The cramping in my stomach intensified. “Nothing at all today?”
“No. He said he’d be here, but then…not a damned word.” Nash sighed. “Maybe he just needs to be alone.”
I worried the corner of my thumbnail. “Maybe.” But I wasn’t sure Caden really needed that, even if it was what he wanted.
“Come on in,” Dad called to our SAR team.
I caught sight of Mom near the parking lot and made a beeline for her instead of following Dad’s instructions. The moment she saw me, a hint of concern lined her face. “Everything okay?”
I pressed my thumbnail into the pad of my pointer finger, just shy of pain. I needed to choose my words carefully. “I’m worried about Caden.”
Her expression softened. “He was supposed to be here?”
I nodded. “Nash hasn’t heard from him, but I think I might know where he is.”
My mom’s brows rose at that.
“There’s a place not far from here. He showed Nash and me one time.” Because I’d always been the hanger-on with the two of them and Nash’s other best friend, Maddie. But Caden never made me feel that way. He always included me in their shenanigans.
The place Caden had taken us to wasn’t the first or the last, but something about how he relaxed when he was there had made me realize it was hisplace. I’d gone there more than once and, if I was honest, did it in hopes of finding Caden there. Sometimes, he was. Other times, he wasn’t. But over time, I’d found the peace of it, too.
My mom’s mouth slipped into a frown. “I don’t know if you should be going on your own.”
“I’ll take one of the ATVs and text you once I’m there. If he’s not around, I’ll come right back.”
She sighed. “You care about him, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do. It’s Caden.”
He’d been a part of our lives since I was four and he was five, and he and Nash had played soccer together. He should’ve felt like a fifth brother, but he didn’t.
“All right.” Mom brushed the hair away from my face. “Text the moment you get there and wear your helmet.”
I grinned and gave her a quick hug. “Thanks. I will.”
I jogged toward the parking lot and hopped on the ATV I’d ridden over from our property a few miles away. Slipping on my helmet, I started it up. I made a beeline out of the lot before one of my nosy brothers could follow me.
The wind blew my light blond locks away from my face as I rode. Each second that passed wound my insides tighter. If Caden wasn’t here, I didn’t have the first clue where to look next.
I turned off the access road and onto a path. It wasn’t wide enough for cars, but it was plenty big enough for my ATV. I slowed my vehicle as the forest opened to a clearing. As I turned off my engine, my breath hitched.
There he was.
Caden didn’t look up at the sound of my vehicle. He kept staring at the creek in front of him, his back to me. Those shoulders had gotten wider this year, his light brown hair just a bit darker. His hazel eyes were the same, though—except for the sadness I found in them when he thought no one was looking.
I climbed off the ATV and slid off my helmet, leaving it on the seat.
Caden didn’t move as I approached. He seemed lost in watching the swirls of deep blues and greens in the water.
“I wondered if you’d show up.” His voice was deeper, too—a little gravellier than it had been the year before.
I climbed over the log he was perched on and sat, leaving just an inch or two between us. “Didn’t want you to be alone.”
“Maybe I wanted to be alone.”
“Then you wouldn’t have come here.”
And there was such relief in that. That Caden wasn’t locking me out.
