Chapter 5

Claire found the destroyed phone and her sister when she came home. She looked behind at Alex, standing in the hall and holding Charlotte. She could imagine Tess would not like it if Alex saw her crying.
'Hey, could you give bom a bath for me, please? I've got things… to do now,' she said, while she knew the lie was written on her forehead. He seemed to understand this was about Tess, because he could see her sitting on her bed with her face covered with her hands. He nodded and took Charlotte to the bathroom. Claire put down her bags and sat down next to Tess. She put her arms around her and waited till she stopped crying.

'What happened?' she asked softly.

'Nothing,' said Tess, rubbing the tears away from her face. 'Just a… just a phone call. I think I'm… going to bed now.'

Claire considered to say it was 8 pm, but she decided to be smarter and leave Tess alone. She'd tell her, some day.

'Goodnight,' she said and she left. She didn't look back so she didn't see Tess taking a suitcase and pulling her clothes out of her closet.

Stevie looked at the sunrise waiting for Tess. She was too late, something Tess didn't use to. The horses were getting agitated. They didn't like waiting either.

'Maybe she overslept,' said Jodi. 'Maybe we should go back to drag her out of bed.'
Stevie nodded. 'Yeah, maybe we should. But it wouldn't be Tess to oversleep. Most times she's on time.'
They got back and found Claire turning the entire house upside down.
'Claire, have you seen Tess?'
Claire looked up from an empty closet and sighted. 'No, I haven't. I've been looking for her for an hour now.'

Stevie nodded to the closet. 'Why did she take away all her clothes?' She looked at Claire, concerned. 'She didn't just… go, did she?'
'I'm afraid so,' Claire answered. 'Her car's gone too. We should go looking for her.'

'Maybe we should get Nick. He'll find her,' said Jodi. 'He always does.'
Claire shook her head, angry with herself. 'Bugger, bugger, bugger. I shouldn't have left her alone.'

'What do you mean?'
'Nothing. Jodi, get Nick. I'll get Alex.'

Jodi nodded and left.

'And the sheep? We'd take them to another…' Stevie began.

'Forget about the sheep!' Claire suddenly shouted at her. 'Sorry,' she said softly. 'I'm just… a bit worried about her. Anything could have happened to her. She was upset and she's so… naïf.'

'She'll be fine. Jodi's getting Nick and you'll see he'll find her. He's always the one who finds her.'

Claire smiled. 'Yeah, he is. But they're both so…opinionated.'

'Yeah, I know. But now, let's go. If she's gone by car we don't have time to lose.'

Claire nodded and walked out of Tess' room, but in her heart she wasn't sure if it was gonna be fine.

The sky was very blue that day and there were no clouds. The sun was burning the grass beside the road Tess was driving. The calm, quiet weather was the opposite of her mood. A storm was going through her mind, haunted by her memories. She felt a bit guilty about not telling Claire she was leaving, but she knew Claire wouldn't have let her go without telling her the truth. She always knew when she was lying, and Tess used to be honest with her sister. But she couldn't, this time. She had to make an end to the past. A past Claire didn't know. A past only one person knew, and that person was her mother. Her mother, who'd always been so kind to her. Who had given her a good youth. The one that had comforted her when she was scared during a thunderstorm late at night, who had played with her and dried her tears when she fell. But, unavoidable, the one who broke her heart by tearing her away from her sister. From home. She wasn't alive anymore, and Tess hadn't expected him to be still on the place where she had seen him for the last time either. Until he had called her, last night. When she heard his voice her mind had returned to those days, so many years ago, but still so fresh on her mind.

Suddenly she wished Nick was with her. He was always so good at comforting her. He used to make her feel so home. So did Claire, but Claire always wanted to know what was bothering her. Nick didn't. That afternoon, he had just waited until she stopped crying, so her tears had left a spot on his shirt. After that, he had taken her home. And left. Most times she liked to tell Claire about things bothering her, but this issue was something she had to solve on her own. She hated to solve things on her own, cause there'd be no one to tell her if she was trusting the wrong person again. Like she had done so many years ago. But she had decided she wouldn't trust him again. Never again.

Meg offered to make them sandwiches, but Claire couldn't wait any longer so she took the rest with her and left Meg alone with her sandwiches.

'But Jodi! You should eat or you'll get carsick!' she shouted at them. Jodi sighted and took the sandwiches.

'But we really have to go now, mom,' she said, and she ran back to the car where Claire was calling for her again.

'If you need to mother you should come with us, Meg,' she said as she dragged Jodi into the car.

'So I was right,' said Alex.

'What do you mean?' she asked him, but she knew what he meant.

'Well, you sent me away last night because something was wrong with Tess. And I was right,' he said content. Claire sighted.

'I don't know what's bothering either, Alex,' she said. 'We'll have to find her first before we ask her.'

'A blonde young woman in an orange car… Yes, I remember her! She's asked me the way.' The fat, old barkeeper of a dirty, smoky bar was 'cleaning' his glasses with a cloth that was so dirty he made the thing only dirtier.

'Want a beer?'

'No, thank you,' Claire said politely. 'Did she tell you were she was going?'
'Yeah, she said she was going to town.'

'Thank you very much, we'll look for her there, than.'
'That was disgusting,' said Jodi as they came out of the bar. 'That bar was more dirty than the stables when I don't clean them for a week!'
'Yes, but we do know where Tess is, now,' said Stevie.

'So that means we got to drive all the way to town,' Jodi sighted.

'Yup,' Stevie said. 'I'm driving!'

'No, I'm driving,' Claire protested, 'I'm the best driver in here!'

'Maybe,' said Stevie, 'but you've been driving all the way here.' And she snapped the keys out of Claire's hands and ran to the car.

Tess was standing in front of a door and tried to find the guts to knock on it. She stretched out her arm, but the door was opened before she could touch it. She shivered. He was standing in front of her and smiled.

'Tess. Good to see you.'