“I hear you, Dylan. I really do,” she murmured as she kept pace. “But you need to get ahold of yourself. This might not be the worst-case scenario that you’re thinking of.”
Maybe there was a part of his brain that heard her and agreed, but if it was there, he couldn’t access it. No, all he could do was react and remember. “I need to talk to Sergeant—”
“I’ve done that. He’s on board and is ready to call out for additional help if it’s needed,” she said patiently. “We can take off now.”
After taking two steps, he stared at her. “I don’t remember what address you told me.”
“I’ve got it. I already called Jack and told him to stay tight,” she said as they exited the building and strode out to their cruiser.
“He better hope to God he doesn’t move a muscle.” Just as he was about to go to the driver’s seat, Traci stepped in front of him.
“Nope. I’m driving.”
He paused, prepared to argue, then dropped the idea. It didn’t matter who drove, and she was probably right. He was feeling so off-kilter he wasn’t in any mind-set to drive.
But he was sure as hell ready to ask Shannon why she couldn’t have looked after his sister.
He started dialing her number just as Traci sped down Main Street.
CHAPTER 25
“You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams. And I know if I can make you smile by jumping over a couple of couches or running through a rainstorm, then I’ll be very glad to be a song and dance man.”
—Gene Kelly
So, she was lost. Like, really lost. And, of course, it started snowing. When the wind picked up and her toes started to burn, she knew she needed to find some shelter. Wandering around in the woods was a bad decision.
“Please, God. Help me out, would you? I know my faith has been pretty faulty lately, but I’m trying to get better. And even though I know You don’t bargain with people, I promise if You help me out, I’ll try to do a lot better.”
She took a breath, thinking that as far as prayers went, that one was pretty lame.
Just as she was about to sound more faithful and maybe a lot more needy and desperate, she spied an old deer blind.
It had to be several decades old, from back in the day when Bridgeport was only about a fourth of the size and the outskirts were either county property or one of the ranchers’ big plots of land.
At the moment, though, she decided she couldn’t care less about why it was there. All that mattered was that it was.
Walking to the ladder, she pressed her palm against the first rung, thinking that a little test of its strength would be a good idea.
So far, so good, though. The rung didn’t budge. She looked up. It was pretty high up there, and there was a good chance that some critter could have taken refuge inside it, too.
Just then a gust of wind carrying a handful of snow hit her face.
Sure, it might have been a coincidence or simply the elements getting the best of her. But given the way things were, Jennifer decided it was a sign from God to stop standing around and take advantage of the shelter He’d provided.
“I hear you,” she murmured, stepping up onto the bottom rung, then slowly climbing up the rest of them. Putting weight on her sprained ankle hurt like crazy, but she ignored the pain and continued on.
When the eighth rung broke in half under her weight, she grabbed hold of the edge of the blind and pulled herself in. The first thing she noticed was that the wood might be old and that it had chinks in between the slats, but it was also a whole lot more sound than it looked. The old tarp that someone had left covering one of the top corners prevented the snow from falling on her head.
It was a struggle, but when she was sitting in the center of an empty—and thankfully critter-free—deer blind, Jennifer realized two things. She was now blissfully protected from the worst of the wind. And it was going to be really hard to get back down.
She curled herself into a ball and decided to sit tight. It wasn’t a great option, but it wasn’t the worst one.
But even though she was sitting in the corner in a ball, she couldn’t help but kind of raise her hands in triumph. Like Rocky. She was cold and lost and irritated at herself for getting so lost. But she wasn’t afraid.
As far as successes went, this was a big one. Maybe, just maybe, she was going to be okay one day. Maybe she was going to stop being afraid of things going wrong and start remembering that life wasn’t about being safe, it was about living.
Perhaps she’d even remember this day and her prayers and how God had provided. Or at the very least, she’d remember this day because she had remained calm throughout this storm.
Boy, she liked that idea. Liked that after two years of being frozen in the past, she had actually made progress. Go, her!
She closed her eyes and smiled. And for the first time in twenty-four hours, relaxed. When Dylan saw her and heard her story, he was going to be so proud.
And so was she.
* * *
Shannon picked up the call the second Dylan’s name flashed on the screen. “Dylan, oh, thank goodness!” she blurted before he even had a second to say hello. “I’ve been so worried. Is Jennifer okay?”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You heard me.”
His voice was so hard, she was taken off guard. His tone didn’t sound like him at all—nothing like the sweet guy who’d held her in his arms and danced with her last night.
After taking a second to recover from her shock, she said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. How about we try this again? How are you? How is Jennifer?”
But he ignored every one of her efforts to ease him up. “You know I didn’t want her going anywhere but home, but you insisted on taking her out to some bookstore. And then you couldn’t even follow through? You just let her go off with some random guy?”
With a random guy? “I think you are mistaken about what happened. See—”
“You know what? I don’t even want to hear it. You had better hope that we find Jennifer soon and that she’s okay. If she even has a scratch, I’m going to hold you accountable.”
She’d never had anyone talk to her like this before. Her hand started shaking. “Dylan, wait. You need to listen to me—”
“Do you have anything to say that might help me find her?” he bit out. “Anything of worth?”
Anything of worth. All the things she’d been about to tell him now sounded trite.