Panic rushed through his body, panic and fear. He had forgotten about Valentine’s Day. He had just suggested they have a frozen pizza and watch a movie on Valentine’s Day. Their first one together.
“By that reaction, I see you have no plans. Did you forget? You can’t forget, it’s Ruth.” Ruth’s best friend, had written their order without asking and handed it to the kitchen as she lectured him.
“I forgot.” He sunk down on a stool.
“Anderson, it’s your first Valentine’s Day as a couple. Did you get her anything at all?” Mia leaned against the counter in interest.
“No.” How was he supposed to show her she was special if he forgot a major holiday? The first holiday since they got together.
“No card, no nothing?” Mia quirked an eyebrow as she reminded him how easy this holiday could be. In fact, last year he had gotten Daphne roses and taken her out for dinner and dancing. This year he had forgotten, and Ruth deserved to be treated better than Daphne ever had.
“I forgot.”
“What are we going to get her? In Landstad today?” She pondered out loud as she looked out the picture window at the snowy street beyond.
“I don’t know. I messed up…again.” He admitted.
“Again?” Mia questioned.
“I hurt her feelings this morning. I should have been nicer but wasn’t.” He hoped she didn’t ask more about what happened.
“How about giving her a day off? She was saying she doesn’t get a lot of alone time lately? I think she kind of misses being alone. You can still see her in the evening, but she can spend the day doing what Ruth does.” Mia said, getting a little excited about the plan as she talked.
“I will think about it. Thanks.” She had handed him the boxes containing their lunches. On the way out of the café, he glanced at the menu board to see what Ruth actually got, in case she asked.
With a quick walk across the road, he pushed open the office door and walked in, but the room was quiet, too quiet. Something was off. Ruth was gone. Setting down the boxes on her desk, he checked the back room and the bathroom. She was gone.
His heart sank. He had messed up, and she was mad at him. She had never left before when she was mad, which was rare, but in those times, she always just stewed at her desk. The only other time she had left was when Rafferty had shown up.
As he was wondering what he should do, he got a text.
Ruth:Have a headache, taking the rest of the day off. Sorry, I have to cancel tonight too.
Anderson walked over to his desk and sat down heavily in the chair. Should he go up there and apologize? Should he let her sulk about it? Work relationships were hard. He should have just kept on kissing her, letting it go as far as it goes. Feeling her pressed against him, her mouth on his.
Tossing the phone on his desk, he noticed a piece of bright yellow paper in the middle of his desk, a note from Ruth’s little book she used to write down his messages. She rarely used it since he was usually in the office. It said:
Daphne wants a call back. She said you know the number. Said to tell you she loves you and Happy Valentine’s Day.
She didn’t sign it, but Anderson knew her writing. Crumpling it up, he threw it in the garbage where his relationship with Daphne already was. Had been for months. A note like this wouldn’t change anything.
Ruth, such a professional that she had written everything down for him, even if it hurt her. Did she think he was seeing Daphne again? She must, with how the message was written.
Getting up, he left the lunches on the desk as he left the office.
Opening her door, he wondered about knocking since she rented the entire floor and used it as her own. Was he intruding when he walked past her shoes on the floor? The ones she had worn today were there.
He called her name as he knocked on the door, but she didn’t answer. Knowing he had to talk to her, he opened the door and was surprised that it wasn’t locked. Walking into her apartment without her was eerie, and he could feel that she wasn’t there. Her presence was missing from the rooms. In her bedroom, the clothes she had been wearing today were on the bed. Not folded like always, just thrown on it.
Since they had started dating, he knew that she changed clothes the moment she walked in the door of her apartment. Now she had already changed today, but he didn’t know if she had put on jeans to go out or leggings to stay in. There were no signs in the apartment as to where she could have disappeared to.
Mia would maybe know, he thought, even if he had just seen her a few minutes before. Back in the hallway, he pulled on his shoes. His eye caught sight of the door to her storage apartment. It had made him chuckle that she rented a storage apartment, but since her own apartment had no clutter, he figured she kept stuff in there.
Walking to the door, he tried the nob, but it was locked. At least she locked one of her doors. But where was she?
After talking to Mia at the café, Mandy at the clinic, Tess at the bank, and the lady at the library, he had run out of people to talk to and places to check. Mia had said she would watch the office for signs that her mother was picking her up or signs that she had returned.
How could he talk to her if he couldn’t find her?