There was a surge in radio chatter, as if several people tried to speak over each other at once. I turned up the volume, ears strained to catch what they said, before it ceased altogether.
Had they switched channels? Were they at her lookout? Had they found something?
On the way back up to the tower, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Worried it had something to do with Janine, I quickly shifted the grilled cheese accoutrements into one hand, pulled out my phone with the other, and answered without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?”
I recognized Bobby’s voice immediately. “Oh, thank God,” he said.
Judging by his tone, something was very wrong. “Bobby, are you okay? Is Jade alright? And Molly?”
“The girls are fine.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“I called to make sureyouwere okay,” he continued quickly. “I heard a lookout went missing and panicked.”
“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I should’ve called. I was caught up in keeping tabs on the radio this morning. I haven’t even talked to Dad yet.” Back up the stairs, I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder, struggling to balance my lunch and open the cabin door at the same time.
“You’d better do that right now, or he’s going to hear and have a goddamn heart attack. They said the tower’s empty, but they weren’t saying who. We haven’t texted in a couple of days, and I thought—fuck,I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, voice thick with emotion.
“I’m really sorry. Let me call Dad, and then I’ll call you back, okay?”
Before he could reply, though, I shouldered open the door to find Tate Morris standing in my lookout.
“Bobby, I’ve gotta go. Tate Morris is here,” I said, making direct eye contact with the man who’d sneaked into my tower.
He had the sense to look contrite.
“What the fuck?” Bobby asked.
“I will call you back in an hour.”And if I don’t, you know who to call the dogs out for.
Speaking of dogs, a very large German Sheppard sat at Tate’s heel, tongue lolling and nose in the air, as if I’d brought the cheese in just for him.
“Halfan hour,” Bobby said before hanging up.
I really had no idea what I’d done to deserve such a good friend.
I set the phone and food on the counter. “Right. I don’t want to bear-spray your dog, so you’d better have a good fucking reason for creeping into my tower behind my back.”
He raised an eyebrow. “But you do want to bear sprayme?”
I didn’t answer. He wasn’t in uniform, but I figured threatening a cop even off the clock wouldn’t go over well. “Why are you here?” I asked instead.
He patted the dog’s head. “Down, Rocky,” he said softly.
Rocky listened, heaving a sigh as he plopped onto his belly and stared up longingly at the bag of cheese.
Tate looked back toward me. “You didn’t text me, so I had no way of contacting you. I came to see if you were alright.”
I shuffled to the side, centering the Firefinder more securely between us. “I didn’t realize it was a social invitation.”
Honestly, I was only evading his questions until he explained what the hell he was doing there, but the blush that flamed his cheeks took me by surprise. “Wait,” I said, “wasit a social invitation?”
He looked away. “It was both. You’re back in town again, and I thought, well. A friend would be nice. But I also needed you to know you can contact me if you see anything suspicious while you’re out here. Which is why I’m here. The second part, not the first,” he finished, blushing again.
“And you had to break in to accomplish that?”
