Chapter 36

James’ POV 

Walking into Tessa’s office, I saw her at her computer typing away. She had been working on her book ever since I had come home from work. 

“Tessa, have you heard from Sera? She said she’d be home before dark.” She looked out the window and then looked at me, now concerned as well. It had been dark for about half an hour now. 

“I haven’t. I’ll call Mason’s parents. It’s a good thing we asked for their number.” I watched as she stood up and crossed the room to the phone. I was in my office paying some bills and checking some things when I realized that she still wasn’t home. 

“Hi, Mrs. Young. James and I were wondering if Sera was still there?” My heart dropped as her face fell. “Alright, thank you.” 

I waited patiently as she placed the phone back into its holder. She looked at me with worry and panic. “She left their house almost an hour ago…” 

Everything seemed to stop. If she left an hour ago she would’ve been home already. “Call her cell, maybe she stopped somewhere.” 

She turned back to the phone and dialed the number, meanwhile, my heart was pounding. The longer it rang the more my heart fell and my worry rose. She set the phone down and turned around, tears in her eyes. “She didn’t answer…” 

Panic getting the better of me, I picked the phone up and dialed her number again. When she didn’t answer I panicked. She had never done anything like this before. She never went anywhere she wasn’t supposed to and always returned home when she said she would. Half of the time she was home early. My mind was running a mile a minute trying to think of where she could be. It was hard not to think of the worst, she had to be fine right? “Maybe she stopped at the store on the way back? Maybe she was hungry?” 

“But she doesn’t have money! And wasn’t she supposed to eat at Mason’s? Even if she was still hungry, she could’ve just eaten here...” 

“Maybe she went the opposite way and went to the library?” 

“Honey, the library closed hours ago…” 

Tears were running down her face now and I couldn’t help but think of the worst, but I couldn’t think that way. I took a step closer to Tessa and wrapped my arms around her. I gently placed my hand on the back of her head and shushed her. “She’ll be alright, angel. I’m sure she’ll come home soon. It’s possible that she didn’t see us calling. Why don’t we go watch a movie until she gets back?” 

We stood there for another moment before she pulled away and nodded. With a hand on her back, I led her downstairs and had her sit down on the couch. I put Back to the Future in the DVD player before grabbing a blanket and sitting down on the couch next to her. I covered both us with the blanket and started the movie. She immediately cuddled into my side and I threw an arm around her shoulders. Through the entire movie, I kept telling myself...

“She’ll be home soon…”