Chapter Sixteen

In Which Bobby Goes MIA

Elisa would be the first to admit her experience with romantic love was limited at best. She didn’t have any firsthand knowledge on what it was like to dating someone, or how a relationship could change your life and perspective. All she really had to go off of was what she’d observed of her friends and family. One thing she’d noticed was that when they were dating the guy or gal of their dreams, people tended to be a bit more…oblivious than normal. Not dumb, maybe, but definitely more blind to what was going on outside their happy little bubble. That was, at least, until life came along and bitch-slapped them back into reality.

It was a surprisingly warm January afternoon when Julieta got sent back to reality.

She and Elisa had been driving down to the mall near Netherfield Park. They intended to just walk around, more interested in getting out of the apartment than actually buying anything. They were almost to the highway when Julieta said, “Wait—actually, drive by Bobby’s house. Maybe he’ll want to come with us.”

“You haven’t seen him in a while, have you?” Elisa asked.

She sighed, shaking her head. “No, not since the party where you met Willow. We’ve been texting like usual, but between my job and his, plus all the holiday craziness… I haven’t even gotten a chance to give him his gift yet.”

As she spoke, she touched the gorgeous sterling silver bracelet she was wearing. It had shown up in the mail a couple days before Christmas, along with a note that had made her blush. Elisa attempted to sneak a peek at it but was immediately caught. Personally, she thought Bobby should’ve come by and delivered the gift in person, but Julieta had been too happy with it for her to complain much.

“I’m sure he understands,” Elisa said. “Let’s go see him.”

So, she pulled into the driveway of Bobby’s mansion, following Julieta to the front door.

A maid answered the door. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, Emily,” Julieta said, smiling warmly. “Is Bobby in?”

The maid frowned. “Mr. Charles hasn’t been here for a week,” she said, confused. “I’m sorry, Julieta, I assumed someone told you.”

Her face fell, but she forced herself to smile again a moment later. The corners of her mouth were shaking, though. Elisa frowned, glancing worriedly from her sister to the maid and back again.

It’s probably nothing.

“Did he say where he was?” Julieta asked.

“At his vacation home in Massachusetts.”

“Massachusetts?” Elisa said, before she could stop herself.

“Yes, he has a lovely home on the beach in Cape Cod.”

“It’s winter.”

Julieta was determined to keep up her sunny attitude, but she could tell she was faltering. “Did Bobby say when he’ll be coming home?”

“Mr. Charles said he’d be in Cape Cod indefinitely,” the maid said with an apologetic shrug.

Wow. Okay. So. Not “nothing.”

“Where’s Darcy?” she asked, before she even had a chance to consider why she wanted to know.

“Back home in Columbus, I’d assume. She didn’t mention where she was going.”

What did you expect? It’s not like she’s just lurking in the shadows, waiting for me to show up.

“Th-thank you,” Julieta said. “Um…thanks. Have a great day. Thanks.”

The two made their way back to the car, Elisa climbing into the driver’s seat. Julieta stumbled into the passenger’s side, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Jules?” she asked quietly, looking over to her older sister.

“L-let’s…let’s just go on over.”

“Julieta…”

“Come on, we’re already out.” She forced a smile. “It’ll be fun.”

Elisa bit her lip. “Okay,” she finally said. “But I understand if you just want to go home.”

“I need to…need to… I just want to have a little fun before I think about this, okay?”

…

They had been wandering around the mall, trying on clothes they couldn’t really afford, for about an hour when Julieta finally hit her “happy face” limit. One moment, they had been squeezed into a tiny dressing room, Elisa helping her zip up an evening gown. The next, she was leaning against the wall and crying her eyes out.

“Oh, honey,” Elisa said, reaching to pull her sister into a hug. “Oh, Julieta, I’m so sorry.”

“How could he just leave without telling me?” she asked through her tears. “I thought he… I thought we…”

“Maybe it was an emergency?” Even as she suggested it, she didn’t believe it.

“How do you forget to text your girlfriend for a full week? If…if I ever was his girlfriend…”

“Yes, you were,” Elisa said. “You are. This isn’t a breakup, it’s…”

“Don’t be naive.” Julieta sniffled. “It’s a breakup without the title. He went seven hundred miles away and didn’t even say goodbye to me… I think that sends a message, loud and clear.” She gave a mirthless laugh, wiping her tears. “I wasn’t even worth the time it would’ve taken to say ‘it’s been fun, but it’s over.’ Forget a face-to-face breakup. He didn’t even send me a goddamn text message.”

“Bobby’s an asshole,” she said. She ran a hand over Julieta’s hair; the only comfort she could provide. “You deserve better.”

“How could he do this?” she asked again.

“I don’t know. I really don’t…”

Julieta was slowly regaining her composure, breathing steadying again, but her eyes were still red and watery. “I’m… Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out like that, I just…”

“Don’t apologize,” she said gently. “You have every right to freak out. I mean, this just doesn’t seem like Bobby. He never struck me as the flakey type.”

“He also didn’t strike me as my next ex-boyfriend. I thought…” Julieta trailed off. She swallowed a lump in her throat, rubbing her eyes, before finding her voice again. “I thought maybe he and I had something real. I thought we had a future. But here we are.”

“Here we are…”

Julieta took a deep breath, trying to find some semblance of dignity. “I’m going to change back into my own clothes,” she said. “Then, you and I are getting pretzels from the food court. Then, we’re going home, and I’m going to have a good, old-fashioned breakup bonfire.”

Elisa managed a small smile. “Ask for Lulu’s help. She’s the family expert at burning stuff.” She reached for the dressing room door. “I’ll see you out there.”

“Okay.”

She slipped out of the dressing room and was met with the concerned, questioning eyes of two employees, who had clearly heard everything.

“Is your sister okay?” one of them finally asked, apparently deciding it wasn’t worth denying that they’d been listening.

“She will be.” She sighed. “I hope.”

…

While Elisa waited at a table in the food court for Julieta to return with their pretzels, she decided that, yes, she was desperate enough to do this. The food court was mobbed, which would hopefully buy her enough time to make the call before she got back. Three text messages to Willow later, she had the phone number she needed.

She took a deep breath, before swallowing her pride and dialing the number.

“Hello, Darcy Fitzgerald speaking.”

Elisa’s next words were out before she even had a chance to consider them.

“What the hell is wrong with Bobby?”

There was a confused pause on the other end, before, “Should I start with his appearance or his personality, or…?” Then, suddenly, realization set in. “Elisa?”

“Listen, my sister and I just popped over to Bobby’s house to pay him a visit, and he’s up and vanished with no explanation. So you’re gonna explain for him. Why the hell has Bobby just run off to Cape Cod? In January.”

“Cape Cod is actually quite lovely in the winter.”

“Darcy, I swear to God.”

There was a pause long enough that she briefly wondered if she’d been hung up on. Finally, Darcy spoke. “Something came up, that’s all.”

“You’re a shitty liar,” she said. “Listen, I’ve checked all of Bobby’s social media, and he hasn’t said a word about leaving Steventon, much less about going to Massachusetts. You know what that makes me think?”

“Oh, pray tell,” she droned.

“I think he didn’t just not tell Julieta he was leaving. He was making sure she wouldn’t know. He must’ve known she’d catch on eventually, but thanks to his little media blackout, she didn’t figure it out until he was too far away for her to strangle him.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Darcy said. “He just realized he has obligations elsewhere.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drive up to Cape Cod and kick his ass.”

“Well, for one thing, his home up there has an extensive security system. For another, he’s quite a bit taller than you, and probably in much better physical shape—”

Elisa groaned. “Stop holding out on me and tell me what happened.”

“I told you. Bobby realized he had obligations outside of Steventon and your sister. It’s nothing personal.”

“He left a girl he’s been dating for months without even saying ‘see ya.’ How in the hell is that not personal?”

“Believe what you want,” she said. Elisa could almost see her condescending scowl.

“You know something, don’t you?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t be at liberty to reveal it.”

“Just tell me why he left,” Elisa snapped, exasperation making her voice squeak a bit.

“Obligations. That’s all I’ll say.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “What about you? Where’d you run off to? You have obligations, too?”

“No,” she said. “I’m just back home in Columbus. You are welcome to come and visit if you’re ever in the area. There’s always a guest room available to you.”

Elisa took a deep breath to force herself to keep her temper. “Yeah. Great. Thanks. Bye,” was all she could bring herself to say before hanging up on her.

She slammed her phone onto the table, slumping back in her chair. Well, that had been a dead end. She was certain Darcy knew more than she’d let on, but she was also certain it wouldn’t do any good to keep asking.

She forced herself to hide her anger as Julieta approached, a tray of food in her hands. Things were already miserable enough. It wouldn’t do any good to stew.

She would, however, absolutely be joining in on that breakup bonfire.