Even though he’d walked away from her after that, his words and that kiss—that incredible, unforgettable kiss—had filled her with foolish, giddy hope, which had been snuffed during two less memorable encounters with him since then. Both times, he’d reminded her once again that he had nothing to give her and refused to suck her into the disaster his life had become.
The first time she saw him after “The Kiss,” he’d told her he’d been spiraling since the wedding, locked in the kind of grief he’d experienced when his brother Caleb first died after stepping on a land mine in Iraq. As happy as he was for Hannah and Nolan, both of whom were close friends of Gavin’s, seeing his brother’s widow remarry had rekindled his grief. And knowing that, knowing he was alone and suffering so badly, was killing Ella one spoonful of Ben and Jerry’s at a time.
Her phone rang, which was a welcome interruption from the direction her thoughts were taking. He had already rebuffed her multiple times. She wouldn’t try to reason with him again, but damn, she wanted to. Good thing she’d turned to ice cream rather than booze. With some liquid courage in her belly, she’d probably get in her car and drive to his house to plead her case yet again.
She went to the kitchen to grab the phone. “Hello?” In the background she could hear loud music and louder voices. Suspecting a wrong number, she nearly hung up.
“Yeah, I got a guy here who has you in his phone as his ICE.”
“His what?”
“His ‘in case of emergency.’”
She immediately thought of her brother, Wade, who would list her ahead of any of their siblings, except he didn’t have a cell phone as far as she knew. “Who is it?”
He ignored her question and continued his tirade. “You’d better come and get him the hell outta here before I call the cops.”
With the phone tucked in the crook of her shoulder, she stashed the leftover ice cream in the freezer and went to find some shoes. “Where are you?”
“Red’s Bar out on 114. Come quick. I’m giving it half an hour, and I want him out of here. Guy’s nothing but trouble. I knew it the second he walked in here with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas.”
“I’ll be right there. Don’t do anything until I get there.”
“Thirty minutes.” He hung up on her.
Ella was out the door a minute later and heading out of Butler shortly after that. As she navigated the one-lane covered bridge by her parents’ house on Hells Peak Road, it occurred to her that no one knew where she was or where she was going. Not that she felt the need to check in every time she left her house, but heading to a roadside bar late on a Saturday night—alone—was definitely out of character for her.
In the back of her mind was the nagging suspicion that it might be Gavin at the bar. But why would he have her listed as his ICE, a term that was completely new to her as someone who didn’t have a cell phone. What was the point? There was no reception whatsoever in their town, and almost everyone she knew lived in Butler. If no one could call her and she couldn’t call anyone, why get a cell phone? Where would Gavin have gotten her number and why would he list her, of all people, as his ICE?
She dismissed that idea almost as soon as she had it. His parents would be his points of contact anyway.
She refused to let her foolish hopeful heart lead her on a wild-goose chase through the dark Vermont night on a mission to rescue one of the men in her life. Maybe it was Lucas or Landon. Both of her younger brothers had been known to party and get into trouble on occasion. Not bad trouble, more the mischievous kind. Though they drove her crazy most of the time, both knew they could call her if they were ever truly in trouble.
As did Max, the youngest of the ten Abbotts. But with his girlfriend Chloe’s baby due at any minute, he was probably in Burlington with her, waiting for something to happen. And wouldn’t Chloe be his ICE?