Chasing Cadee

“Have you seen Cadance?” Paris asked, bursting through the door of the shop. Cole looked up from the engine he was glaring at, his heart nearly stopping at that single word.

Cadance.

“Nope. Not round here. She not answerin her cell phone?” Mike asked, coming out of the front office.

Paris glanced across the shop at Cole before her green eyes settled back on Mike. “No. She…she doesn’t have her cell phone with her.”

Cole frowned. Paris was too edgy. Something was wrong. “Why are you looking for her, Paris?” he asked slowly, reaching for a rag and wiping the grease from his hands.

She started to answer, but the crash of thunder shattered the air and drowned out her words as the overhead lights flickered and swayed. “That’s one heck of a storm,” Mike said mildly.

Paris nodded frantically, “And Cadance is out there in it. You’re sure you haven’t seen her around?”

Cole glanced over her shoulder. It was one heck of a storm. “But Cadance has a great big jeep, Paris. I changed all tires and fixed the alignment two weeks ago. She’ll be fine.”

“She’s not in her jeep, Cole. Her dad took the keys.”

Cole’s heart stopped. “You mean—you mean Cadance is out there in that storm on foot?”

“I don’t know!” Paris yelled, dragging a hand through her auburn curls as she glared wildly around the room. “Her dad took her keys and she—she ran. No one knows where she is.”

Cole had to force the words around the utter and complete dryness in his throat. “She ran?” When Cadance ran, she didn’t stop. He crossed the shop in four long strides and grabbed Paris’s arm, dragging her away from Mike. “Has she been taking her pills?”

“Her dad told her she didn’t need them. He took them away.” Tears pooled in her eyes as she shook her head. “She quit cold turkey.”

Everyone with even half a brain knew it wasn’t safe for a teenager to quit anti-depressants cold turkey. Especially someone who had already tried to quit several times and each time…

It hadn’t ended well.

Cole swore. And then swore again.

“Are the cops lookin for her?” Mike asked, peering through the front window like Cadance might go running by any second. But if she was running, she definitely wouldn’t be running toward people. She’d be running away.

That’s what Cadance did best.

“Mike, I gotta go look for her. I’m sorry, man—“

Mike shook his head, “No apologies.” The look on his face clearly said he understood why Cole desperately had to go—the whole town knew Cole and Cadance’s history. Right down to the very public, very messy breakup two weeks ago.

But it didn’t matter. None of that mattered if Cadee was in trouble. He grabbed his keys out of his locker and shrugged into his jacket. “I’ll keep looking around town,” Paris yelled as she pulled her own jacket over her head and dashed into the rain.

Cole nodded, even though she had her back to him by now. He jogged to his truck, jerking the door open. He knew Cadance well, and he knew as well as Paris did that she was not here. The truck roared to life as he jerked the wheel and slammed on the gas. Tires squealing, he barralled onto the street, aiming straight toward the bay.

He and Cadee had spent a lot of time there. He couldn’t even go there anymore without thinking about her, without thoughts of her nearly driving him insane. So he didn’t go there. But the wild waters were no place for Cadee, not right now. Not without her meds and her father causing her problems.