Page 107 of Dear John
“Maybe not, but what if I lose him?”
“Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all,” he recited.
I started to laugh, pinching his side. “That was terrible.”
“Yes, but there’s truth to it, don’t you think?”
“Maybe,” I sighed.
It grew quiet after that. The minutes slowly ticked by, leaving us both exhausted and quickly losing hope. I kept imagining I was hearing someone outside the container, but then those noises faded and I was left here alone with IKE.
“Do you think anyone knows we’re missing?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah.” His voice was rough, but whether it was from lack of water or the unease of having to answer a question we both knew didn’t really matter, I wasn’t sure.
All I knew was that our time was running out. There were things I’d chosen not to think about because they would just make me cry, and I didn’t want to give up hope so easily, even though it weighed heavily on my mind. Neither of us spoke about the reality of the situation, but we knew it was inevitable. We were going to die in here, and the end was quickly approaching.
“I’m glad I’m here with you.”
34
KAVANAUGH
“Kavanaugh!”Riley shouted when I picked up the phone.
I groaned at the tone in her voice. “What?”
“Where the hell are you?”
“At a friend’s house.”
“Why the hell aren’t you home? I’ve been trying to call you for hours and you didn’t pick up!”
“Because I turned my phone off.”
“And you turned it on in the middle of the night?”
“About two minutes ago, yeah.”
“You should have had it on the whole fucking time!”
“Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because I can’t get ahold of Isla. I talked to her two nights ago when you guys had your fight and she said she was probably coming home yesterday. But I haven’t been able to reach her! Why the fuck did you leave her there?”
I was already pulling on my jeans and storming out the spare room at Red’s house. He must have heard me because his door opened and he walked out, his brows furrowed in concern.
“Listen, Riley. I’ll do some digging around and see what I can find.”
“And leave your fucking phone on so I can reach you!” she snapped.
“I will. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
I hung up and turned to Red. “I need OPS resources.”
“What happened?”
“Riley hasn’t heard from Isla since the night I left.”