I exchanged glances with Will and Nat before focusing my attention back on Rory, my urge to flee taking a back seat to the terror in Rory’s voice.
“And you’re just callin’ menow?” she yelled, paying no mind to the other customers that looked on in curiosity. “Well, get the damn sheriff down there! And the rescue team!” Her eyes went wide, her face blanching. “What do you mean, there’s no rescue team? Who’s gonna find her?”
At the first mention of a rescue team, my training kicked in. A calm washed over me, erasing every emotion I’d been bogged down with and replacing them with adrenaline.
“Rory.Rory,” I said again, shaking my sister when she didn’t respond. “What’s happening?”
“Ella. She’s—” She cut herself off, a sob breaking free.
I took the phone from her hands and held it to my ear while Nat and Will surrounded Rory. “Who is this?”
The person on the other end of the line cleared their throat. “Mrs. Price, the principal at Havenbrook Elementary. I was just informin’ Ms. Haven that we have a situation down at the school. Ella’s gone missin’. And we…we have reason to believe she’s somewhere in the woods.”
The wooded property near the school was across the street and nowhere near the playground. It was also thousands of acres large and did not have warning flags dispersed around to help guide my niece.
“Call Sheriff Halsey immediately and have him meet me at the school. And tell him to bring as many officers as he can find.”
“I—I don’t have the authority to demand that.”
“Ido. This is Mackenna Haven, acting mayor. And I expect every available pair of hands to meet me at the school.” Without saying goodbye, I ended the call and sprang into action.
“Rory.” I gripped my crying sister by the shoulders and gently shook her until I finally had her attention. “I need you to try to remember for me. What was Ella wearin’ today? Was she in something bright?”
“She—” Rory swallowed, her voice shaky. “She was in jeans and a light-up Christmas sweater. That one you got her. I told her it was too early to be wearin’ it, but she loves those things as much as you do.”
I smiled. “Good. That’s good.” I put my arm around my sister and guided her to the door. Time was wasting. “It’ll help us find her in the cover of the trees.”
Or if we couldn’t find her until after dark.
I kept that thought to myself, though, because Rory was barely holding it together as it was.
“I need to be there,” she said, almost in a daze. Suddenly, she spun around, her eyes wide. “Nash! I need to call Nash.”
“Already handled it, crazy pants.” Nat’s voice was warm despite her words. “He was halfway to a job in Parkersville, but he’s speedin’ back this way. And I’ll let the sperm donor know, too,” Nat said, referring to Rory’s ex-husband.
“Y’all get her to the school.” I shuffled Rory into my sisters’ arms. “I’ll head over in my Jeep.”
I left off the fact that I needed my car because I needed the rescue bag I always kept inside, complete with first aid kit. Rory’s mind was no doubt already producing horrifying scenarios, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to add to them.
The four of us burst out the front door, Will, Nat, and Rory heading toward Will’s car, while I went in the opposite direction. Or I tried to, anyway. Instead, I ran face first into a body that smelled an awful lot like home to me.
“Kenna?” Hudson asked, holding me out by the shoulders to steady me. With one look at my face, his brows drew down and his spine snapped straight, his eyes darting over my shoulder to where my sisters had fled before scanning the space around us. A soldier on alert. “What’s wrong?”
I swallowed down my fear, focusing instead on the job I had to do. “It’s Ella. She’s lost in the woods by the school.”
Recognition dawned on his face. The only woods by the school were the same ones we’d hiked through to get to the Ridge. The same ones experienced hikers needed classes on justto traverse. And my eight-year-old niece was roaming them by herself.
As much as it hurt to be this near Hudson and not be able to fall into his chest and take comfort from him, I couldn’t now. Time was wasting, so I had to shove all of it down and focus on the task at hand—finding my niece and bringing her back safely.
I was ready for this. I was trained for this. And, for once, I didn’t doubt my ability to do it.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
HUDSON
I hadn’t spentmy last night in Havenbrook how I’d wanted, namely in the bed of the woman I loved. Getting lost in her touch and her taste and her scent. Studying every inch of her as if I didn’t already have them all memorized. As if I hadn’t replayed them in my mind a thousand times over the years.
Instead, I’d spent it with my momma and sister, Caleb being the near-silent anchor to our foursome as we’d passed the night reminiscing about Jack Miller. It’d felt good talking about my dad, even if it hurt—that sting of knowing that all we had now were just memories sitting heavy in my heart.
