Embracing Us (Embracing Series) by Delisa Lynn Page A

there a lot. We take the girls most times. Do you not take AJ there? Does he know anything about his aunt?” I ask with a disgusted look.
    “Yes , he knows who she was. But no, we don’t go very often, Christa doesn’t think its normal. I quit going as much as I used too, but I went last week.”
    “Fuck her . I’m sorry, I know she is your wife, but do you know how dumb that sounded? We will work on that another day, right now let’s find my Lila.”
    I try calling Lila, again, and still no answer, it just goes to voice mail. We pull into the cemetery and I don’t see her car, we drive over our family plots and I notice that next to Addison’s stone was empty Starbuck cups and a half eaten bag of Funyuns. Two of the cups were still cold and one had Lila’s lip gloss on the straw.
    “She’s been here, recently because the cups are still cold. I also don’t think anyone else would eat Funyuns here, except Lila.”
    “Where would she have gone now? Maybe check the other places. We talked about? I say the mall first, maybe that body store she likes to go to there, you think?”
    “Hell Ashton, I don’t know. I was so mean to her. Do you know I told her she would ruin our family name? How fucking stupid does that sound.”
    “Come on , we will find her, don’t be so hard on yourself. She knows you really didn’t mean it.”
    We drive to the mall and walk into all of Lila’s favorite stores, still no sign of her. We walk around the food court. Then we leave and go to the other mall across town. It has now been seven hours and no one has heard from her. I’m so worried, if something happens to her I will never forgive myself.
    I call all the hospital and the airport. Nothing . It’s like she just vanished. Ashton and I had been driving around all day. We go into every salon and spa on this side of California. I’m tired and worried, and my mom and her mom kept calling. I go to the police station and they still can’t help me. Ashton has to drag me out of there before I get arrested.
    “Ashton, what the hell have I done? She is gone because of me, I said all that shit to her. What if she is hurt or dead? What if I have lost my Li for good?” I say as I bury my head in my hands and cry like a baby. I can’t help it, she is my world. She is everything to me. I talked to her like she was nothing. I made her feel like she was nothing. I did this, and she is gone because of me.
    “We will f ind her. I have a few buddies at the tattoo shop that I will call. They see everyone around the area close to the cemetery, maybe they’ve seen her.”
    “Okay thanks , man. Let’s grab a burger or something. I don’t know if I can eat it, but I’m starving.”
    “Okay, what about Burger Barn? We can just go through the drive-thru, and keep driving.”
    “Sounds good. Call your people . See if they have seen my wife.”
    We go to grab lunch, and I order and burger and fries and an iced tea. I eat some, but feel like I’m going to regret it. Ashton‘s on the phone with his friend and I can tell he’s a little confused then he says we’ll be right there.
    “Everything okay , Ash?” I ask, unaware of what’s going on. The look on his face has me terrified, I don’t know if I want to ask him again or not but I do. “What the hell is going on, Ashton?”
    “She was at the tattoo shop, I think. They said a very attractive pregnant woman was in there about an hour ago. I don’t know if she knows that’s the one I work at or not. We will go there , review the video, and see if it was her.”
    What in the hell was she doing there? She wouldn’t get a ta ttoo while she was pregnant. God I hope she is okay, where ever she is. When we find her, I’m never letting her out of my sight. She will get so tired of looking at me. I try calling her again and she didn’t answer. I look on her Facebook and Twitter to see if she has been on either. But nothing new has been posted.
     
     
    ASHTON
     
    Lila was at the tattoo