Read Online Missing Hart by Ella Fox - Free Book Online Page A

while mine is a twenty-two year old Buick. While the interior and the bodies of both cars leaves something to be desired, I have to admit that Dante has made sure the engines on our cars are always in perfect working order, and my car has never even considered hesitating to start.
    The drive to Dillon and Marissa’s neighborhood took no time at all considering the fact that they lived less than ten minutes away. I stopped off at a florist and bought a beautiful bunch of sunflowers. They’re Marissa’s favorite flower, and I knew they would brighten her day. After I was finished at the florist I headed to Whole Foods to grab her favorite sparkling water. She was addicted to the stuff, but while she had been depressed she hadn’t been drinking any of it. Most days it had been a chore to get her to drink anything, and she refused to eat or drink anything that she would enjoy. Dillon had explained that it was a longstanding problem that she had; when she got down, she had a hard time putting anything inside of her. I was just glad that, after yesterday, I knew that she was coming out of the tunnel and into the light.
    I cranked some happy music on the stereo in the Buick and made the rest of the trip to Marissa and Dillon’s with a huge smile on my face. The day was beautiful, one of those very early fall-ish days in LA that made everything seem possible. The miracle I want to achieve today is getting Marissa to agree to visit the bookstore with me. I just know that if she got herself back through the door of the store, she would remember how much she loves being surrounded by books and customers.
    Pulling up to the house, I saw that Leah’s car was parked behind Dillon’s car in the driveway. Marissa’s car wasn’t around and I smiled to myself as I got out of the car and walked across the lawn with my happy presents, wondering if she had beat me to it and gone to the store on her own. Nothing would make me happier than to know that she was out and about.
    I gave a goofy little knock on the door as I waited for someone to answer. When the door swung open I found myself looking up into Dillon’s face. He looked absolutely terrible, and my heart bottomed out somewhere near my knees.
    Something was wrong, and I got a horrible feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same again.
    I opened my mouth to speak, noting that my mouth suddenly felt like the Sahara desert.
    I could just barely manage to croak out, “Dillon?”
    As his mouth opened, I realized that when he opened the door I could hear sobbing. Leaning to the right, I looked past him and saw that Leah was curled up in a ball on the couch hysterically crying.
    His hand on my shoulder brought my attention back to him, my brain trying to deny what I was seeing. Dillon wouldn’t look like this and Leah wouldn’t cry this way if something weren’t horribly wrong.
    “Dominique… Marissa’s gone.”
    I knew what he meant, but I tried to tell myself that I was wrong. Maybe he meant the hospital, or maybe she ran away. Either way, she would be back. She had to come back.
    “Where did she go?”
    Choking on a sob he replied, “She killed herself this afternoon.”
    I heard an agonized shriek just before I felt something wet drench my leg. As Dillon pulled me into his arms I realized that the shriek came from me, and the wetness I felt was from the bottles of water I had brought for Marissa exploding when I dropped them.
    In the few hours that passed since the moment Dillon opened the door and reality went from normal to heartbreaking, I’ve done little but sit on the couch holding on to Leah and Dillon. The three of us cried rivers and there didn’t seem to be an off valve.
    I saw that Dillon was trying to pull himself together for Leah, but it was a real struggle. No real words had been spoken. Leah already knew what happened but I didn’t so he explained what Marissa had done and that retelling was almost more than I could take.
    Darkness had long since