice as I explain. “Hayden, for your last name, and mine, Dawson. So, Hayden Dawson she is.”
I watch as he opens his mouth to speak, but then appears to reconsider, and gives his head a shake. “How long has she been missing?”
“Almost seven hours now,” I whisper.
“Jesus.” Wyatt glances back down at the photographs. “What can you tell me?”
“She’s a computer nut, always has been. She programs video games and other stuff I don’t even try to understand. But, a few weeks ago, she started acting really secretive. She'd close her laptop when I came in the room, or she’d be up after her bedtime when she thought I was asleep. None of it was normal for her.”
Wyatt pulls a chair away from the desk and brings it closer, indicating for me to take a seat. With a sigh, I move to it and accept the offer, watching as he perches himself on the edge of the bed.
“Then, this afternoon, she didn’t return from summer camp. Nobody knew where she was, and the police weren’t much help. They figure she’s a runaway, but I know my daughter.” I ignore the way his jaw hardens at that statement.
“I phoned every friend she has, and all but harassed the police those first few hours, but I got no closer. I got on her laptop, but I can’t get on. I’m worried something terrible has happened, Wyatt.”
“I’m gonna need that laptop,” he says, all business now.
“I have it in my car. I grabbed it before I left to come here.”
“Where have you been living?”
I hesitate before answering him. I’d spent so long keeping my whereabouts a secret so he’d never know, and telling him now would go against all that. “Beckettville.”
His jaw ticks with anger, but again, he holds back on saying anything. I know he’s wondering how we could have been so close all this time and never ran into each other at some point.
“Why didn’t the police put out an Amber Alert?”
I sigh. “They wanted to speak with you before they did.”
He curses. “I’ll speak to them all right. There’ll be an Amber Alert out within the hour. Now, go get me that laptop so I can see what she’s been up to.”
Hashtag
The second Shelby is out of my room, the rage inside of me, simmering just below the surface, rips from my chest. With a single swipe of my arm, I shove everything off my work desk, sending it crashing to the floor and against the wall. The thud echoes throughout the room, sounding like a rocket exploding in the night’s sky.
“Fuck!” I roar, raking my hand over my face. All these years, she hid my daughter from me, and the only reason her existence was made known to me now is because Shelby needs my help to find her, leaving me only to wonder: what would’ve happened if she hadn’t disappeared? Would she have ever told me?
Now, because of her mother’s decision, I may never get the chance to meet her. The one person on this earth with a piece of me inside of her, stolen away before I could even set my eyes on her.
The minutes tick by slowly until Shelby walks back into my room, clutching a hot pink MacBook against her chest like a shield of armor. Her eyes fall to the mess behind me and soften.
“I, uh… here,” she stammers, handing it to me. When my fingers graze hers, she recoils from my touch, and fuck if it doesn’t hurt, even as pissed as I am. I loved this woman with every fiber of my being. I wanted to make her mine, to give her my last name. Now, as she stands there, she shivers at the idea of breathing the same air as me.
Focus on the girl. Thinking about the past isn’t going to fix the present.
“I don’t know the password.”
“A password has never stopped me before, and it isn’t going to now.” I retrieve both items from Shelby and set them on my now cleared desk before I turn back to her. “First, we’re going to call and get this Amber Alert bullshit taken care of right now.”
“You really think you can get them to issue it?”
“You said they needed to talk to her father, which according to you, is me. If