“Willow,” Miles calls when he opens his door.
I swallow as he walks to where I’m standing.
“What happened?”
“Carly’s missing. She emailed and said that her dad passed away, but her dad died like forever ago. Then today, she quit, and I’ve tried calling her like a million times, but she never answered.” I ramble not sure that I’m even making sense. “Something isn’t right. I knew something wasn’t right, so I came over here to—” I shake my head. “I don’t know. Then I remembered she had a key in one of those rock things.” I pull the plastic rock out of my pocket to show him. “So, I let myself into her place and her purse is in there along with her wallet and her keys.” My throat gets tight.
“Take a breath for me,” he says gently as he takes my arm and pulls me away from where the officers are standing, and Tucker comes over to join us after hanging up on a call. “Okay, now who is Carly?”
“We work together at the bank.” I dig my nails into my palms. “She moved here a few months ago from Florida.”
“All right and you said her dad passed away?”
I shake my head no, but then nod yes. “Yes, she said she was taking a few days off because her dad died, and she was going to be with her family.”
“But you don’t think that’s the truth?” Tucker asks and I meet his gaze.
“No, she told me once that her dad passed away when she was a teenager and her mom never got remarried.” I shake my head. “We’re not the closest of friends, so I don’t know if she considered someone else her dad or something but—”
“It’s okay. Breathe.” Tucker rubs my arm.
I nod and try to breathe, but honestly, I feel totally overwhelmed right now, and I know that if they don’t take this seriously, then Carly might not ever have anyone looking for her.
“You said she quit her job?”
“Yes, tonight we got an email from her, and she resigned.”
“So, you came over here to check on her?”
“I didn’t know what else to do. She hasn’t been answering my calls or texting me back and I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” I lift my shoulders as I feel wetness slide down my cheeks.
“So, you used her key to get inside?”
“I just needed to know if she was really gone or if something happened to her.” A chill slides down my spine and my stomach churns. “If she’s in Florida, why wouldn’t she take her purse?”
“Okay, I’m gonna have you sit in our SUV where it’s warm.” Miles says as lights roll across us. On instinct, I turn to see who is here and my chest gets tight when I see Clay park his jeep right behind the SUV Miles and Tucker showed up in.
As he gets out, his eyes land on mine and even with the distance between us I can see concern in his gaze. I don’t know what comes over me, but I take off running toward him and don’t stop until my body crashes into his.
He lets out an “Ooff” on impact, then not even a second later his arms wrap around me tight.
Circling my arms around his middle I burrow my face into his chest and a fresh set of tears fall from between my lashes.
“Baby,” he whispers, palming the back of my head and holding me tighter. “I got here as fast as I could when Tucker called me.”
I nod, unable to speak, not that I’m sure what I would say even if I could talk. After dinner with April and the weekend with my thoughts and regrets, I talked myself into going to him, and just telling him the truth. I planned on doing that tonight but once Katy told me about the email from Carly, I found myself driving to her place as soon as I left work.
“Come on, let’s get you warm.”
He lets me go and places his hand in the middle of my back and walks me to the passenger side of his jeep then opens the door.
Once I’m in the seat he cups my cheek and his eyes scan over my face. “You gonna be okay while I go talk to my brothers?”
“Yes.” I sniffle as I dry my tears with the sleeve of my sweater and his face softens before he leans over me shoving the keys in the ignition and starting the engine.
“Be right back.” He touches his lips to my forehead with a kiss that is so soft, it feels like a whisper, then he lets me go, steps back, and shuts the door.
I watch him walk up to the house where his brothers and the other two officers are talking, then I drag my eyes off them and fiddle with the heat to turn it up. It’s not that cold tonight, fall is just starting to really creep in, but I feel chilled to the bone and beyond exhausted, like I’ve run a marathon.