Not Quite Enough(41)

“My car is on the road. Someone will spot it.”
She didn’t want to remind him that the road had appeared abandoned. And it wasn’t as if the islanders were looking for places to play these days. Most were just trying to survive.
“How did that earthquake compare to the first one?” she asked.
“Hard to say,” his soothing voice said in her ear. “My house made a lot of noise but the walls didn’t come down.”
Her vision was adjusting to the darkness of the cave but it was still impossible to make out the entrance.
“The first one could have loosened those rocks. Made it easier for them to fall this time.” At least his words sounded good to her ears.
Trent shifted beside her and she sat up. “You should lie down. That wall on your back can’t be comfortable.”
“Sitting up will keep me awake.”
Monica couldn’t make out his expression in the dark. She rested her hand on his chest in hopes of comforting him. His voice was tight and his entire frame was rigid. “We might as well try and sleep. Even when Reynard realizes you’re not coming home, it will take time for the clinic to get word to the doctors and for anyone to actually search for us. No one is going to spot your car in the dark.”
Trent sighed and shifted his weight down from the wall. Monica had her leg propped up on her backpack and Trent used a rolled-up towel for a pillow. She used his shoulder as hers.
Once she was snug against his chest, and as comfortable as she could be for a night in a cave with a broken leg, she attempted to close her eyes.
She could tell that Trent was just as awake as she.
“You know,” she whispered, “before the earthquake and the wall crashing down on me, I was having a really good time.”
Her chest rumbled with his soft laugh. “I know how to show a girl a good time.”
“I didn’t think it would be possible to have any desirable memories from this crazy week.”
“And now you’re stuck in a cave all because I wanted you to myself.”
She winced at the tone he was using against himself.
“Hey.” She poked his chest with her finger. “I wanted you to myself, too. You had no way of knowing this was going to happen.”
“I’ll remind you that you said that in the morning.”
She wiggled against him and jostled her leg with a hiss.
“You sure you don’t want to take two of those Motrin now?”
She wasn’t sure of anything. “I’ll wait until I can’t bear it anymore.”
His hand stroked her hair and down her arm. The rhythmic movement lulled her eyes closed. She heard Trent mumble in her ear three words.
“I’m sorry, Monica.”
“It’s not your fault,” she whispered back before she fell asleep.


The phone rang, jolting Jessie from her dreams. Beside her, Jack reached for the phone next to his side of the bed.
Her eyes swung to the digital clock across the room and noticed the time, 4:23 in the morning. Nothing good made the phone ring at this time of night… or day.
“This had better be good,” was how Jack answered the call.
Jack paused and listened to the caller. “This is her husband.”
Jessie leaned over and turned on the lamp. Jack was sitting up in the bed with his eyes wide open. He glanced at her, and his brow furrowed.
Jessie’s heart sank. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, huh.” He held up a hand, asking her to hold her question. “She didn’t call? When was the last time anyone has seen her?”
Monica!
Panic gripped Jessie by the throat. She dug her nails into Jack’s thigh. “Is it Monica?”
“Hold on,” he told the person on the phone. “Monica didn’t show up at the clinic last night. She and Trent haven’t been seen since yesterday afternoon.”
Jessie’s jaw dropped. “What? That’s not like her.”
Jack returned his attention to the phone. “I didn’t know there was a second quake,” Jack said to the caller.
Another quake? Monica’s missing? Jessie tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed. She found her purse next to her dressing table and removed her cell phone from the front pocket. She punched in Monica’s number and listened to it ring. “C’mon, Mo. Pick up.”
It went to voice mail, Monica’s chipper voice telling the caller to leave a message. “Monica? Dammit, Mo where are you? Call me the second you get this. You hear me? Mo?” Her hand shook as she ended the call.
Jack approached her from behind and cradled her shoulders in his hands.
“What happened? Where is she?”
Jack shook his head. “That was one of the doctors. She went to Trent’s house to sleep shortly after I left. Was due back at the clinic eight hours ago. When she didn’t show up the nurse at the clinic left a message for the team leader at the hospital.”
“Did they check Trent’s house?”
“They’re not there. A friend of his said they left midafternoon and haven’t been seen since. With all the commotion after the aftershock, no one thought to search them out until nearly midnight.”
“Monica wouldn’t just leave. She’s too responsible. Oh God, Jack. We need to find her.”
“We’ll find her. Shhh, it’s OK.”
Only it wasn’t all right. Call it sisterly intuition, but she knew her sister and Monica would have to be half dead before she even called in sick for work. To not show up… not call?
Jack pulled out of her embrace. “You get dressed. I’ll call the pilot and the family.”