Ben had no clue what had happened to Amanda. One minute she was outside making a phone call, the next she was hurriedly pushing her bike out the door. She was upset, her face red, and she was crying. “What’s wrong, Amanda?” he’d called.
She ignored him and kept going. By the time he got to the roll-up door, she was disappearing from sight, headed out onto one of the trails leading out of town.
“Shit,” he said. “Amanda!”
She kept going.
He couldn’t let her run off into the darkness by herself, but he also couldn’t leave the store unattended. He had more bikes to bring in, then he needed to lock the store and set the alarm for the night. It didn’t take all that long but it wasn’t exactly an instant process. Especially with just one person.
While he was rolling bikes in, he called his mom. “Hey, just wanted to remind you I promised to drive Amanda home,” he said. “I’ll be a little late.”
“No problem,” she said. “Thanks for reminding me and you be careful.”
“I will, Mom. Love you.”
He hung up and finished closing. He hated lying to his mom about needing to follow Amanda but he didn’t want his mother to think she was a flake. He liked the girl, but his mom could he a hard-ass. She might fire her for running off like that.
He’d didn’t know her well but he’d never seen her so upset before. He figured it had something to do with her mother passing away. That was understandable. Something like that had to mess you up. He couldn’t even imagine losing one of his parents.
When he had everything locked up for the night, he slung on his own pack and started pedaling after her. He clicked on the LED headlight on his handlebars and the beam cut a bold swath ahead of him. He was in good shape and he was nearly tireless on this relatively flat trail. She had a head start, but he should be able to catch her before she got too far.
Not that he had any idea what he was going to do with her when he did. He didn’t have much experience with calming emotional women. Still, some situations in life left you only one choice, one path to follow, and he was starting down his.