This Time...Maybe - Anderson Family Series Book 2

Chapter 27: Thankful and Grateful

Ethan's hapiness had been palpable since the surprised birthday party, the smile on his face cannot be removed, much to the astonishment of his employees. Added bonus is that, though the suspect of the series of robbery near Ellie's place was already apprehended, they chose to stay with him - thanks to the twins' coercion.

That happiness extended until the day of Lucas and Claire's formal wedding. Everybody had been euphoric with the event, but it was replaced by the news of Penny's sudden death. She had a car accident and the car burst into flames, rendering her body unidentifiable because it was severely charred. Lucas and Claire came back earlier than scheduled from their honeymoon to attend the funeral. Claire was unconsolable, she and Penny were inseparable since they met during their prep school and had treated each other as a sister they never had.

Zach is worse, him and Penny had been in a relationship since high school and everybody is thinking that they will tie the knot anytime soon, something that will not happen anymore. Zach had locked himself inside his room, he refuses to go out since they buried Penny and had turned to drinking. Nobody can pacify him, Ethan is affected as well, and Ellie is sure it is not just about Zach's depressed state but something else entirely. She always sees him drinking by the porch these past few nights when everyone is already abed and he is doing it again now.

Ellie decided to approach him and sat on the other chair.

"Are you okay?"

Instead of answering, he looked at her - pain clearly written in his eyes and she felt that she wanted to take that away, she felt the protectiveness within her.

"Do you want to talk about it? I am willing to listen."

He didn't answer again and she thought he wanted to be left alone, so she stood up and about to leave. But she was stopped when his hand grabbed her wrist.

"Stay. Please stay." He said it in a whisper that she almost didn't heard it, if not for the silence of their surroundings.

His words touched her heart. He is begging. With his pleading, she sat once more and waited for him to speak. If he will not open up then she will just stay until her presence is needed. Roughly five minutes passed when he took a deep breath and talked.

"I think you have an idea that this is not just about Zach, about Penny's death. It is clearly taking its toll on everyone, but we have another problem - Ollie is missing." She saw his jaw tightened before he continued.

"Though this is not the first time this thing happened, him going off somewhere, but he keeps us updated everytime. This is different, I can feel it, the last time we heard from him was the day after the wedding and that was two weeks ago. His friends told us they do not know where he went, they thought he is with us, so they just let him be. They aren't contacting him either. They said that Ollie told them he wanted to take a rest for a while and be with his family." He took a other swig of beer before continuing.

"We are worried Ellie, mom doesn't have an idea that Ollie is missing, we just covered it up when she asked why Ollie did not came home with Penny's death. We have friends inside the forces but they do not know anything as well. We are all anxious, father is keeping mother in the dark, only me, Sean and father knows this, for we cannot put another on Zach's mind to think about, and it is becoming harder to keep it quiet without them questioning too much."

She doesn't know what to say about their current problem. It will really be difficult to keep it in the long run, especially if it is not Ollie's nature not to keep the communication with the family open whenever he leaves.

Loss for any words that will lessen his burden, she can only put her hand in his arm and squeeze it, telling him that she is there for support. The action made him look at her with a small smile before saying 'Thank you' in a whisper. They stayed like that for awhile until she cannot held the yawn that she's been holding back.