Chapter Seven
Rob was sitting in a chair in the store, reading a book, when Brian walked in with Stella on his heels. After moving his bookmark to his current page, he watched his brother grab a water from the fridge and plop in the other chair. Stella got a drink from her bowl in the corner before stretching out on the floor and closing her eyes.
“You didn’t write down that water,” Rob pointed out. They were supposed to be keeping track because grabbing water bottles from the soda case was grabbing money out of the business. They all had tumblers to refill in the house, but this still felt like a losing battle.
“I will when I go over there.” Brian downed a third of it, and then sighed as if it had been days since he’d hydrated. “Twenty-nine’s back from her walk.”
“Hannah,” Rob muttered under his breath.
“I’m kind of curious about what she was up to.”
“She took a walk.” They’d known she planned to, but when he glanced over and saw Brian’s scowl as he stared out the window at nothing, his interest was piqued—even more than usual when Hannah was involved. “What are you stuck on?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I get wanting to go for a walk in the woods, especially since she doesn’t have an ATV. And you’ve been out there. There aren’t really walking trails, but it’s not tough terrain.”
“No, it’s not. As long as you keep track of where you’re at, they’re easy woods to explore.”
Brian nodded. “But I was changing the outside light at the bathhouse up the hill and saw her come back in. Mud up to her knees. Leaves and a twig or two in her ponytail. I think she even had a scratch on her face, which was a little red like she’d been exerting herself.”
That didn’t make sense to Rob. “She wentwayout back, then. The only spot still that muddy right now is a strip of low wetlands, and there are plenty of woods to roam around in on this side of it.”
“Exactly. Why would a woman on a casual stroll in the woods fight through that just to get to more woods on the other side?”
“Maybe there was a bird or something she wanted a closer look at?”
“Not that badly.”
“Okay, but if it was deliberate, what could the reason be?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Brian gave him a questioning look, and Rob shrugged. “Do people still do that geocaching thing?”
“You think she pulled a camper all the way across the country and paid for three months in our campground to find a little fake treasure somebody buried?”
Brian snorted. “I was thinking maybe once she was here, she looked up any that might be in the area.”
“Maybe? I don’t know much about it, so I can’t say for sure if that makes sense.”
“Stella and I could probably retrace her steps.”
The dog, who was sprawled on the floor, opened her eyes but didn’t move, and Rob laughed. “I think you’re mistaking your dog for one with actual skills.”
“Donotinsult my dog.”
“I love your dog, and you know it. You’re sensitive about it because Stella loves me more than she loves you.”
“Stella doesn’t love you. She just has a thing for guys who wipe bacon grease on their pants.” Brian chuckled. “And you’re just trying to distract me from whatHannahwas up to in the woods.”
The way he stressed her name made it clear his brother had caught how referring to her by her site number had irritated Rob. “You could have just asked her. ‘Hey, what happened to you? Did you fall in?’ Or something casual and totally a typical thing to askin the moment.”
“I was on a ladder. And by the time I registered just how rough she looked, she’d passed by, so it wouldn’t have been as casual as you think.” He smirked. “But I guess it’ll be another good reason foryouto talk to her.”
“Hell no. I’m not going to go and demand to know what she was doing in our woods after we told her she could walk around in them if she wanted.”
“But you could bring it up, casually. Feel her out.”
Rob shook his head. “Oh,nowyou want me to talk to her.”
“I don’t care if youtalkto her. You just can’t hook up with her.”
