My footsteps faltered on entering the room. I was surprised to see the bed empty, and my bathrobe discarded on the floor. She must be in the shower, although I couldn’t hear the water. Placing the tray down on the bedside table, I knocked on the door and headed in. No sign of her. Her clothes and bag had gone. I looked out of the bedroom window, but her car wasn’t there either.
I felt a little hurt, and if I was honest, used. Why would she walk out on me, not even leaving a note? I checked my phone, which was on the chest of drawers. No message. My hurt was turning to irritation. Had she used me and left me like Leanne? Fuck, had I been played? I decided to text her.
“Hey, where are you? Are you okay?”
Silence. No response.
“Fliss, what’s up? Please respond.”
Still no reply. I tried calling, but it went direct to voicemail. “Hi, Fliss. Um, I hope everything’s okay. You left without a word. Can you call me?”
I waited two hours and heard nothing from her. I weighed up my options. Should I go to her aunt’s house? In the end, I decided to leave it for now and try to call her again later. In the meantime, I’d go to the lottie. With any luck, she’d turn up there. Toby was sitting in front of his shed, mug of tea in hand. I waved, and he indicated that I should come over.
“Hi, Toby.”
His expression was grim. I’d never seen him look annoyed like that before.
“Something wrong?”
“You tell me, son.”
What’s this all about?
“Well, I have no idea. Care to give me a clue?”
“Felicity.”
Chills crawled up my spine. Something was off. I had a feeling it was related to her disappearing act that morning. I sat next to him and huffed out a breath, running a hand across my head.
“Look, Toby, I don’t know what this is about. All I know is we were having a great time, she stayed over, and when I brought her breakfast in bed, she’d gone. She won’t respond to my texts or answer my calls…” I stood and paced up and down his path. “I can’t go through this again.”
He was silent as he studied me.
“Do you know something I don’t, Toby?”
“I phoned Dolly to see how she was and I could hear Felicity sobbing in the background. She wouldn’t tell me what had happened, but said it was something to do with you.”
I let out a frustrated breath. “But I haven’t done anything. I thought we were getting on well.”
Toby stood and ambled over to me. He put an arm around my shoulder. “You should talk to her. Go and see her and sort this mess out. Do you care for her? I know you haven’t been together for long…”
“Yes, I do. I’ve never had such strong feelings for a woman.”
“In that case, clear this up, Luke King. Fast.”
I put my things away in my shed and headed for my car. Without breaking the speed limit, I drove to Dolly’s as quickly as I could. Fliss’s car wasn’t in the driveway. I decided to knock on the door anyway; maybe her aunt could help me out. It took her a while to reach the door, and when she opened it, her expression was fiercer than Toby’s.
“She’s not here.”
“Please, Dolly. I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done. She vanished without a trace and won’t respond to me. How am I supposed to make this right when I don’t even know what I’ve done?”
She moved to the side. “Come on. We can have a cuppa and discuss this.”
* * *
Felicity
My head was pounding after all the crying I’d done. I took a shower as hot as I could stand it and cried some more. The logical part of my brain told me to respond to Luke’s messages, so I could get the full story. But the emotional part told me to protect myself and just avoid him to prevent getting hurt. I left my aunt and went out for a drive.