A Little Cinderella Moment

Chapter 104

Chase P.O.V

After I arrived home, I went upstairs to change into my running gear and go for a quick run. Leaving my phone at home I just take my iPod with my running playlist on and headphones and go out for my mile maybe two-mile run. On my run, I think about Savannah and wish I had brought my phone with me to text her to see how it went with her father.
I ran two and a half miles before I get back home to see Mr. Blakemoore's car outside my house. Walking into the house I see my mom and dad standing in the hallway with Mr. Blakemoore. Is Savannah here too? When they notice me my dad signals for me to go and have a shower and meet them in his office. I wonder what's going on.
I have the quickest shower of my life; I'm dried and dressed and headed towards my dad's office in under ten minutes. I knock on the door and wait to be greeted but my mom opens the door and invites me inside before shutting the door behind me. I walk in and take a seat in the available chair in front of Dad's desk, and I ask the one question that has been on my mind since I walked into the house. "What's going on?" I look at the three sets of eyes staring back at me but I only feel hatred from one set. Savannah's father.
"I want to ask you the same question son, but first I need to ask you something very serious," my dad gives me a stern look before he answers the question. "Where is Savannah, Chase?"
"What do you mean where is Savannah? When we both woke up this morning in my car outside of her house, she got out of the car and went inside her house, and when she shut the front door, I came home. You can work out the rest from here."
"So, you have no idea where she could be?" Mom asks me in a panic.
I see the worried look come across all their faces and it makes me nervous. "No, Mom I left my phone here while I went on my run. As far as I'm aware she's at home with you sir." I look at her father, "what happened after I left?"
"Some hurtful words were said between the both of us," he rubs the back of his head, "some of them hurtful words were about you." Woah, I sit here astounded by what he just said. Hurtful words? About me? I shake off my thoughts of that as I'm sitting here the love of my life has gone missing and nobody knows where she would have gone.
"I know this may be a stupid question, but have you tried her phone?"
"That's the first thing I did, I rang it, sent her a text, and even tracked it. The tracking location says that she is here. So, as her father, I will ask you one more time. Where is my daughter?"
"Maxwell, please," Mom pleads to him.
"I told you Mr. Blakemoore, I don't know where Savannah is. You're her father you should know her better than any of us here in this room."
"Son don't talk to him that way, we've raised you better than that," my dad says looking at me disappointingly.
Mr. Blakemoore smacks his hands on Dad's desk, startling everyone in the room, before leaning closer to me and raising his voice. "Don't you dare talk to me like that young man, remember I'm not just your boss at work but I am also your girlfriend's father. You should ..."
"That's enough everyone," Jen shouts as she charges into the room. "The pissing contest has got to stop between you two. Do you honestly think this is what Sav wants? The two most important men in her life arguing and about her none the least. I have the answer to why Sav's phone was tracked here." She pulls a phone out of her pocket and holds it up for us to see. It's Savannah's phone. "I got it out of your car, she must have left it there by mistake or she didn't realize it fell out of her pocket or something." Jen walks up to Mr. Blakemoore and hands him the phone.
"Shit," Mr. Blakemoore looks down at the phone in his hand, squeezing the phone tightly and closing his eyes. "I've fucked up, haven't I?" He looks around the room with all eyes on him. "I've lost my daughter's trust over all of this. Has my head been buried so deep into work that I've not noticed what is going on around me?"
Dad stands up from his chair, walks to stand on the other side of Mr. Blakemoore, and pats him on the shoulder. "Maxwell don't blame yourself; we have all been there. You have worked so hard to get to where you are right now and surely Savannah understands that. What you need to work on is the balance between when to work and when to rest. I still keep forgetting about that myself now and then, but if it wasn't for Nancy and my kids, I would have a bed in my office and that would be where I would be living."
"Stuart's right Maxwell, you need to find the right balance between your work life and your family life. What you also need to remember is it's not just you who lost your beautiful wife, Georgina, Savannah lost her mother, and as you said to us when you accepted the promotion is that Savannah is all you have left, and you would do anything for her. That even includes spending time together just like how you used to be before you moved out here."
"You're right, you're both right." He looks up at me with a sorrowful look in his eyes, "Chase, I must apologize to you. I took out my anger and frustration out on you when I should have been taking it out on myself. And now my daughter is out there somewhere, and I don't know where she could be."
"Have you reached out to the girls in North Carolina? You know in case she's tried getting in contact with them, or driving to them?" I ask.
"I did before I came here. They haven't heard from her but if she does reach out to them, they will let me know."
"Okay, so we have that arranged. Is there anywhere any of you can think of on where she could go?" Jen asks.
"I don't know, if she ever went somewhere when she was upset it was always to her mother. But I don't know if or where she has felt her mom while we have been here."
Hearing that bit of information my head lifts up with a thought. "I think I know where she could be."
Four heads turn toward me and say in unison, "Where?"
"The beach." They all look at me confused with why I said the beach, so I explain to them, "I was out surfing one day after school and coming back to shore after being out on the water for a while I saw someone sitting next to my things. So, I walked up to get my towel and dry off, but it wasn't until I was close by when a breeze picked up and blew around us is when I heard her say."
"Hi Mom," both Mr. Blakemoore and I say in unison looking at each other in understanding.
"Right, now we have an idea why don't the kids go and find her and Maxwell," Mom says getting his attention. "You go home and wait for the kids to bring her back once they have spoken to her." Jen and I look at each other and nod in our silent communication of understanding and then we go to my car, climb in, and head off in the direction of the beach where I found Savannah that one time.
Getting close to the beach Jen gets a phone call from Greg, when she answers the call her face changes, and points for me to keep driving. I look at her confused but do as she says, when she gets off the phone with Greg she answers my unanswered question. "She's at Zuma Beach in Malibu."
What the fuck is she doing there? Without thinking I put my foot down and speed down CA-1 to Malibu.