When Snow Falls (Whiskey Creek #2)(76)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Nothing. I’ve looked everywhere. I’m counting on the police to get involved. At this point, they’re my only hope.”

“That’s tough. Waiting must be so hard.” He paused. “Is there any chance you’re coming for dinner tomorrow? I told the girls you might. They’re excited to meet you.”

He’d mentioned her to Josephine and Summer? “I would love to meet them, too, but—” she straightened her spine “—I’m going to be at Dylan’s, Joe.”

Silence. Then, “Does that mean what I think it does?”

Was it a mistake to make this decision now? Probably. But she couldn’t deny what she felt. “Yes.”

“You’re officially seeing him.”

“I’m afraid so.”

She thought he might give her all the reasons she shouldn’t, but he didn’t.

“Dylan and I have had a professional relationship for years.”

Here we go… She bit her lip. “And?”

“I’ve always liked him.”

“That’s a generous thing to say. I hope…I hope there’re no hard feelings.”

“I feel like I missed out, Chey. I’m not going to lie. But there are no hard feelings.”

Suddenly deflated from all the stress, the worry and the secret she was carrying, she rested her head on the couch. “I’ve always thought so much of you, Joe.” She smiled as she fingered the rose he’d left for her. “It’s nice to know you’re everything I ever imagined.”

“I’m here if you need me,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”

* * *

“I can’t believe we’re at sea when all hell is breaking loose at home.” Eve smacked herself on the forehead. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone.”

As usual, Callie and the others had joined her for morning brunch, but they’d eaten so much over the course of the past ten days that no one was very interested in food. Mostly, they nursed their coffees while talking, the same as they did every Friday in Whiskey Creek when they congregated at Black Gold Coffee. Except that Cheyenne wasn’t there. Eve was feeling her absence more acutely today than ever.

“You can’t blame yourself for taking a trip you planned for two years,” Callie said. “I mean…I feel guilty, too, but…we were well past the refund period by the time we realized that Cheyenne’s mother would likely die while we were gone.”

“Anita lasted so long,” Noah said. “I guess I figured she’d last a little longer. Or somehow go back into remission.”

Baxter combed his fingers through his thick, wavy hair. “What could we have done even if we’d stayed? What could anyone do?”

Eve speared him with a look. “I hope you’re kidding.”

“I wish we were there to support her as much as you do.” He spread his hands. “But…her mother was going to die either way.”

“Her sister is missing, too!” Eve snapped.

Ted turned his coffee cup in his hands. “I’m not sure we could’ve stopped that, either.”

Somehow Ted’s weighing in made Eve feel slightly better. He’d always been the academic of the group, the voice of reason. He and Gail had finished at the very top of their class. Eve should’ve had higher marks herself. If she hadn’t been so involved with her high school boyfriend, she might’ve been able to concentrate.

“I don’t think Eve’s talking about Anita or Presley,” Callie said. “Not really. They’ve always been a problem, so…nothing new there. The real issue is Dylan.”

Ted rocked back in his seat. “Maybe she’s not that serious about Dylan. Maybe she just wanted to get laid.”

The guilt Eve had been feeling reasserted itself. Initially, she’d kept Cheyenne’s business a secret. But the more worried she became about Dylan and the relationship that was taking shape at home, with only Riley there to look out for Chey, the less inclined she was to keep it to herself. Despite what she’d said to Cheyenne, it was more natural to share this information, since they all divulged the intimate details of their lives—most of the time, anyway. “Maybe I could believe that if it was a one-time hookup. But it’s evolving into more,” she insisted. “They’ve been sleeping together all week.”

“The last thing Cheyenne needs is to go through anything remotely similar to what I’ve been through.” Kyle added this. Although he was only married a year, his marriage had been painful from the start. He’d been manipulated into saying “I do,” and had never really loved his ex.

“We don’t know it’ll end badly,” Noah said.

Eve leaned forward. “You think that if Cheyenne dates someone who parties like Dylan, it could end any other way? That she won’t mind when he breaks some guy’s arm because he made the wrong comment to one of his brothers at a bar?”

“Consider this.” Callie spoke mostly to the boys. “Would you want your daughter dating someone like Dylan?”

They glanced at one another as if that drove the point home.

Eve shoved her cup away. “We left her on her own during the most vulnerable period of her life.”

Baxter grimaced. “She’s not a child, Eve,” he said, but he didn’t speak with much authority. She could tell he felt badly, too.

“She might not be a child, but she is going through hell right now and grasping for an anchor. Anyone would grasp for something to hang on to if they were in her situation.”

“Too bad we couldn’t count on Sophia to look out for her while we were gone,” Ted grumbled.

“You don’t even want Sophia coming to Friday coffee,” Callie pointed out.

“But if she has to come, she can at least do her part for the group.”

Eve lowered her voice as several other vacationers filed past. “Sophia’s got her own problems. Did you see that bruise under her eye before we left?”

“What bruise?” Noah asked.

“The one she was trying to cover up with makeup.”

“She must’ve done a good job of it.” This came from Ted. “I didn’t notice.”

“Because you won’t even look at her. And you don’t want to notice.”

“Her injuries don’t always coincide with her big-shot husband being in town,” Baxter said.

“How would we know? He doesn’t check in with us, and there’s a lot she won’t say. We haven’t been all that nice to her.”