Leah's POV
Sam, my ex-boyfriend but still a good friend just called me to tell me his wife and my very best friend disappeared. I tell him he's crazy, she would never leave Sadie, their 2 month old daughter. He asks me to come over and keep Sadie while he goes to look for her.
"Jake, Sam needs me to keep Sadie while he looks for Bella." I tell my boyfriend who is watching some game on TV.
"What do you mean find Bella? Why does he have Sadie but not know where Bella is?" He loses all attention in the game and gets ready to come while I tell him what little I know. He and Bella grew up together and she's like a sister to him.
She actually introduced us and I introduced her to Sam. I didn't mean to but it all worked out for the best. We had just broken up because Sam wanted to get married and I was not ready for that. We were only 20. He had come to my house one day to pick up some random stuff and Bella showed up so I could help her with some math homework. She's so smart when it comes to most things but math she's pretty dumb. That's how we met. She needed a tutor her freshman year and I was the lucky one. We spent so much time on it we became really close. She was walking upstairs when Sam came around the corner and scared the crap out of her making her lose her balance and tumble down. She's good like that. She ended up breaking her leg and he had to drive us to the hospital because my brother took my car and her car is a stick which I can't drive. It was kind of love at first broken leg even though they both tried to fight it for me. But being the great person I am I gave them my blessing and they got married 6 months later.
She had just graduated and her parents and Jake were furious. But neither of them cared. It was accept them or leave her alone. Jake accepted them; she hasn't spoken to her parents since the day before her wedding.
6 months after that she was pregnant. Being a wife fit her perfectly and she could not have been happier about being a mom. I'm just glad it's not me. Jake has no more interest in marriage or kids than I do.
Since Sadie has been born she's been happy but, I don't know, off? I tried to talk to her about it a few times and she just says she's tired and hormonal and what do I know? So I dropped it but now I'm thinking I was right.
As soon as we get to their house Sam tells me everything he knows. Bella left this morning leaving Sadie with Claire, the teenager next door, and she took all $5000 in cash she keeps in a wipey box for emergencies. Her cell phone was on the kitchen table.
"She's gone Leah. She took cash with no phone. She's gone and she doesn't want me to find her." I think he's been crying.
"Maybe you shouldn't have forced her into marriage and being a parent when she's only 19 years old. Dammit Sam! This is all your fault!" Jake yells at him and Sadie starts screaming.
"Jake stop it! Now is not the time for this." I tell him. But maybe he's right. Bella always talked about moving before she was with Sam. She wanted to move to a big city and write and be a waitress at a coffee shop until she wrote her first bestseller. She watched too much TV basically. But Sam had a life here, a good job, and all his family that he is super close to. So she settled for here. She never told Sam any of this.
"Maybe your right Jake but I love her and she is my wife and Sadie's mom and we need her." Sam looks broken.
"I'm sure she'll be back. You can't really go looking for her. She's probably on a plane or train by now. It sucks but all we can really do is call everyone we know and hope she comes back. And I'm sure she will." We all three know I'm lying.
So we start calling everyone we can possibly think of including her parents and the people that work at the bookstore she worked at before Sadie was born. We called Sam's mom and all his sisters and even the coffee shop Bella hangs out at a lot. Nothing.
Sam leaves even though we all know he's not going to get anywhere and Jake and I stay with Sadie. He comes back hours later with nothing. We go home even though I don't really want to leave him.
"What if we never see her again Lee?" Jake asks me in bed that night.
He's her best friend and he's known her longer than anyone. If he thinks she's not going to come back then I have to think the same.