Chapter 23 #2
Could she have missed his call when she was in the shower?
Doubtful. But she decided she finally had the strength to look at her phone knowing she’d be devastated not to have a call or text from Sully.
With a sigh and steeling herself against shattering disappointment, she walked to the wingback chair in the living room.
Picking up her purse, she opened it. Searching through her purse, she became frantic. Her cell phone was not there.
“Oh no,” she whispered in dread.
Where was her phone? She rushed out to her car and thoroughly searched it.
Her phone was not there either. She’d not had such a sense of aloneness since the day of her mother’s funeral.
The Coopers had yet to contact her at that time and she’d felt completely isolated.
It was one of the reasons she’d accepted a date from Rod Vaughn.
Ugh, Rod. That made her think of the broken glass on the porch.
She locked her car and quickly cleaned up a few stray pieces of glass.
Tossing the shards, along with the broken vase and wilted flowers into the kitchen trash can, she tried to recall where she could have left her phone.
Her costume had pockets! Charley remembered putting the car keys into her purse after Sully had given them to her.
Then she had slid her phone into the pocket of her costume.
She walked to the sleeping puppy, crouched down beside him, and felt under him for her phone.
The puppy nuzzled her, but her phone was not there.
With his tummy full, nice and clean, and the glass out of his paw, the exhausted puppy shut his eyes again.
As she paused on her knees beside the puppy, she concluded she had either lost her phone on Triple C-West or outside her cabin. Darn it. She had no choice but to drive back out to the country to see if she could find it. What to do with this little black puppy?
“Come on, Wyatt Earp.” Where had that come from? From the handsome man with black hair who was also very smart and who had found her when she was all alone at her country cabin. “You can sleep on the way to Triple C-South.”
Charley found the leash and collars she’d used for Bingo in the foyer closet.
She grabbed Bingo’s dog bed and her purse.
After fastening the smallest collar around Wyatt’s neck and clipping the leash to it, she gently led him to the porch.
She noted happily that he was able to walk on all four paws.
Locking her front door, she let the puppy relieve himself in the yard and then placed the dog bed and puppy in the passenger’s seat of her car.
The only stop she made was at the grocery store to get a bag of puppy food. Then they were back on the road.
She prayed her cell phone would be at her log cabin.
That way she wouldn’t have to go to Triple C Ranch-West. She wouldn’t have to talk to anyone or explain why she left the party without Sully.
Then again, they probably knew why. The Coopers thought well of Sully.
She recalled Chloe rolling her eyes at the sight of Trish, but surely they were happy for Sully and Trish.
They’d evidently been a couple before Charley stumbled onto the scene. But how recently?
She’d been over and over this in her head. Without Sully’s input, she was lost.
As Charley passed Triple C-West, she cringed at how na?ve she’d been in thinking Sully was available. Thinking Sully liked her. Thinking she loved Sully. Charley clenched her teeth and fought back the fresh tears. She absolutely loved Sully, and her heart was shattered.
Upon reaching her log cabin, Charley let Wyatt out of the car.
He pounced around and smelled the flowers, the grass, and the pine trees.
Charley searched the parking area where she’d opened her car door the previous night but failed to find her phone.
Since she’d not lost her phone when opening her car door, the only other place it could be was Triple C Ranch-West. She had no choice but to drive back there and talk to the Brevards.
“Come on, Wyatt Earp.”
Charley smiled through her heartache as the little dog scampered to her.
She loaded the puppy up in her car and backtracked toward Pikes Peak.
Turning right into the driveway of Triple C Ranch-West, she drove toward the front porch and stopped near the hitching posts often used for the horses from all the Triple C Ranches.
With a pat to Wyatt’s head, she left him in her Mini Cooper for the moment and walked toward the steps to the porch.
There! Next to the steps, on the ground, she saw her phone!
Kept out of the rain by the porch roof, she grabbed it up and saw that Sully had called her twice.
She listened to his message asking her to call him.
Charley noticed Chloe had called her, too, as she started back to her car.
“Charley?” came Chloe’s voice before Charley could listen to her message.
“Oh, hi, Chloe,” Charley said to her cousin, twisting around to face her.
Standing on the porch, Chloe wore her long black hair in a ponytail and a soft smile on her pretty face.
Charley explained, “I lost my phone last night and came back out to the country to find it.” With a wave, she held her phone up in the air and said, “It was on the ground beside the steps. I didn’t want to bother you, so I was going to leave. ”
“I didn’t know you lost it, but I’m glad you found it. I tried to call you this morning.” Chloe walked down the steps and said with obvious compassion, “Without your phone, you probably haven’t heard the news about Sully.”
“Yes, actually, I have heard the news,” Charley said. She would no longer be na?ve or the last to know. “Trish told me that she and Sully are going to have a baby. He’s thrilled.”
“What?” Chloe grimaced and shook her head. “I highly doubt that. Sully and Trish were never a steady couple and haven’t dated for months as far as I know.”
Charley’s heart beat a bit faster. “Really?”
“Really,” Chloe said firmly. “Sully’s not the kind of guy who would lead you on while being involved with another woman, Charley.”
Charley paused and then asked, “What did you mean, referring to news about Sully?”
“He and Trish were in a car accident last night.”
Charley wasn’t sure how much more anguish she could take. “Are they okay?”
“No idea if they’re alive or dead. Derek has a call in to Owen.”