Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Y eah, she was mad.
She could just be busy with work. Except she had responded right away to the meme, and not to the message he’d sent immediately after.
So, he was guessing mad. Not that he blamed her.
Sitting at a stoplight on the way up the hill from the ferry terminal, Blaine ran a weary hand over his face. He deserved her anger.
He hadn’t meant for things to go this way. He’d had every intention of taking Xanthe to dinner the other night, then things had gone sideways, and he’d been pulled away to the mainland until now.
A new text came in as the light changed. His car read it out to him. “New text message from Maddy. Hey, we are at The Skelly if you want to stop in on your way home. End of message.”
We? He didn’t know who she meant, but it was just a few blocks ahead, so he found a spot around the corner and parked. It showed just how far gone he was that he walked in hoping to find Xanthe there with Maddy.
He spotted the back of Maddy’s sleek brown bob in a booth on the right side of the restaurant. She looked up and saw him coming. A big smile lit her face, and when he moved past another table, he saw her companions.
Not Xanthe. It was Rafe, Tripp, and Willow.
“Hey, glad you could make it,” Maddy said, scooting over to make room on the padded bench.
“Same.” He hid his disappointment as he greeted the others.
“How’d it go?” Maddy asked quietly, searching his eyes with concern.
“It went.” He didn’t elaborate because it was private, and because he was compartmentalizing what had happened. He’d done all he could to stabilize the situation. Now it was a matter of wait and see while hoping for the best.
Not that it had ever done either of them any good in the past.
Maddy let it go. “Rafe was just telling us about some of the more interesting finds around the island recently.”
Rafe grunted. “The Feds have been tight-lipped about everything, but I can share that they’ve recovered all the ammo caches around the island and seized a few containers of weapons too.”
“They’re not saying who else is involved?” Blaine asked. That kind of operation had to have a big player orchestrating it.
“There’s a short list,” Rafe said, but didn’t elaborate, though Blaine could fill in the blanks well enough on his own. Mafia, gangs, cartels… Skeleton Island was beautiful but remote. Perfect place to smuggle weapons and ammo and anything else that could slip through the net.
“And you thought being sheriff here would be boring,” Maddy joked.
Rafe smirked. “Yeah, how ’bout that.”
Blaine studied Tripp and Willow. Tripp had his arm around her, and she was nestled into him. “You two set an official date?”
“We’re thinking May, but no hard date yet,” Willow said.
She looked happy. Relaxed, too. They both did. Seeing Tripp that way was amazing considering the dark place he’d been in a year ago. That told Blaine everything he needed to know about their relationship.
It made sense though. Tripp had told him about her when they’d been in Syria, before the catastrophic mission when Tripp had almost been killed along with Willow’s brother.
Tripp and Willow had also gone through an intense, life-or-death situation together here in August, and it had brought them even closer.
There was nothing like being in combat with someone to forge lifelong bonds.
“Are you going to get married here?” Maddy asked, reaching for a fry in the basket sitting in the center of the table.
“Yes, definitely. Something on the smaller side, maybe at the winery by Tripp’s place,” Willow said.
“Our place,” he corrected her with a squeeze.
“Right. Our place,” she said, smiling up at him. “And I’m going to try to train Rufus to be the ring bearer.”
“Oh my God, that would be the cutest thing ever,” Maddy said. “Does anyone else want more of these before I eat them all, by the way?” She plucked up another fry.
Rafe started to reach for one, paused and took out his phone. He glanced at it briefly, answered. “Sheriff Torres.”
He stilled, his expression shifting into what Blaine instantly recognized as his game face. “Where?” Rafe glanced at his watch. “Got it. I’ll head there now. Have you alerted the Coast Guard?”
Everyone was silent as he ended the call and stood abruptly.
“There’s an orca stranding by Cedar Point, near your place,” Rafe said to him. “It’s all hands on deck.”
Ah, hell. Xanthe must be distraught. “I’ll come.” He quickly slid out of the booth.
“I’ll go with you,” Maddy said, dropping cash on the table.
“Us too,” Tripp said, sliding out after Willow.
Blaine hurried to the door with Rafe. He hoped they could save the whale and get it back into the water. But he had no idea how the hell they were going to do that.