“Everything okay?” Macy asked when Daniel walked in.
“Not sure. Kristen’s friend went up to the mountain to stay in Mr. Anderson’s cabin and test it out for him, whatever the hell that means.”
“Grace?” Caleb asked, immediately paying full attention.
Both of them turned questioning gazes on him.
“I met her two nights ago when she was on that awful date.” He shrugged as if it were no big deal, embarrassed at having said her name so quickly.
Daniel raised a brow but didn’t say anything about it. “Well, yeah, her. Heard that was a terrible date, by the way.”
“Whatever you heard, I can promise you it was worse just from what I heard sitting there next to them.” That didn’t tell him what was wrong, though. “So what’s the issue?” He tried to ask casually.
“She isn’t answering her phone, and we don’t know if she knows how bad the storm is supposed to be.”
“From what Mike said, she forgets her phone all the time, so she’s probably fine.”
“Probably,” Macy agreed. “But she was supposed to call and check in with Kristen and didn’t yesterday. That’s not odd for Grace, but I didn’t know she still hadn’t heard from her.”
“She’s up there just following instructions from Mr. Anderson. We don’t even know if she got a fire started. I was just talking to Mike and we pretty much decided one of us needs to go up there and check on her.”
“How far is it?” Caleb asked. He didn’t bother pretending that he wasn’t interested now, this was dangerous.
“Two hours from here?” Macy asked Daniel.
He nodded. “Yeah, give or take.”
Caleb checked his watch. “Give me directions, I’ll run up there.”
“Are you sure?” Daniel questioned.
“You all have families and people waiting for you to get back. If I get up there and something needs to be done, I’m not in a hurry to get back. Plus, I can see if the store is actually out of cookies and chips like your wife says.”
“They are,” she insisted.
“She’s right. No chance there’s a snack food left on the shelf.” He pulled out his phone. “Let me call Mike and tell him you’ll go and get you the details.”
As he made the call, Macy moved closer to him. “You might have to talk her out of staying up there if it doesn’t look like she can handle it. She’s a little stubborn sometimes.”
That didn’t line up with the version of the woman he’d met. The Grace he met seemed more like a people pleaser. But he kept that in mind just in case.
Daniel gave him the address and a box of cookies as payment for going to check on her. “She obviously isn’t expecting you, so try not to scare her too bad.”
They all laughed. “I think I’ve got this. At least I’ve met her. With any luck at all, I’ll get up there, and she just forgot her phone, and the rest is going fine.”
“We’ll let you get out there and to it then. It’s only going to get colder.”
“I’ll let you know when I get there and my phone is on me and charged.”
“She’s the least attached to her phone person I’ve ever met. Wild since she’s also got a real knack for hurting herself or breaking things.”
Macy elbowed him.
“What? Grace is the least graceful person we know.”
“That doesn’t mean you should say that out loud.”
Daniel looked at Caleb for help.
