* * *
As she walked, calling their names every so often, Artie felt her impatience slowly morph into true fear. She knew both girls well. Zoe had been in her class a year earlier, and Maya was currently one of her students. Although Artie could understand their initial impulse to panic and hide, she honestly didn’t think either of the girls would stay hidden if they could hear so many frantic voices calling their names.
“Zoe!” she called, trying to mask the shrill note of worry. It was getting harder and harder to do as the minutes ticked past. “Maya! You’re not in trouble! Please come back to the bus so we can go!”
“Artie.” Derek’s voice behind her made her turn. His normally teasing expression held nothing but concern. “Steve’s on his way. Rob’s calling in Search and Rescue, too.”
His gentle tone made tears burn her eyes, but she fought them back. There were two students to find before she could finally have the nervous breakdown that had been building all afternoon.
“That’s probably best.” Starting to walk back toward the parking lot, she ignored the betraying thickness in her throat. “I’m going to send Marnie and the two chaperones back to school with the kids. If they leave now, they’ll get there in time to catch their buses.”
“Good idea.” Although he still used that meltingly kind voice, a reassuringly Derek-like smirk curled the corners of his mouth. It made her realize how terribly she’d missed that grin. “Let someone else keep track of them for a while.”
Her laugh had a hiccup in the middle, and Derek threw an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll find them.”
The urge to melt into his side was incredibly strong, but she stiffened her spine instead. “I know. And after we do, I’m never taking the students on another field trip again.”
It was his turn to chuckle, although his sounded less watery than hers. “Callum said pretty much the exact same thing. Fire is getting all the school visits from now on.”
“The firefighters can come to the school, then. Once the kids are inside, I’m not letting them go anywhere.”
“What about recess?”
“Canceled.”
Giving her shoulders a squeeze, he laughed again and then dropped his arm. Artie instantly missed it. “Did you call Randy?”
Her forehead wrinkled with confusion. “Why would I do that?”
He kept his eyes directed forward. “I just thought you might need some support during all of this. He’d probably want to help search, too.”
Artie opened her mouth and then closed it again. How was she supposed to condense years’ worth of heartache and rage into a couple of sentences? “You must be out of the Simpson gossip loop.”
“What?” That made him look at her, although she couldn’t read his expression.
“Randy’s been living in California for over six months. The divorce was finalized more than a year ago.”
“He left?”
He sounded so stunned that she shot him an incredulous look. “How did you not hear about it? I couldn’t even go to the grocery store without someone trapping me in the condiment aisle, trying to worm the gory details out of me.”
“Whenever someone mentioned you, I’d…well”—he rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her gaze—“I’d walk away. Or say something rude. Hearing details about you and Randy—” He focused on something over her shoulder, his relief obvious. “Hey, Rob.”
The sheriff gave a short nod as he moved to join them. “The team’s on their way. Janelle is bringing her younger dog.” From his frown, this wasn’t good news.
“Why not Tank?” Derek asked.
“He had surgery yesterday to remove a bowel obstruction.”
Derek groaned. “What’d that dumb dog eat this time?”
“Janelle said it was her kid’s bike tire.”
With a shake of his head, Derek asked, “How many of these surgeries has Tank had? Six? Seven?”
“Something like that,” Rob said. “The vet should install a zipper in Tank’s belly to save some time.”
“How’s the new dog coming along?”
