Chapter 14
Jason
I frown down at my phone from my seated position on Casey’s back porch, thumb hovering over the unanswered message as my knee bounces up and down.
Doesn’t make sense, I think to myself. Sunday should be here by now.
I got to Casey’s place at around seven this morning, and I must have just missed Sunday because the coffee pot was boiling – something that I only noticed because she’d left a clean mug out for me right beside it, and I can’t deny that it made me smile, balming the disappointment of not catching her before she headed out.
I know that she doesn’t drink coffee, so the thought of her filling a pot just for me? It means a lot.
I glance up from my cell, checking out the work that Knox and Madden helped me fix up in Casey’s yard, the installation fully secured, along with all of the backfilling. I swipe a palm down my stubble, satisfied that Case is going to be stoked when he sees it, not only because he’s been talking about having one of these since back when we were in high school but because I know it’ll enable well-deserved family time for him, Haven and Tuck.
A vibration in my hand has my attention snapping downward, only to exhale gruffly when I see that the call is coming from Knox.
I click accept and get to my feet, leaning against a wooden beam as I take in the yard.
“Yeah.”
Knox’s voice comes through the line a little muffled due to the recent snowfall’s connectivity issues. “Took the crane back to Walker’s. Mad and I are heading to the ranch.”
I nod, eyeing the tarp that we resecured over the installation. We’re going to need to send up some prayers, hoping that if we get any more snowfall it doesn’t fuck up the work we just did.
Luckily, the annex at End of the Road Ranch is almost done. And I guess Madden won’t mind working a weekend on it, seeing as it’s for him and his girlfriend Kitty to move into.
After almost half a year of pretty much living with his future parents-in-law, Madden can’t wait to have a place for him and his girl that’s totally private.
“Thanks, man,” I reply. Then, after a moment, I smirk and ask, “Did Walker say anything?”
Knox snickers through the glitching line. “Thought we were crazy for driving that thing out in the snow. But he knows how you ride in the mountains so, after that, he just accepted it.”
I chuckle quietly as I push the back door open with the large curve of my shoulder.
Knox waits a beat before asking, “So. You got plans tonight?”
I muscle in through the narrow doorway, glancing toward the wooden table that I set up over an hour ago.
Empty plates, empty glasses – the signs of a date that isn’t about to happen.
I drop my eyes and trudge toward the kitchen, slipping my cell between my ear and my shoulder.
“Was meant to have plans right now,” I admit, washing my coffee mug before setting it on the rack. I stare at the coffee pot that Sunday set up for me long and hard before making my way to the front door. “She isn’t here.”
I lock up the cabin and trudge down the snow-covered steps toward my truck.
“Think she stood you up?” Knox asks.
I drop down into the driver’s seat, tossing my cell onto the passenger side.
“She texted this morning when there was decent cell service at Casey’s place.” I kick the engine to life and shrug. “She seemed up for it then.”
And this time Knox pauses for another reason entirely.
Because if someone makes plans in this town and doesn’t show for them when we’re approaching blizzard-season, it’s usually not because they just changed their mind.
It’s because they can’t get there.
Knox clears his throat. “Does she have a satellite phone?” he asks.
I exhale roughly. “I was wondering the same thing.”
He curses under his breath as I calculate what to do next.
At this point I’m hoping that she actually has stood me up because the alternative to that is so much worse.
“She was going out with Casey’s wife,” I continue, flicking my indicator and taking the turn to Haven’s place. “So I’m heading to Haven’s now. Gonna see if Sunday’s crashing with her.”
Knox whistles down the line. “Haven Wells is a total knockout.”
I scan the houses and nod in agreement. “Yeah, she’s pretty hot.”
My pulse ratchets up a notch when I see imprinted tire treads left in the snow in front of Haven’s place. But the truck that Sunday has been driving is nowhere to be seen.
At least the tire treads mean that she was here at some point today, whether that was this morning when she was picking Haven up, or a couple of hours ago when she dropped her home.
I’m actually kind of hoping that they’re still out together, because it would make me less fucking worried that something bad has happened.
I pick up my phone, my eyes still trained on Haven’s front door.
“Okay, man. I’m gonna see if the girls are home. Call you later.”
And then I’m hunching out of my truck, my gaze unwavering as I trudge up Haven’s snow-covered driveway.
A snow-covered driveway with only one set of boot prints on it.
I pound my fist against her door and curse like hell when I see her silhouette.
Haven is at home. So where the hell is Sunday?
Haven opens up the door and looks as dubious about my being here as I am.
She flicks her eyes toward my truck, where the key’s still in the ignition and the door is wide open.
And I know exactly what that look means. She was expecting Sunday to be with me .
I swipe a hand back through my hair, my chest heaving as I glance into the foyer behind her.
“Sunday here?” I ask gruffly, my nerves making my voice even deeper than usual.
Haven’s eyes widen for half a second but it’s all the answer that I need.
“Fuck,” I mutter, dropping my hand to my side, and glancing over my shoulder to where her tire treads could potentially lead.
“She didn’t tell you?” Haven asks, her light rasping voice pulling my attention back to her face.
Knox is right – Haven’s an attractive woman. No wonder Casey goes all caveman the second that he’s back in Phoenix Falls.
“Tell me what?” I ask.
“That Tuck got a temperature, so we couldn’t join her on the trail this morning.”
I stare down at her without blinking, hoping that I didn’t just hear her correctly.
“What do you mean ‘join her’?”
Haven crosses her arms over her chest, her brow lifting a millimetre as we stare each other out.
“Jesus Christ,” I rumble, turning around for a moment, because that’s just pissed me all the way off. I give myself a couple of seconds and then face her again. “She went on her own?”
Haven’s shoulders drop as she leans her head against the doorjamb.
“Look, if it makes you feel any better, she promised me that she would leave before twelve, seeing as the forecast was predicting snow. And” – she gestures toward the thick white clouds above us – “it still hasn’t fallen yet.”
That would make me feel better in different circumstances. Except for the fact that, with that reasoning, she should have definitely arrived home by now.
“She isn’t at Casey’s,” I explain roughly, and Haven’s expression changes entirely.
She probably doesn’t know that I was at Casey’s, considering the fact that she has no knowledge of the giant hole I excavated in her husband’s yard. So if Sunday isn’t with either of us, and if she intended to keep our plans, that means that something is holding her up on the forest-encased roads to Alpine Trail.
“She said she’d leave at midday,” Haven reiterates, her gaze searching mine.
I look away from her and stiffen slightly as something cool hits my cheek.
I pause and glance skywards, my gaze hardening.
My chest halts on an inhale.
Oh, fuck no.
No way is the snow about to start falling while Sunday’s up some lower-mountain road that she hasn’t ridden in fifteen years.
I flick my eyes back to Haven’s, jerking my chin at her as she grabs her cell.
“She been in touch with you?” I ask.
Haven shows me a text thread not unlike my own, filled with one-sided messages that are all undelivered.
I swipe a hand down my jaw, feeling adrenaline coursing through my forearms.
“And she was definitely going to Alpine Trail?” I ask, already halfway down the drive.
“Yeah,” Haven calls back to me, the shakiness in her voice making me resolute.
I give her a nod as I slip back into the driver’s seat and then I quickly slam my door, cursing at the white flakes beginning to descend.
And in less than a second, my boot pounds the pedal.