Chapter Eleven
A harried waitress greeted Sarah and the other women as she passed them with a loaded tray of drinks and food. “Welcome, gals. Have a seat wherever you can find one.”
“Thank you,” Sarah replied, then turned to Hannah. “I’ll see if I can find us a seat and you three get the drinks.” She nodded toward the bar, then glanced around the packed room before seeing a small group leave a table off to the side by the window, and hurried in that direction.
As she waited, Sarah tilted her head to look at the clear sky above her, lost in thought.
The moon was half-full and glowing, not a cloud in sight, and the stars were twinkling in the distance against the dark backdrop of the night.
She wasn’t sure she would ever get used to being this far out in the middle of nowhere, but it was worth it just for the scenery.
She was startled out of her gazing as Hannah, Bailey and River walked up to their table and set down the drinks.
“Oh, you grabbed a good spot,” Bailey cheerfully acknowledged as they settled around the table.
While Sarah and the others reached for their glasses of wine, River scooped up her lemonade.
She’d volunteered to be their designated driver for the night, and Sarah was glad she was off the hook and could have a little fun.
She wanted to talk to them about everything that had been going on in her head lately, and she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to muster up the courage until she’d had a couple of drinks.
“It’s a beautiful night.” Hannah sighed as she glanced up at the moon above them.
Many of the patrons of the bar were sitting outside, enjoying the balmy weather.
The low buzz of conversation was comforting to Sarah and she felt like she could finally relax for the first time in forever.
She liked knowing that this place was full of people who really seemed to be enjoying themselves, so she wouldn’t have to worry about being overheard. She had a lot she wanted to share.
“Yeah, it really is,” River agreed. “Shame the guys couldn’t join us.”
“You know what they’re up to tonight?” Hannah asked.
Bailey shook her head. “No idea. As far as I know, they’re up at the lodge, making plans for something important.”
Suddenly, all eyes at the table turned to Sarah, like she might have a better idea of what was happening.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Why are you all looking at me?”
“Because if anyone knows what Lawson is planning, it’s you,” Hannah teased her with a laugh.
Sarah felt her cheeks flush with heat. “I don’t know what he’s up to right now,” she admitted. “He did mention that they were going to help look into the kidnappings that were happening around here.”
Bailey tilted her head. “You guys haven’t talked yet?”
“Not about what they’re doing, really,” she replied.
“Oh, so about other things, then?” Hannah asked. She always had a nose for gossip, and there was no way she was going to let this go.
“We did clear the air about me leaving,” Sarah replied, trailing her finger around the bottom of her wineglass.
God, this felt weird. She wanted to share with her friends, but it suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t know if she was risking things with Lawson by talking about everything.
But she knew she couldn’t hide it. Plus, they all talked about their relationships with her and it didn’t seem fair to keep hers from them.
She wanted to be honest with them and she did need to talk to someone about it all.
“Oh, okay. Now, you have to spill,” Bailey announced.
Sarah bit her lip, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She told them about the kiss they had shared, and how he’d wanted a redo after the way things had gone before.
Hannah made a playful grossed-out face. “Wow, who knew my brother had it in him to be romantic?”
“Holy hell.” River laughed. “You guys…you’re finally doing it, huh?”
“I’m not really sure what we’re doing right now,” Sarah replied. She’d hardly allowed herself to follow that train of thought, and had been too spooked at the notion of what might be happening between them to ask more questions about them or go any further than she already had.
Things had been so tense between them for so long, and now, something had actually happened. She felt like one wrong move would be enough to blow it all up, and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.
“You’re not?” Hannah asked. “You didn’t have any type of relationship conversation? Come on, you have to spill. You can’t keep us hanging here.”
“Hey, it’s my love life, not yours,” Sarah protested, shaking her head. “I just… I know Lawson has a lot going on right now. And I don’t want him to have to drop all of that just because we have feelings for each other or something.”
“Not ‘or something,’” Hannah corrected her. “You definitely have feelings for each other. It’s written all over your faces whenever the two of you are together. I think you two are the last ones to notice.”
“Oh, trust me, I did notice signs,” Sarah replied. “I just didn’t want to push and end up pushing him away. I figured, when he was ready, something would happen.”
“And you think he’s ready now?” River asked.
Sarah paused for a moment. She hoped he was ready. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to stop thinking about how good their kiss was, or how badly she craved the man. How much she wanted even more.
“I hope so,” Sarah responded. She’d been single for a long time now, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss having someone special to share her life with.
She had done plenty of dating when back in college, but all of the guys she had wound up with had been totally incompatible with her.
None of them understood her drive, her dedication to getting her degree or working as hard as she did.
They expected her to do what was important to them, not follow her own dreams.
She had stuck with her useless dating life until her PhD, when she’d had to take a long, hard look at herself and accept that she wasn’t going to be able to give people helpful advice on their own lives if she was still making the same mistakes in hers.
She had sworn off dating, focusing on her career instead, until she was in a place where she could feel confident.
And now, she was. She had a job she loved, was living in a place that felt like home and was surrounded by people she really cared about, who really cared about her. There couldn’t have been a better time to start dating again. Not just start dating, though. To build something, with Lawson.
After all this time waiting for the right person to come along at the right time, there were things she wanted to catch up on. Falling in love, building a real life with someone, maybe even having kids, if the time was right.
But that was something for “future” her to consider.
She needed to focus on the present, and not put too much pressure on Lawson or herself to jump into this relationship feetfirst. They’d shared a couple of amazing kisses, and that was about it so far, even if the thought of them sent a shiver of delight down her spine.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” she told the women around her as she shook her head. Hannah opened her mouth, clearly about to hit her with another question, but before she could, a waiter appeared beside them.
“Some drinks,” he told them, distributing a few glasses of wine on to the table.
“Oh, we didn’t order anything,” Bailey remarked, but the waiter nodded over to a table just across from them.
“Those guys ordered them for you,” he replied, and all of the women turned around to see whom he was talking about. Sure enough, there were a couple of guys sitting a few tables away, sipping on beers, grinning in their direction.
“Well, I’m not drinking, so I don’t want this,” River told the waiter.
“I’ll take the free drinks!” Hannah replied, grinning.
The waiter shrugged and backed off, leaving the women alone once more.
“You think that’s a good idea?” River asked warily. “We don’t want to give them the wrong idea.”
“They’re just drinks,” Hannah replied, waving her hand. “It’s not like we’re accepting a marriage proposal.”
“Do you recognize those guys?” Bailey muttered as she stole another glance toward the men who had purchased the drinks.
Sarah shook her head slowly, looking over her shoulder at them again. They were still watching them as though waiting for a reaction.
“They must be from out of town,” Sarah added.
“And they’re just trying their luck with some women they thought might be single,” Hannah pointed out. “It’s not a big deal.”
“I don’t know,” River replied. “It feels…off.”
Sarah nodded. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but there was something nagging at the back of her mind, a warning that something was wrong. In this small town, everyone knew everyone, and it wasn’t exactly the kind of place that got a lot of tourists.
“It’s fine,” Hannah said, trying to assure them. “Come on, it’s busy here tonight, it’s not like they’re going to try anything.”
Sarah tried to shake off the doubt in her head. Hannah was likely right. They didn’t owe these guys anything for accepting the drinks, right? Maybe they were just trying to be friendly.
The guys kept an eye on them all night, while the women gossiped, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. As the evening wore on, the crowd thinned out, and the women headed back to their car. Sarah noticed the men walking out the door right as they pulled away from the bar.
While driving out of town, Hannah and River chatted about chores that needed to be done the next day at the lodge—guests checking out and vendor calls that had to be made.
Bailey chimed in occasionally as she checked her phone for any urgent messages from the police station that required her attention.
Sarah was a little more subdued on the drive, unable to stop thinking about the men who had bought them the drinks earlier. Maybe she was just on edge knowing everything that was going on in town at the moment, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there might have been something more to it.
They had been driving on the winding mountain road leading up to Warrior Peak for about fifteen minutes when a pair of headlights flashed in the rearview mirror.
Bailey and Sarah were riding in the back and whipped their heads around when the light flooded the back window so they could see what was happening behind them.
“Damn it,” Bailey muttered. “There’s someone on the road behind us.”
River gripped the wheel a little tighter while she glanced in the rearview mirror. Sarah knew she was thinking about the women who had been taken from the side of the road. It was all Sarah could think about, too.
“You recognize the car?” Hannah asked.
“I can’t see anything but bright lights,” River replied.
Bailey’s lips tightened. “What if it’s the guys who ordered us drinks?”
“I did see them leave right after us,” Sarah volunteered.
All the women exchanged nervous looks. “Maybe we’re just being jumpy? You know, from the article and what the men told us at the lodge,” River offered.
“Probably. But we’re still about forty-five minutes away from the lodge, I’m calling Lawson,” Sarah replied, and she dug for her phone in her pocket.
She had no idea who was behind them or what they wanted, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to sit around waiting to find out.
Better to be safe than sorry. As she pulled out her phone, she realized her hand was shaking, and tried her best not to let the others see.
She didn’t want them noticing how freaked out she was at the situation.
Not until she’d had a chance to speak to Lawson, anyway.
He and the others had been in the office when the women had left to go to town.
Surely, they’d be done with their meeting by now, right?
A couple of the guys could drive down to meet them, and just like that, this whole mess would be over.
They would laugh at how paranoid they had been and forget about it.
Because there was no way the car behind them could have anything to do with the men Lawson and the others were after right now, they were just feeling out of sorts.
At least, that was what she told herself, as she listened to the phone ring and silently pleaded for Lawson to pick up.