Fighting for the Fairytale

Cole

"Easy, Crash. Easy," I murmured when Reed slowed. We had been going at full sprint for a while now, leaving Scarlet and Nora behind. 

I hope she's doing okay. 

It was her first time on a horse, after all. 

You probably shouldn't have left her. She might need help.

Not that I was any kind of professional rider, but I liked horses, had been around them before, knew what to do if a horse, like one named Crash for instance, went bat shit crazy.

Yet, the black horse with tan blotches beneath me heeded my voice, slowing back down to a walk beside Reed and his horse Pot of Gold, or Goldie for short.

No, Nora's with Scarlet. She's in good hands.

"Crash seems to be responding just fine. Maybe he just likes me better." I couldn't resist ribbing Reed. 

Reed snorted. "He's messing with you, luring you into a false sense of control before flipping you down onto your ass. That's what he did to me."

Fingering the reins lightly, I asked, "He get the jump on Scar?"

"You know my wife can bend any of the horses to her will. It's part of her charm."

I adjusted myself in the saddle, sitting back a little more since we were no longer riding fast. My legs ached from squatting. It had been a while, and my muscles were definitely feeling it. "Yeah. You think her and Nora are doing okay?

"Why wouldn't they be?" Reed looked over at me from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know. This isn't exactly Nora's thing."

"What is Nora's thing?"

"Huh?"

"You know, what do you guys like to do together?"

My mind blanked. "Well, you know, we..." I trailed off. 

You don't actually do much together, do you? You don't even like the same music. You like country. She likes 80s. She gets along with her family, you don't. Well, she isn't talking to them now, but she will. You're both so different from each other. How did you ever think you were going to make this work? What made you ever think that you were good enough for her? 

"Cole?" Reed prompted. 

Frustrated with myself and my train of thought, I changed the subject. "Okay if we head back? I think these horses have gotten their share of exercise, and I want to check on Nora. I haven't spent a lot of time with her since we got here."

And whose fault is that?

Reed shrugged, oblivious to my mood change. "Sure."

We made it all the way back to the barn without seeing the girls.

They must have turned around earlier. 

"Hey," I called to Scar as she ran out of the barn towards us. I hopped down from Crash, boots landing firmly on the ground. As I tied Crash to the post, I searched for Nora. When I couldn't find her, my stomach started to twist. "Where's Nora?" I asked Scarlet, trying to mask my growing panic. "Is she in the house?"

Scarlet shook her head. "No. Cole,  she—she left." 

"What?" My heart stopped and then quickly sped up. "What do you mean she left? Left where?"

Reed hopped down from Goldie, tied her to a post and walked directly to Scarlet, putting his arm around her. "Babe, what happened?" He asked.

Scarlet burrowed into her husband, her face stricken with regret. "I shouldn't have brought up her dad, but I did. I just wanted to let her know that she could talk about it if she wanted to, but she became really upset when I told her I knew." She turned to me. "I'm sorry, Cole. I didn't mean to make things worse. By the time I finished tying off the horses, she had gotten into the Jeep and driven away."

"Where did she go?" I asked, my brain struggling to comprehend.

Nora was gone. 

She left. She left you.

Scar shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I didn't even see her go in the house. One moment she was beside me and then the next, the Jeep was gone."

"We have to find her!" I told the two of them, already sprinting toward the house. 

It hurt to run in boots, and my legs were sore as hell, but I focused on Nora.

My wife. 

The wife who left you.

Wow, you are worthless! Pathetic. You thought someone could love you? Ha, that's a laugh.

I couldn't stop the barrage of harsh words that washed over me, words repeated to me since I was four, maybe five years old from the mouth of the man who created half of my genetic make-up.

Bursting into the guest room, I frantically searched the room where just this morning, I had woken up to the woman I loved no longer beside me. At least then, though, I had discovered where she was, in the barn with Scarlet. 

Now, I had no fucking clue.

I found her backpack sitting neatly packed on the floor by the bathroom door. Her sweatshirt lay haphazardly thrown on the unmade bed from this morning before our ride.

A glance to the nightstand confirmed Scar's story; the keys to the rental jeep were gone.

Breathing deeply through my nose, I tried to slow my heart rate. 

She probably just wanted to go for a drive. Nothing wrong with that. She'll come back.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. My heart rate, which I had managed to slow slightly, raced again.

Please be Nora! Please be Nora!

Frantically, I pulled out my phone.

Disappointment coursed through me at the sight of an unknown number staring back at me. 

But what if Nora's phone battery had died  and she was using someone else's phone to reach me?

Silently praying, I answered, my voice short and out of breath. "Hello?"

"Cole! It's Leslie!"

Leslie? Why was Nora's mom calling me? 

"Leslie, now's really not a good time—" I said, trying not to be rude but I had more pertinent things to deal with right this moment.

Like finding your wife!

I know! I'm trying! 

"I'm sorry, but I've tried calling Nora three times now, and she hasn't picked up. I know we're not exactly on speaking terms, but she'd never not answered my phone call, especially if I called more than once. She'd know it was important." Leslie's words were running together, getting more high-pitched as she talked.

My blood chilled. "Is everything okay?"

"No, it's—it's David. He— he may have had a heart attack. I—I'm not sure. I had to call an ambulance. I'm in the emergency room now, waiting. They haven't told me anything." 

Holy shit. 

"Are you there by yourself?" I asked, already collecting Nora and I's things as my brain tried to conquer the logistics of leaving Texas.

We need to get to the airport, see if we can get an earlier flight out. They can do that, right? For medical or family emergencies?

Well, first, you have to find your wife.

Abandoning the packing, I strode back into the living room where Scarlet and Reed waited.

"N—no, Bri's here with me, but—"

"Leslie, Nora and I are in Texas right now. We were staying at my friends' place, but we'll be on the next flight back to Minnesota." I swallowed as I rushed out of the house, Reed and Scarlet on my heels. "We'll be there as soon as we can." 

I hung up before I could hear her reply, turned to my friends' confused faces, and explained, "Nora's dad might have had a heart attack. Her mom and sister are at the hospital with him." I looked between my two best friends. "We need to find Nora now."

Reed nodded once, decisive. "I'll drive."