Good. They were of a like mind about that.
“I left her another note,” Eve added. No need to clarify what note because Lawson had obviously seen them. He’d also made several trips here, too. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything else?”
He lifted his shoulder. “The first PI I hired said she hasn’t used her credit card or accessed her bank account in the last forty-eight hours.”
Her PI had told her the same thing. “I don’t even know how much cash she would have had,” Eve admitted. “Her last cash withdrawal was a week ago for two hundred dollars, but if she’s having to pay for a place to stay and meals, that money would have probably already run out.”
Lawson looked depressed enough to get on her worry-train, but then he shook his head. “Maybe she’s staying with a friend. A friend we haven’t managed to talk to yet. Once she’s good and ready, she’ll turn up,” he assured her.
“What if she doesn’t?” The darn tears started again. “What if Tessie learned the truth about you being her father, and she’s so upset that she won’t face us?”
He didn’t answer her, but he did slide his arm around her waist to give her a pseudo hug. A very short one. Because he stepped back almost right away. Despite its brevity, Eve knew it was a big concession on his part because he still had to be angry with her. But she certainly wasn’t feeling anger, and being in his arms helped. A lot. It made her feel as if she wasn’t alone in this.
It also made her feel guilty. Because Tessie wasn’t the only thing that Lawson had on his plate.
“How’s Regina?” she asked.
“Better. Dylan said she should be released from the hospital tomorrow. She’s insisting on coming up here to help us look for Tessie.”
Good grief. That definitely wasn’t a good idea, and Lawson no doubt agreed.
“Tessie is her grandchild,” Lawson added. “And she’s complaining that at the rate her kids are going, she might end up being the only one she ever gets. Dylan joked that he could knock up a woman or two, but she wasn’t amused.”
No. And Regina probably wasn’t amused when she’d first found out that Lawson had a child. Eve certainly hadn’t been thrilled when she’d first learned she was pregnant, but then, the love of a child, or a grandchild, could smooth over all sorts of things like doubt, disappointment and even a broken heart.
“Maybe we’ll find Tessie before Regina gets out of the hospital,” Eve said.
That might keep the woman from making a trip up here. Might. But Regina could be just as insistent on coming so that she could meet Tessie. Eve would try to dissuade that since it definitely wasn’t a good time for making extended-family introductions. Not with so many things uncertain.
“The cops and the PI are still questioning Tessie’s friends and sorority sisters,” Eve continued a moment later. “And I’ve talked to every one of them who’ll talk to me.”
He nodded. “Same here. I spent my day at the campus. She didn’t have any classes scheduled for today, but she missed the ones yesterday.”
Eve already knew that. In fact, she suspected there wasn’t much they could say about their search results that they each didn’t already know. Since there was nothing new they could do, they both just kept tracing and retracing their steps. Eve had even considered that Tessie might try to go to Wrangler’s Creek, so she’d alerted folks there, too, in case that happened.
“I talked to Dr. Patel again,” Lawson went on. So had Eve. And she’d gotten nothing from her or the crotchety woman at reception. “But Clay’s calling Austin PD to try to get surveillance-camera access for us. There’s a bank up the street from the rehab clinic, and the camera might show which direction Tessie went when she left.”
That got her attention. It was a lead that Eve hadn’t chased yet. “Maybe it’ll help if I call Austin PD, too? They might work faster to get the footage.”
He stared at her with a disapproving look, and she knew why. There was a fine line between pushing and pestering, and it was probably best to leave this to Clay. Maybe it wouldn’t take him too long to get it.
“Are you heading back home tonight?” she asked. It wasn’t late, barely 8:00 p.m., but it was an hour’s drive back for both of them.
“No.” He tipped his head toward the street. “Granger Western owns an apartment a couple of blocks from here, and no one ever uses it now that Sophie’s moved her office to Wrangler’s Creek. I’m staying there tonight.”
That told her just how worried he was to be away from work at the ranch. Plus, Lawson wasn’t exactly a city kind of guy.
“You’re welcome to stay there, too,” he added, though he didn’t look completely comfortable with that invitation. Not at first, anyway. Then he huffed. “It’s probably not safe for you to keep driving back and forth while you’re so worried. I figure you’ve been running around town all day, trying to find any lead you can latch on to.”
She had been, and Eve almost certainly wouldn’t have felt the fatigue as much if she’d actually found a lead. Or Tessie. But she’d found neither.
“If Austin PD gets us the camera footage,” he went on, “I want to be here to see it. That’s why I’m staying. That, and I have to believe that eventually Tessie will come back here if for no other reason than to get the rest of her things from the sorority house.”
Yet another reason for her to be nearby. Still...
“The apartment has two bedrooms,” he added a moment later.
Until he’d said the last part, she had been about to decline. In her state of mind, it definitely wouldn’t be a good idea to share quarters with Lawson. But she was exhausted and was dreading the drive home. Partially dreading it, anyway. If she went home, she’d get to see Aiden, so that was a huge plus.
“It’s the first time you’ve left Aiden overnight with Cassidy,” Lawson remarked. He didn’t need ESP to know where her thoughts were going. “But you know he’ll be just fine with her.”
Yes, Aiden would be, and Cassidy would definitely agree with a plan like this. But Lawson was still in this particular equation, which made Eve skeptical about doing it.
“Maybe we’re both too tired and out of our minds with worry to even think about kissing,” she grumbled. “Or anything else we lapse into whenever we’re around each other.”
Despite everything, a corner of his mouth lifted for just a second. It was enough of a smile to remind her that maybe there was no fatigue level too high to keep sex off her mind whenever she was around Lawson. She didn’t put on the brakes, though, when Lawson led her outside to his truck that was parked just up the street.
As he drove, she texted Cassidy to make sure it was okay for her to be away for the night. Eve got an almost immediate answer.