For a single moment, time didn’t just stop. It rewound back five and a half months.
“Well, I guess we’re going to get married.”There was no proposal. No knee. And the ring had only come later. An heirloom provided by Mrs. McCormick.
I blinked, returning to the present and Max as he gently lifted one of my feet, brushed the dirt off the bottom, and then placed it in my sandal. By the time he repeated the motion with my other foot, I managed to coax my tongue into working again.
“Thank you,” I said, and Max looked up, our eyes locking.
“I don’t think there’s anything my brother wouldn’t do for you.”Harper’s words hadn’t struck me as much earlier, but now, I felt them carry a whole different kind of weight.
“Of course.” Max straightened and brushed the dust from his knee. “Now we can go,” he said, leading me to his truck and holding open the passenger side door for me.
We rode in silence to Stonebar Harbor, and the only thought I had on the drive was,had Todd planned on doing this all along?Was that why he wanted to stay at a hotel here rather than the Lamplight Inn? Was the whole “it’s bad luck to see the bride the night before the wedding” a lie? An excuse?
“Daze.” I flinched at the gentle touch to my elbow, knowing later I’d feel guilty for recoiling from the man who was only trying to help me.
“Sorry,” I murmured, blinking several times to focus.
One minute, I was in the passenger seat of Max’s truck. The next, I was here, at the door to Todd’s hotel room. Somehow, my brain had stopped processing everything between the truck and here.
“I’m going to step outside and call his parents,” Max said, unable to mask his lack of optimism.
I nodded, listening for the sound of the door as it closed. My eyes swept through the room again.
Todd wasn’t here. What was worse, it looked like he’d never been here at all.
The bed was still made like he hadn’t slept in it. There were no clothes in the closet. No sign of his suit. No shoes. No bag. No toiletries. Everything was in its place.
The only trace he’d left was the contents in the bathroom trash can. The empty little bottles of alcohol.
“No answer,” Max announced when he returned.
“Maybe he went back to their house?” I suggested, as though that wasn’t the last place he would go. As though it wasn’t because of them that Todd had insisted on getting married when, deep down, it truly wasn’t what he wanted.
I might be angry and upset, but his parents…they would proverbially want his head for this.For causing this scandal.
Max shook his head. “I called there. Mrs. Abagail said Todd’s not there, but she’ll let me know if he shows up.”
Mrs. Abagail had been their housekeeper from the time Todd was a toddler. She saw his struggles like the rest of us. I trusted that she was telling the truth.
“He was never going to come,” I said softly, brushing my fingers along the comforter.
Max exhaled roughly. I could tell he wanted to agree, but was too much of a gentleman—too loyal a friend to throw Todd under the bus.
“Daze…”
“He didn’t leave in a hurry. He didn’t get cold feet and run.” I motioned weakly to the room. “He never planned on staying.”
When I turned back to Max, the crease in his brow deepened. He couldn’t argue. He knew I was right.
“Let me take you back to the inn. Maybe he’ll be there when we get back. Maybe he just needed a little more time.”
I closed my eyes and let my sigh bleed through my lips. “We both know he didn’t.” I stroked my fingers over my stomach,all of my worries settling on the tiny, growing human in my stomach.
How could he do this to her? Even if she wasn’t planned, even if he was more anxious than excited, how could he walk away from his responsibility to her?
“I’m going to find him, Daze. I’m going to fix this,” Max promised low as I did one last sweep of the room like I expected to find my groom hiding under the bed or behind the shower curtain.
I shuddered at the soft command of his words, feeling my heart stumble as it slowed down.
