Chapter Text
Ellen had decided that what her kids really needed was just a nice, family dinner. The last day at her house had been… tense, to say the least. It felt as though she had to have a barrier up between Maxine and Marcus at all times to stop the fighting. She couldn’t even go over to Georgia to complain about it either. They just had to work this out on their own.
So they skipped the rally that the whole town seemed to have turned out to, and took the kids to Blue Farm. They sat there eating in silence, listening to the fireworks going off in the distance. It was slow in the cafe tonight, Joe working alone, wiping down wine glasses at the bar. The rally quieted down, and they were preparing to leave when Georgia and Paul burst into the restaurant.
“Ginny?!” Georgia yelled, eyes darting around the space. “Austin?!”
Marcus felt ice spread through his veins. He knew the look on Georgia’s face. It was the same one Ginny wore whenever she was well and truly panicked. Maxine, coming to life for the first time that night, seemed to know it too. The Bakers rushed over to Georgia and Paul at the same time as Joe.
“Georgia, what’s wrong?” Joe asked.
“Is Ginny here?” Georgia kept looking around the room, paying no attention to the people around her.
“No, I haven’t seen her since her last shift. What is it?” Joe answered, grabbing onto Georgia’s arm to try to get her to focus.
“Ginny and Austin are missing,” Paul explained, his jaw tight.
“What?” Marcus choked out.
Georgia’s eyes snapped over to him. “Marcus, do you know she would have gone?”
“I. I have no idea. She looked off when I saw her earlier, but she said she was fine,” Marcus stammered.
“Oh, God.” Georgia sank down into the nearest chair, Ellen coming to her side.
“Georgia, what happened?”
“We went back to the house to tell the kids the news. I figured they just didn’t show up because Ginny was still pissed at me. They weren’t there. I searched upstairs, and it was all gone. The money, the jacket, the guns, everything. She’d even burned the flower.”
Georgia wasn’t making any sense. Paul wiped his hand down his face as Joe brought Georgia a glass of water.
“We checked your house first, thinking she may have gone with…” He glanced quickly at Marcus, “But realized you weren’t home. That’s when we found the garage was open.”
Marcus felt like he needed to sink into a chair too. “She took the bike.”
“What?” Max asked. “That’s crazy. Does she even know how to ride a motorcycle?”
“You really don’t know her, do you?”
“This is not the time!” Ellen reprimanded. “Are you sure they’re not just out getting ice cream or something?”
“No. She’s gone. I know it.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would she just run away?”
“Hmm. Maybe because her best friends abandoned her? Her dad left again? She was pissed at her mom? Literally so many reasons,” Marcus yelled.
“Hey! If anything this is your fault. ‘It was a mistake, right?’ Bullshit Marcus. I read your texts,” Max yelled back.
“Kids…” Ellen started.
“What was I supposed to say, Max, huh? You were pissed at her, Hunter was angry, Abby and Norah were on your side, and she was losing everything. I figured it was the right thing to say.”
“Kids,” Ellen tried again.
“Sure Marcus, the ‘right thing to say.’ You say I’m selfish, but you just use people and don’t commit to them. You cost her her friends and then left her anyways. God.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Stop it!” Ellen yelled. “Georgia, do you know why she left?”
Georgia just nodded. “She figured it out. I told her there was no coming back from it. I tried to stop her. And she figured it out, and I was right.”
“Figured what out?” Joe asked.
Georgia just stared ahead. “I can’t tell you. She was never supposed to know. I was just trying to keep her safe.”
Suddenly, Marcus remembered all of the conversations with Ginny about secrets. How mad she was at her mom, how hurt she was by the secret aunt. How all she wanted was to figure out what was going on.
“Holy shit,” Marcus exclaimed. “Holy shit! I know where she’s going!”
George looked up at him. “You do?”
“She’s going to find answers. About you.” Marcus explained.
Maxine gasped. “Oh my God, you’re right! I mean, that’s all she’s been talking about. She just wanted the truth.”
“Where would she have gone? If she was retracing your steps, her life? Where would they start?” Marcus took over the role of interrogator now.
Georgia’s head was reeling. “Well, I.” Georgia thought about Austin going with her. The letters that she had kept hidden. She stood up. “She would have started with Gil. Austin’s father.”
Marcus slapped his hand down on the table. “Well let’s go then!”
“ You are not going anywhere,” Ellen demanded.
Maxine opened her mouth, but Ellen stopped her. “And neither are you .”
Georgia ignored the family tableau and turned to Paul. “Your car or mine?”
Paul looked away. “Georgia…”
“What?” She asked.
“It’s just. I just won the election. I’ve got a lot of work to do here. I don’t know if I can-”
Georgia turned away from him, grabbing her purse. “Fine, I’ll just go alone then.”
“Woah, hey, no, you are in no position to drive.” Joe stopped her. “You’re seriously sending your fiancee off to look for her missing kids alone?”
“Hey now, I don’t have a choice here,” Paul defended.
Joe just scoffed. “I’ll drive you.”
Georgia smiled at him. A small one, not the wide perfected one that she normally wore. One he hadn’t seen on her since she’d lived in Wellsbury. Only once, in a park when he offered her a sandwich. “Really?”
“Of course. Let’s go.” They started to make their way to the door.
“Wait!” Marcus yelled, the debate with his mom and Max still raging. Clint just watched them.
“Marcus! You are not going! I don’t know where you’re going, what you’re doing, how long you’ll be gone, or why the hell Georgia is keeping so quiet about why Ginny left. I will hold you down if I have to!”
“Marcus and I know more about Ginny than anyone though,” Maxine argued. She had really hated Marcus and Ginny for the last few days, but the second she realized that Ginny was missing, it had started to disappear. She knew the only way to get what she wanted would be to work with Marcus here.
Ellen scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”
Marcus shook his head. “No, it’s true.”
“Fine, what is one thing you know about Ginny that Georgia wouldn’t? Something that would actually be helpful?”
Marcus clenched his eyes shut. He knew Ginny would hate him for this. They were supposed to figure it out together. But he’d rather Ginny hate him than get killed out there alone. He turned to Georgia.
“Did you know she burns herself?”
Georgia leaned on Joe. “What?”
Marcus nodded. “On her thighs. The night I got in my accident, that was why. I’d caught her doing it, and she flipped out. We were talking about getting her help.”
Everyone was silent. Finally, Ellen spoke up.
“You still can’t go,” she protested quietly.
Marcus groaned and turned to his dad, beginning to sign just to him.
Georgia, Joe, and Paul had no idea what he said, but when Marcus finished, Clint just stared at him for a few moments. Ellen knew she was about to lose.
Finally, Clint nodded and signed to Ellen. “Let him go.”
Max cheered. “Yes! Let’s go!”
“No no no, Marcus can go. You’re staying right here,” Ellen stopped her.
“But Mom, he needs me. You can’t separate twins,” Max pouted.
“I had to pull you off of him yesterday.”
“Playfighting!”
“Playfighting? When he has a concussion?”
Max stared pleadingly at Marcus. He thought about making her stay behind. About how hard it had been for Ginny to love him because of her. About how she had abandoned Ginny. About how he thought he was never going to get to be with the girl he loved because of her.
Marcus turned back to his mom. “Well you know, she’s never exactly been the smartest.”
Max slapped his arm. “Hey?”
“Really?” Ellen sighed.
“Playfighting!” The twins responded.
“We don’t have time for this,” Georgia interrupted. “Are they coming or not?”
Ellen stared at her kids. They wrapped their arms around each other and stared back, a completely unified front for the first time in years. “Fine! Fine. Go bring those kids home.”
Max and Marcus thanked their parents and ran out the door with Joe and Georgia, racing towards Joe’s truck.
Ginny knew they didn’t have long to stop anywhere. They pulled into the fastest drive-throughs to get food. She pushed the speed limit on every road, she hid her face every opportunity. She hugged her jacket tighter around herself every place they stopped. She straightened her back, looked taller, looked older, wore Georgia’s smile. They had money, but they didn’t have the time for a hotel. She drove through the night that first night. She pushed herself further and further, trying to outrun what she knew. She told Austin to just stay awake, just hold on, they were gonna be there soon. She finally stopped at a park in Nashville. No time for a hotel. They slept on a picnic table, Austin huddled against her side. She kept her hand on her mom’s gun the whole time.