“Nothing’s wrong. Everything is fine.”
Sure, she said fine, but he also knew that when a chick said fine, what she meant was Here, hold this hand grenade while I poke you with a sharp stick. He rewound last night again, but still . . . nothing.
Something here didn’t add up. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “Everything is fine, and you’re not sure where you’re going, but you’re going to just . . . what? Get into the car and drive? Seems like you might want a destination before you hit the road.”
Why was he arguing with her? He wanted her gone. Didn’t he? Yet his frustration was as palpable as it was inexplicable. She wanted to go, he should just let her go, but that felt like losing and he didn’t like losing.
She reached up and adjusted her earring, a look of uncertainty passing over her features. She wasn’t wearing her glasses today. Her eyes were bright in the sunlight, but overall, she looked . . . sad?
“Listen,” he said, “go out to lunch with Scotty and me. He has to leave for the airport in a couple of hours, but we were going to go hang out at Jasper’s until then. If you’re not even sure where you’re going, there’s not much point in hurrying, is there?”
The corners of her mouth tilted. “I am sort of hungry.”
“Good. Put your coat on. The least I can do is buy you lunch after dragging you to a family wedding.” He pulled her coat off the hook and handed it to her. “Come on. Scotty’s impatient.” And so was he. Impatient to understand, and impatient to make her stay.
She looked at him for a minute, and he thought she was about to tell him no. Then she chuckled and slid her arms into her coat.
Scotty dropped them back off at the little lavender house with the crooked roof a couple of hours later. Delaney said her good-bye and then went inside so the brothers might have some privacy. It was snowing again, the sky back to gray and splotched with dark, heavy clouds. It was too late to leave today. Maybe she’d go in the morning. Or maybe she’d give the whole situation a little more thought.
Lunch had been fun, and although everyone in the restaurant seemed to know the Connelly brothers, no one seemed to know her as anyone other than Elaine Masters. Maybe Fontaine had kept his promise. Who knew shirtless Channing Tatum wielded such power? Well, realistically, who didn’t know that? So, all things considered, maybe she’d be safe here for at least a few more days.
A plastic-wrapped plate of wedding cake sat on the kitchen table with a square yellow note on the top. Delaney leaned over to read it.
Enjoy the leftovers—
Mom
Delaney chuckled to herself. If there was cake, she should definitely stick around another day or so. She picked up the plate and put it in the refrigerator because the only thing better than wedding cake was cold wedding cake. Then she hung up her coat, reaching into the pocket for her phone before remembering she’d dropped it in the backpack before leaving for lunch.
Grant came in behind her and a gust of icy air surrounded them.
And then another chill nearly knocked her to her knees . . .
“Where’s my backpack?”
Grant hung up his coat. “What?”
“My backpack. I left it right here on the kitchen floor before we left for lunch.”
He looked around, unfazed, then started to take off his boots. “You must have put it someplace else.”
No, she hadn’t put it someplace else. She’d left it there on the floor next to the table. She rushed around the kitchen, nerves churning. She went into the living room, propelled by her agitated pulse. Her suitcase was there, right where she’d left it, but no sign of the backpack—or her money, or her phone, wallet, or laptop. Everything was in that bag because she’d packed it up to leave. She raced up the stairs, heart pumping faster than her legs moved, like she was jogging underwater. The bag wasn’t in her room or her closet. It wasn’t in the bathroom.
“Did you find it?” Grant called up the stairs just as she came racing back down.
“No, I didn’t find it. I told you, I left it right here in the kitchen. I remember because I dropped my phone into it before we went to lunch. Grant, all my money was in there. All of it.”
A frown started to form on his face. “Well, it has to be here somewhere.”
They looked in every nook and cranny, every closet and cabinet, leaving behind a little piece of Delaney’s spirit in each one because that backpack was nowhere to be found.
“Somebody must have taken it,” she said. “You know that back door never locks properly. Call your mom. Maybe she saw something suspicious when she dropped off the cake.”
“What cake?”
“Your mom dropped off leftover wedding cake while we were gone. I put it in the fridge. Grant, I just don’t understand this. Who could have taken it?”