“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice cracking at the end. She looked over Steve one last time, glancing at his vitals, his coloring, his breathing. He seemed to be out cold and stable. She leaned across Collin to retrieve her charging phone and the tangled blue-and-white cord he’d purchased in the gift store, hastily shoved it all into the shallow pocket of her sweatshirt, then leaned down and gently tapped Collin’s thigh.
“Collin. Hey, babe.” She glanced at Travis, who was still watching her as though taking mental notes. Collin stirred slightly, and Ellie gave him a brief but deliberate kiss on his partially separated lips. Almost immediately he responded as though instinct won out over sleep, his lips pressing back against hers, his hand coming up and resting on her hip and then sweeping against the thin strip of exposed skin on the lower part of her back. The unexpectedness of the embrace surprised Ellie, who knew at once that Collin didn’t remember where he was or why they were there. She pulled away from his kiss slowly, their lips releasing quarter inch by quarter inch until they shared nothing more than the breath between them.
When Collin opened his eyes, he blinked once, then twice as the room seemed to come into focus. She could only imagine what it was like to wake to a kiss, only to have the reality of gunshots, murder, and a missing brother rush in at you. Ellie swore she read the moment in his eyes when it all registered. He sat up in a rush, his hands dropping from her waist and running over the smooth fabric of the scrubs till they fell away completely.
“I’m so sorry I dozed off. Everything okay? Any word?” His eyes were bloodshot and looked just a little unfamiliar with his glasses off. Ellie ran her finger down a crease from where he was leaning on his sleeve and felt a distinct button impression.
“Still waiting to see M,” she whispered, and then went down on her knees next to Collin, placing a hand on his chest till she could feel his heart beating against her palm. Ellie wished she could put her head in that exact spot and fall asleep. Instead, she bit her lip and then asked a question that made her feel nervous and a little disloyal. “Any news from Caleb?”
Collin leaned back and searched through the deep pocket of his rumpled khakis until he fished out his phone.
“Oh my God, L . . . Mom says they saw Caleb on the news. I have a million other texts here saying the same thing.” He ran his thumb up and down the screen, lips forming each word silently. “He could never do this. Never. He loves Amelia. He loves your family . . . There has to be some kind of misunderstanding . . .”
His eyes flitted up and down, side to side, and it hurt Ellie to watch. She knew what this meant to Caleb and Collin and the whole Thornton family. If it was true, if Caleb was potentially armed and dangerous, that meant he could be the man who shot her sister. Even if not, his life in Broadlands was ruined, his name scarred, and his family under a hot and blistering spotlight.
Now, what she didn’t know, at least not for sure, was whether she believed Collin. Of course he thought his brother was innocent and hiding because of fear and embarrassment.
But she had a growing feeling that she believed Travis, and Caleb actually was an incredibly dangerous man who was not only on the loose, but also had a vendetta against the people she loved the most.
CHAPTER 18
AMELIA
Wednesday, April 20
Three weeks earlier
“I like that one but maybe with some straps,” Amelia said with as much excitement as she could muster.
It was the twenty-third dress Ellie had tried on, and all the white satin and beaded accents were blurring together at this point. Not shockingly, she looked graceful and flawless in every single one. She was going to be one of those brides who looked like she walked right off a magazine cover on her wedding day. Amelia had felt beautiful when she walked down the aisle to Steve’s waiting arm, but looking back at her wedding pictures, she was pretty sure she looked more like an off-white cupcake than a glamorous bride.
Ellie scrunched up her nose. “I don’t know, I was kinda hoping for something a little more . . .” She looked over the flowing satin and drop waistline, disappointment in her eyes.
“More like Mom’s dress?” Amelia could read her sister so easily.
Ellie rolled her eyes and shrugged her pale shoulders. She wasn’t wearing her glasses today since she’d just gotten off her shift and usually didn’t like to wear them on the job, but her hair was up in a high, tight ponytail, probably once all slicked back but now with pieces curling out around her neck and temples.
“I don’t know.” Ellie shrugged again, and Amelia couldn’t help but have a moment of sister-envy that she looked beautiful even when emotionally tortured. Ellie lifted the heavy skirt of the dress, took one step down from the three-tiered platform, and sat down with a poof. “Okay, fine. Maybe.”
Amelia stood up from her spot in the upholstered armchair where she’d been sitting for nearly an hour. Her rear end was now numb and her neck screaming for one of Steve’s amazing neck rubs. Stacey’s Bridal Shop had been on Main Street in Broadlands for as long as Amelia could remember. She used to walk past the window and gaze at the display, dreaming of what her wedding dress would look like one day. She had purchased her wedding dress there, and now Ellie was trying to sort through the sadly outdated stock, hoping for something close to acceptable in order to keep up the tradition. They had plenty of time to find “the” dress, but Stacey’s was the place to at least start.
After a quick look around to make sure she was clear of any store employees, Amelia snagged her phone out of her purse. They’d been warned that there was a strict “no pictures” policy in case you tried to find the same dress cheaper at one of those big-box bridal stores. Dressed for a casual business meeting with Randy that afternoon, Amelia felt a little awkward in her knee-length pencil skirt and loose red silk blouse. She wobbled when she walked across the soft carpet on her heels; the two complimentary glasses of champagne didn’t really help.