51
Liv called Hailey back,counting the seconds while waiting for her to pick up. The server’s last voice mail message had come in thirty-seven minutes ago.
“Hello,” Hailey answered on the first ring. “Liv?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry for the delay. What’s happened?”
“Ivy was supposed to pick me up at the end of my shift, but she never showed.” She spoke fast, her voice filled with anxiety. “She’s never late.”
“When did your shift end?”
“One o’clock.”
Fifty-seven minutes ago.
“You tried her cell, I assume.”
“Nonstop. At first, it was ringing. Now it’s going straight to voice mail. I think it might be off. Why would she turn off her phone?”
She and Zeke shared a glance. “Have you contacted the police?”
“Yeah, I just finished speaking with an officer. Liv, he looked like he was right out of the academy.”
A person can go missing for a million different reasons. Some folks simply waved bye-bye to their old lives, not giving a second’s thought to the chaos they left behind. But Ivy didn’t seem like the kind of person to ghost her life or her sister. She was enjoying it far too much.
“Let me make a few phone calls to my colleagues at the police department,” Liv said. “Can you get into Ivy’s house?”
“Yeah, I know where she keeps the spare key.”
“Good. Go there and wait. There’s a chance she could show up.”
“Okay, you’ll keep me updated?”
“Absolutely.”
When Liv disconnected, Zeke said, “What do you think? Truly missing? Or pissed off at her sister, for some reason?”
Liv hadn’t considered that possibility. She knew how wicked sisters could be to each other when upset, but Hailey and Ivy shared a close relationship, like she did with Callie.
“My gut tells me something’s wrong. I can’t imagine Ivy scaring her sister like this.”
“What’s the plan?”
Blinking up at him, she noticed for the first time the way he was talking through the problem with her rather than trying to take control. She thought of his well-loved glove standing vigil while her son slept and of the way he’d set aside his yearslong quest to pick up the remnants of Brodie’s beloved toys.
She thought of the three ginormous words he’d uttered without hesitation hours earlier. Of the knot of uncertainty wedged beneath her sternum that was now slowly, happily, unraveling.
She cradled his strong, stubbled jaw in her palm. “Weird timing, I know.”
He leaned into her touch and brushed a kiss against her palm. “What’s weird timing?”
“I think I’m in love with you.”
He stilled like a hare following the slow glide of an overhead hawk. His eyes didn’t blink, his breath didn’t stir.
Then his chest rose high, and a large, warm hand clamped about her waist. Suddenly, no space existed between them. He nuzzled her nose, and his lips whispered over her brow, her temple, her ear. “I missed waking up next to you.”
Breathing became more difficult as she imagined what it would have been like if she hadn’t scampered off to her suite, if the alarm service hadn’t called, if an asshole hadn’t trashed her son’s room. “Me too.”