“Then why won’t you tell me what you’re doing?” She cringed at the nagging-girlfriend tone in her voice.
He sighed into the phone. “It’s not another girl. It’s work stuff. I need to go look for something . . . I saw something the other day and then it was gone. I need to know what happened to it.”
“Like you lost some tools?” She tried hard to sound patient, but he was being deliberately vague.
“Something like that.”
“Are you nervous you’ll get in trouble if they find out you lost something?”
He paused again. “Not quite.” He lowered his voice. “I think something illegal might be going on at the ranch.”
Kaylie swung her legs over the edge of her bed and sat up, her anxiety skyrocketing. “Illegal? Should you be going back out there? Is it dangerous?”
“I think I’m okay. I don’t think it’s dangerous. The owner likes me; he says I have a good work ethic.”
“Then what are you nervous about?”
“I came across a whole bunch of dynamite.”
A large chunk of her anxiety vanished. “That’s not a bad thing. My grandpa keeps dynamite in his barn. Says he’ll never know when he might need it. He always made us grandkids stay away from it, although one of my cousins got into it one time. Grandpa was furious.”
“I know. But this was a lot. And then when I looked for it again, it was gone.”
Kaylie still didn’t see the problem. “So they moved it. Or they got rid of it.”
He exhaled impatiently.
He’s still not telling me everything. “Why are you worried?”
“I heard some stuff.”
She waited.
“I heard the guys talking about your aunt showing up at the ranch and asking questions. They didn’t like it.”
“That’s her job. She can’t help it if her questions make people uncomfortable. She’s trying to find out who set those fires and killed three people.”
Cade was silent.
“Oh my gosh! You think some guys at your ranch had something to do with those deaths?” Kaylie pressed her phone against her ear, tension making her heart race.
“Isn’t that why your aunt went out there? Looking for answers about one of the victims?”
“I don’t know. I don’t keep track of what she’s doing. But what did you overhear?” Something is making him very nervous.
“I’m not sure. Could just be a bunch of guy talk. Trying to sound tough. But someone said Josh Pence paid the price for screwing up.”
“His death was the price?” she squeaked.
“Or he just got fired,” Cade assured her. “I could be reading too much into it.”
“Uh-huh.” Kaylie knew he was trying to convince himself. The whole situation made her uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to talk about the ranch anymore. “You’re supposed to be here for dinner at seven. Are you going to make it?”
“I swear I’ll be on time,” Cade told her. “I don’t want to miss it.”
“Does meeting my aunt here scare you? She’s very nice once you get to know her.”
“She doesn’t scare me. Sure, I’m a little intimidated, but I like that she’s insisting on this dinner. It shows me she cares about who you hang around with.”
“She’s the best.”
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” Cade promised. “I love you, Kaylie.”
She caught her breath. “I love you too.”
Cade ended the call, and Kaylie fell backward on her bed, arms outstretched and adrenaline pumping through every muscle. Glee made her brain spin in a heavenly, intoxicating manner.
He told me he loved me!
She couldn’t wait for dinner.
TWENTY-SEVEN
At 7:05 p.m., Kaylie texted Cade. WILL YOU BE LATE?
At 7:10 p.m., she tried to call him and got his voice mail. As Mercy watched, she left a message asking what time he thought he’d arrive at dinner.
At 7:30 p.m., she hid briefly in her room and shed a few tears. He didn’t mean to tell me he loved me, and now he’s staying away. Mercy knocked on her door and suggested they eat.
By 7:45 p.m., dinner was over. More than two-thirds of the pizza that Kaylie had made from scratch and baked on her new pizza stone still sat on the table. Mercy stood and started to wrap up the pizza. To her credit she didn’t ask why Cade had stood them up. She didn’t seem too concerned about his absence. In fact, her aunt appeared extremely distracted.
Kaylie wallowed in self-pity in her chair, tracing the pattern in the tablecloth as her aunt cleared the dishes, unable to bring herself to jump up and help.
We’re over. I pushed too hard.
She knew some guys were unable to break up with girls, so they simply went silent. Stopped texting, stopped calling, stopped showing up. End of relationship. Is this the first phase?
But why did he say he loved me?
She checked her phone again, and her finger hovered over the app to locate Cade’s phone. They’d exchanged passwords a month ago to be able to trace each other’s location. Cade had suggested it for emergencies, and she’d immediately agreed, flattered that he cared about her safety. Looking back now, she saw the creepiness factor. No doubt some guys used it to track their girlfriends, but it sent a notification to the missing phone if a search was activated. No one could secretly search with this app.
Would he think I’m a stalker if I check his location?
He could be hurt in a roadside ditch somewhere.
She tapped the screen and ran a search.
The app told her it couldn’t locate his phone.
She stared at the screen. What does that mean? Is he avoiding me? Did his battery die? A million thoughts raced through her head. Some good, but mostly bad. Most circled around him trying to dump her.
Who is he seeing?
Mercy turned on the kitchen faucet and rinsed out her wineglass. Kaylie watched, torn between wanting to beg her aunt for advice and wanting to hide under her covers for the next month. At least Cade didn’t attend her school, where she’d see him with some other girl, but her friends would ask how the relationship was going. What would she tell them?
Placing her wineglass in the dishwasher, Mercy glanced her way and did a double take. “Kaylie? Are you okay?”
She couldn’t speak. She bit her lips together as tears ran down her face.
“Oh, honey.” Mercy closed the dishwasher and sat in the chair next to Kaylie, taking her freezing hands in her warm ones. “I’m sure there’s a good reason he’s not here.”
“But he’s not answering my texts! And I checked the location of his phone.” She swallowed hard, humiliated she’d admitted her stalking behavior to her aunt.
“Where is he?” Mercy didn’t blink at her confession.
“It can’t find him. His phone must be off,” she whispered. “I think he turned it off on purpose.”
“Oh, honey.” Mercy leaned forward and pulled her into a hug.
Kaylie buried her face in her aunt’s long curls. “He told me he loved me a few hours ago. Why would he do that if he planned to break up with me?”