Who: Jenny & Anna Palmer. When: Sunday, January 6th. 12:30pm~ Where: Generic coffee shop in Crows Landing. What: Discussing the distinct absence of Dahlia. Warnings: None, maybe some tears because that's how Jenny gets down.
In normal circumstances, Jenny would have been a lot more excited to have an early afternoon brunch with Anna Palmer. Whom, while her parenting approach was vastly different than Jenny's own borderline hippie of a mother, the blonde had always thought of as a great mother in her own right. She really was, particularly in the face of Dahlia's accident, in the face of the uncertain aftermath that had followed. However, given the reality of the facts that they were there to discuss, Jenny was dreading the entire encounter with the older woman altogether. They might eat, but they weren't there for just a meal and smalltalk, and if Anna felt half a terrible as Jenny did when she thought about Dahlia being missing, then her appetite was probably equally small. There just simply was not going to be an easy, gentle, or subtle way to go around the situation that they had found themselves in. But there was no sense in beating around the bush either; Dahlia was gone, without a doubt, and now the question became not only where to but why.
Jenny didn't have an answer to that anymore than she had an answer to the other thousand questions that she had begun asking herself, and Ian, since last night. She had convinced him to stay over, and then kept him up half the night with her pacing and pontificating. He had been kind enough to watch Chase for the afternoon while she met Anna, even after Jenny kept him up. What were best friends for? Her face showed her exhaustion as she entered the coffee shop where she and Anna had agreed to meet and talk. Jenny's mind was still running with questions from the night before, even as she took a seat at a table for two in the far corner of the cafe. Who did Dahlia go with, for what purpose, when did she go, where did she go, and why did she go?
She must have been comfortable, trusted the person at least somewhat, to go with them. Lucy must have, too. Jenny was convinced Dahlia hadn't ventured out on her own, it just didn't make logical sense to her. Someone had been there. But if the person hadn't been Jenny, her parents, or Ian, that cut the suspect list for trusted people quite small. Dahlia had lots of friends, she had always been a popular girl. But her blindness, the recovery she went through, had driven a lot of their more shallow friends away. Even some of the girls that they had grown up with, girls they had went all through school with (for as long as Jenny had gotten to go anyway), had in Jenny's opinion started acting like fickle fair-weather sorts after the accident. Like blindness were contagious or something, or it'd impede their fun.
Jenny couldn't think of anyone who would just.. show up unannounced and sweep Dahlia (willingly) out for the night. Not only any old someone, but someone entertaining enough that the brunette would ignore her phone calls while with them.
There was only one person who fit that bill, someone that had seemingly swept Dahlia off her feet a couple of weeks ago, and Jenny didn't even want to think about that avenue. Though she knew that they'd inevitably end up discussing him anyway. They already had, a little. She had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, for Dahlia, but he was the most glaringly obvious answer. Who else was Dahlia close with, learning to trust? Gilman Black, of course. Hell, even if her feeling about Gilman was only her gut feeling and personal bias, it was the best concrete guess Jenny had. If Dahlia Palmer wasn't with Gilman Black, then apparently she must have vanished into thin air. It sure as hell wasn't like anyone else seemed to have answers. She was just gone. Her and her little dog, too.
Very convenient.
When the waitress came to see what she would like to start with, Jenny ordered herself a herbal tea and explained that she was waiting for someone to join her. Once the waitress was gone and back to business as usual, Jenny hunched forward in her chair, elbows on the table and her eyes staring out of the window, into the street. Dahlia could be out there, anywhere, and they didn't even know where to start. It wasn't like she could just find her way to them. They had to look for her. But it hadn't even been quite forty-eight hours yet since she had last spoken to her. No one would want to take them seriously.
What could the two of them, even if one made it four counting Ian and Martin, really do? They had no leads, no concrete evidence, no sign of a struggle or even a scuffle.. all they had were bad feelings, deep in their stomachs, and an (allegedly) missing blind girl and her dog, all with zero explanation. Jenny had a feeling that if she did call the cops and voiced any suspicion toward Gilman Black, that the police would write her off anyway. She couldn't call the police and make wild accusations about a man without any proof. They had their hands full with everything going on in town lately, she was sure. Less than forty-eight? They'd probably think blind woman, sick of being smothered by her overprotective mother and best friend, flees town with boyfriend. Open and shut case, like a runaway.
It happened like that sometimes. But Jenny didn't believe for a second that it had happened to her friend.
Except if Gilman were still in town, and Jenny didn't know if he was or not, then that would negate that theory anyway. They wouldn't be able to say she ran off with her boyfriend if he was still in town. She believed, in her heart of hearts, that he was around and that he was involved somehow. And as something much deeper than a mere getaway van or source of solace to her best friend. Unless whatever happened to Dahlia had been truly random, and the pieces really just didn't fit for a random attack, Jenny figured that Gilman had to know where Dahlia was. Who else might?
When Anna finally arrived, Jenny had been absently swishing her spoon around her cup of tea, getting ready to add a few sugarcubes. The brunette woman pulling out the chair across from her made her jump slightly, offering Anna an apologetic smile as she straightened up from leaning half across the table, making proper room for the other woman to join her. For a split second, her brain had almost thought it was Dahlia arriving at the table, but her eyes quickly caught up with her hopeful mind. Wouldn't that just beat all, solve the whole problem, if Dahlia just.. came home? But no such luck. It was an easy mistake up make, the familial resemblance was downright uncanny between mother and daughter, especially as Dahlia was getting older. Jenny had always thought so, anyway.
When they had been little girls, she had told Dahlia all the time that she was jealous of her for that; while Dahlia and Anna looked so much alike, almost like sisters, adoption meant that Jenny looked nothing like her mother or her father. Dahlia had always retorted that Jenny having an identical twin who looked like her clone was way cooler anyway. "Hi Mrs. Palmer," she greeted her friend's mother politely, though it was plain to see that Jenny's usually bright sunshine-tinged disposition was tarnished. Like her heart just wasn't quite in it, even when she tried to smile. It was weak. "I would have ordered you a drink, but I didn't know if you'd prefer coffee or tea.. or a latte, or juice, or a macchiato.. you see my dilemma."