Isaac had taken his wife out that night for a nice romantic dinner. They had been talking and laughing when the both of them had heard another familiar laugh in the background. Turning around, they had seen Taylor with some girl they had never met before. Both agreed that she
was beautiful, and wondered what he could be doing with her. They knew that he was having problems with Ashley of course, but hadn't thought he could possibly move on to some pretty
new face because of it. Neither wanted to believe it. Quite often as they finished off their dinner, they looked back to see what was going on between the girl and him. It seemed obvious to them that he was quite taken with her, as he kept staring at her with a smile on his face. Sure it was a relief to see him smile again for the first time in days, but they felt as though it would be a betrayal to Ashley if they didn't say something.
So when they were done eating, Nikki drove them to the hotel Ashley was staying at. They knocked on the door a few times, and of course there was no answer. He tried calling her cell phone, and got no answer. That's when the two of them started to panic. Sure she had nothing
to do with the whole Natalie and Nathan thing, but what if for some reason he had gone after
her?
As calmly as she could, Nikki got on her phone and called Arielle, hoping by some chance that Ashley could just be with her. " Hey Arielle. How are you?" She asked, upon her answering the phone on the second ring.
" I'm alright. Dad ran out on us tonight, and we have no clue where he is." She heard Arielle let out a sigh. " Everything is getting so complicated."
" I know. Has your mom gotten in touch with you at all tonight by chance? Me and Isaac are at
the hotel and she's not here."
" No. I... do you think... that she is okay?" Arielle asked, now even more concerned by the nights events.
" I sure hope so. Listen, please try not to panic. We tried calling her cell phone and she isn't answering. I bet she is okay and she just doesn't feel like talking to anyone, but we are on it.
Stay where you are and don't try to go in search of her. You are still grounded after all from driving, so don't go risking getting in trouble further." Nikki told her, and hung up.
Isaac looked at his wife worriedly. " We need to find her. If something happened to her, Tay would never..."
" Forgive you? Isaac, it looked like your brother was on a date with another woman. I mean, I
don't want to think he would do that, but it sure seemed that way to me. I'm sure he cares for Ashley no matter what, but I think things are just going to get worse before they get better between those two."
" Let's not argue ourselves. We just need to find her and make sure she is okay." He led the way out, and got into the driver's seat himself this time.
They drove around looking for her, Nikki calling Zac to let him and Kate know that Ashley seemed to be missing. Kate didn't seem to care of course, she wasn't a fan of Ashley at all still. But Zac was just as worried, and he promised to go looking for her as well.
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Taylor arrived at home half an hour after Nikki's call to Arielle, who was sitting around the living room, trying to concentrate on some homework Natalie had given her. But after that phone call, she was now more confused and worried as ever. The moment he walked in the door, she ran into his arms. " Nikki called and said mom is missing, dad. We need to go find her!" She cried.
Taylor looked down at his daughter in surprise. " What do you mean she's missing? I.. I just talked to her a little bit ago."
" I thought you two weren't talking." Arielle looked up at him, shaking her head in shock. " What the hell is going on!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. " Did you two fight when you talked to her?"
" It's pretty normal these days, sweetie. She was mad because Natalie had left her a message about me. Where is Natalie by the way? I need to speak to her about that." He asked, looking around the room.
" She just got Wilhelmina into bed, so my guess is you'll find her upstairs." Arielle told him. " I would like to know what is going on though, dad. What message? I think I deserve to know."
" What you need to be doing is your homework. Don't worry about your mom, I will figure this out." He left the room, and went upstairs to find Natalie just closing the door to Christopher's room. " What do you think you are doing, Natalie? Are you trying to drive Ashley further away from me?" He snapped at her, trying not to let his anger get the best of him.
Natalie looked at him in surprise. " I did what I thought was best for her, Taylor. She deserved to know that you are sneaking out on her, going out to meet another woman! I know that's what you were doing. You made it no secret to me when your feelings for her made it to the surface again. How could I not know what you are doing?" She snapped back, shoving him away from her. " How could you do this to her, Taylor? She loves you!"
The fact that she had shoved him was a surprise to him. Especially considering what she had been through lately. " And I love her! I've tried everything I can to prove that to her. But she doesn't believe me! Nothing I say can convince her. She thinks I'm moving on away from her with you, Natalie. All of a sudden, my wife thinks I am cheating on her with just about anyone, and I'm not!" He screamed. " Not to mention the fact that she is stressed with all the fighting our kids are doing."
" Then go to her, Taylor. Don't let her sit around that hotel room just because I'm here! And just... let me leave. I can take care of myself and the kids if that's what it takes to get on her good side."
" No. Natalie, you mean so much to me and if something were to happen to you, I would feel like an ass. Especially if something happened to our kids. You are staying here, or... at least maybe in another home. I don't see why we can't find a bigger place to move to if that's what we need to do, so that everyone has more space."
" I think that would be a good idea too. You go to your wife and talk to her though. She needs you." Natalie looked at him apologetically. " I'm sorry if I hurt you by the way."
" She is missing, Natalie. Thanks to your message, she is nowhere to be seen apparently. Nikki called Arielle and told her she has no clue where she is at." He sighed. " I need to go look for her." Without another word, he went down the stairs and out the front door.
