Chapter 29

29

STERLING

" D o you know where Jake is?" Eric asked from the other end of the line, his voice high and stressed. "He's not still at the bakery, is he?"

"No," I replied immediately, my senses tingling. Something was wrong. "I saw him earlier and he said he had a job to finish a few towns over before it started raining."

As I said it, my gaze turned to the window. It was storming outside, pitch black except for the lightning that ripped through the sky every so often. The wind was howling and it was pouring buckets. "What's going on?"

"Rachel is in labor," he said quickly. "I need to get hold of Jake. Daphne's with her at the hospital in town, but the baby is coming and I promised them I'd find him."

"I'll help," I volunteered without hesitating, getting up out of my bed and yanking on the first clothes I came across. "He's got to be finished at that job by now. It's late, and if he had to be done before the rain started, it means he finished at least a couple hours ago. I'll find him."

"Let me know when you do," he said. "In the meantime, I'll keep looking too. Do you know which town the job was in?"

"No idea, but I'll find out. You focus locally and I'll head out."

"You got it. Thanks, bro."

"Of course," I said as I strode across my bedroom to the door, hanging up with him and shouting to my dad that I was going out to look for Jake.

He didn't respond, but he also hadn't spoken to me much at the pumpkin patch either. As I ran out to Eric's old truck, I kept calling Jake over and over again, but there was no answer. By the time I'd made it through the deluge to the main road, I called Dan.

Jake had texted me his number after I'd left the bakery, in case my dad wanted to talk to him about what had been going on with the electricity. Dad hadn't bothered even responding to the offer, but at least it'd given me a way of reaching one of Jake's crew.

Hitting dial on his number, I slowed down, squinting into the headlights of the truck on the dark road and not really seeing anything except the light reflecting off the rain. Thankfully, Dan picked up just a few seconds later.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dan. This is Sterling North," I said, speaking fast. "Do you know where Jake is right now?"

"No." He sounded puzzled. "Why?"

"We need to reach him. His wife has gone into labor. Have you spoken to him at all since he left the bakery?"

"Fuck. Okay." At least it sounded like I had his attention now. "Last I heard, he'd left the client's house in Codswald and he was waiting for a tow truck. That was a couple hours ago, though. He should be home by now."

Worry gnawed at my gut. "Thanks, Dan. Codswald. At least that gives me a direction to go in. Do me a favor and call some of your guys? See if anyone has a location on him? Do you know what happened to his truck?"

"Nope, but I'll make some calls and get back to you if one of the others knows something," he promised. "Do you want us to help you look?"

I shook my head. "The fewer people are on the roads right now, the better. It's not safe driving in this. Stay put for now. I'll let you know if I need you."

After I ended the call with him, I turned around, making a U-turn to go in the opposite direction. Codswald was on the other side of Allisburg, with the small town of Benson sitting between us and them.

If he'd left Codswald that long ago, it was a good bet he'd at least made it to Benson before the rain had started. I wracked my brain, but it'd been years since I'd last been there. I didn't know anyone who lived there and I doubted Jake did either, which meant he might've pulled over on the side of the road somewhere to wait for the tow truck.

If I was lucky, he was sitting on the main drag. If not, then I'd just have to keep going. The wind kept fighting me for control of the truck, the sheets of rain not letting up. The worry that had been gnawing at me turned into fear.

Jake wasn't answering any calls and no one knew where he was. He'd been waiting for a tow, which meant something had gone wrong with his truck. There was no telling if he'd had an accident or broken down, or what had happened to him since.

Driving as fast I could without risking wrecking Eric's truck, I kept an eye on the clock on the dash. It took me longer than it should have to reach Benson, but when I did, almost as soon as I drove into town, I saw Jake's truck.

It was at a diner on the corner right at the edge of the main street. Dizzying relief swept through me as I drove right up to the front door. I left the truck running as I jumped out and raced inside.

Jake was the only patron there, sitting at the counter and sipping a cup of coffee. When he heard the door opening, he glanced at me, but then he did a double take, instantly on his feet. "Sterling? What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you," I said, holding the door open despite the rain. "Rachel's in labor. Let's go."

The color drained from his face, but at least he wasn't so shocked that he couldn't move. Fast as lightning, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, dropped a wad of cash on the counter, and then was next to me.

We ran back to Eric's truck, launching ourselves in and slamming the doors behind us. I pulled away so fast that mud and water sprayed behind us even as we were still buckling up. It was fucking freezing, but I barely felt the cold.

"How far along is she?" he asked urgently. "Do you know?"

"Nope. Sorry. Eric called to ask if I knew where you were," I explained. "All he said was that Daphne is with Rachel at the hospital and that we needed to find you. Give him a call real quick. Just to tell him that we're on our way."

Jake groaned. "I can't. There's no cell reception out here tonight at all. The storm must've knocked it out."

"Shit," I muttered, pushing my foot down on the gas. "Okay. Never mind. Just keep an eye on your phone. We should get reception soon. Allisburg was still on when I left and we should be crossing into our own territory soon."

"How did you find me?" he asked, his phone in front of him as he obsessively checked for reception.

"Dan," I explained in just that one word. "It's no wonder we couldn't reach you. You're going to have hundreds of missed calls when that thing comes back on."

"I can't believe she's in labor," he murmured, almost like he was talking to himself. "The one fucking night when I get stuck out of town and she goes into labor. What are the odds?"

"Probably pretty good," I said, trying to remain calm for his sake. It was still raining cats and dogs, coming down so hard that I could barely see the road ahead, but I kept my eyes wide open while also trying to keep him from going into a tailspin. "It's not your fault, man. You were at work. What happened to your truck?"

He sighed. "It's been giving me problems for a couple weeks. I've been meaning to take it to Eric's for him to check what's going on, but I never got around to it. Guess I should've made it a priority, but I've just been trying to get as much work done as I could before the baby comes, you know?"

"It's really not your fault," I repeated slowly. "I'd have done exactly the same thing. When you've got work to do, you've got work to do. Especially when you've got a baby on the way, I'd imagine."

"Yeah." He let out a heavy sigh. "Fucking work. Life was so much easier to navigate before we had to start making our own money, am I right?"

I chuckled. "I hear that. Been there, done it, got the T-shirt, the beer mug, and the ball cap."

Pausing for a beat, I wished I could look at him while we had this conversation but I couldn't take my eyes away from the road. At the same time, this was the perfect opportunity to try and mend what I'd broken between the two of us.

"Speaking of which, I'm sorry about missing your wedding," I said. "I'm also sorry I never even reached out to explain after. That wasn't cool."

When he didn't reply, I took it as a cue to continue. It was a race to the hospital, but perhaps this way, the air could be clear before the baby was born. I also figured it was a decent way to distract him from losing his mind with worry.

"I should have called," I said. "At the very least, I should've checked in after your honeymoon or asked Eric to video call me on the day so I could congratulate you."

"Why didn't you?" he asked, his voice gruff. "It was the most important day of my life so far, man. It would've been nice to have heard from you."

"I know." It was about time I took proper responsibility for it. "It was a shitty thing to have done and I really am sorry. All I remember is that work was crazy, I was still trying to prove myself, and I was at the office pretty much around the clock. None of which is an excuse. I still should've made an effort."

"You canceled at the last minute," he reminded me.

I blew out a breath through my nostrils. "I did. I think somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew before then I wasn't going to make it, but I lost track of time. I'm sorry, Jake. You've always been there for me. I should've been there no matter what was happening at work."

He kept quiet for a long minute, the cellphone light in the dark interior of the truck telling me that he was still checking for reception and that he hadn't passed out or something. Waiting him out, I focused on getting him to the hospital in one piece.

If I could just do that, it had to count for something. Right?

"You were one of my best friends," he finally said. "One of the only two guys I wanted to stand up with me that day. It fucking sucked when you didn't show up, but I get it. It was only a couple years after your mom died, you hadn't been home since at all, and probably just threw yourself into your work."

I grunted. "Still not an excuse."

"No, it's not," he agreed amiably. "It does give it some context, though. For what it's worth, I'm not pissed at you anymore. Especially not now that you've actually apologized."

"I should've done that a long time ago too," I said, needing him to know that I was ready to face up to everything fully. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Just get me to the hospital," he said. "And try not to disappear on us again when you leave here, North. We know that your life is in Manhattan now, but that doesn't mean that Allisburg just doesn't exist anymore."

"I know," I said after hesitating for a beat. "I'm going to be better, Jake. I promise. I'm going to try my best to do better this time."

Exactly how I was going to do that, I didn't know yet, but ultimately, if there was anything I'd learned while I'd been home, it was that I needed to do better. My dad would fade into nothingness and my friends would never forgive me if I didn't.