“Daniel?”
“Hey, Samuel, how’s it going?” I grabbed my phone and carried it across the small area of the cabin. The area between the kitchen and the living space was where I had my dining table, which was generally where guests like Samuel sat when they dropped by for coffee. Not many people liked to sit in front of the TV, I wasn’t sure why, maybe they felt awkward seeing their reflection in the empty black screen, or maybe it was because there was only the two-seater and an armchair. I passed by the wood table and moved into the kitchen, setting the phone on the counter so I could keep chopping vegetables to make a stew. It wasn’t fancy, but it was tasty and filling which were both important things. Plus, it was a good way to get my vegetables in and not just wind up being a meat and potatoes kind of guy.
“You’re still hanging around with Emma Pierce, aren’t you?” Samuel asked. His question was innocuous but there was something in his tone that suggested he thought that there was something more going on between us than there currently was.
I grabbed another carrot and nodded as I replied, the thought of Emma bringing a smile to my face. “Yes, why?” I topped and tailed it, giving it a quick scrub before I began chopping. My mom always told me that most of the nutrients were in the peel, that may have been an old wives’ tale, or may have just been that she didn’t want to waste time peeling vegetables, but I stuck to it, just in case.
“Detective Morris, from Springfield police department has been assigned the case involving the disappearance of Emma’s ex-husband,” he paused, and I could tell he was looking at his notes, even if I hadn’t heard the rustle of the notepad pages turning. “Like we discussed before, it isn’t that Ms. Pierce is a suspect, but the longer they’re gone, the more suspicious it looks. Since you started spending time with her, has she discussed anything about her ex with you?
“She hasn’t mentioned anything.” Not that we’d really spent a lot of time discussing her ex-husband. “And I can’t see her having anything to do with it.”
“Okay, I guess that’s good. The detective did say they’re prone to up and take trips out of the blue, but it’s been a while and his office is getting concerned, so they’re looking into it.” Samuel sighed and paused for a beat before he added, “I’m sure they’ll turn up. These rich folks always forget that someone is relying on them for things. Apparently, they need him to sign some paperwork or something, and they’re running out of time. I don’t know, it’s all paper pusher stuff that I try and avoid.”
“I’m sure they’ll turn up, as you said. Probably just gone off for a getaway or something.”
Samuel made a noise that could have been agreement, could have been annoyance, could have been pretty much anything since it was just a grunt. He was the type of man that would lay it all out there if he had a question that needed answering though, not the type to beat around the bush.
“Some neighbors also mention that the divorce didn’t seem to be amicable. That they heard some arguing and that the husband was not going to make it an easy process. There’s also a strong suggestion that his current relationship had been started during the marriage...”
“Well, people talk,” I told him, trying to choose my words carefully.
He sighed. “Okay, then, I guess if she mentions anything, give me a call. Even if it’s just a place the two might have gone. I think the detective was a little annoyed having to waste his time on something like this, and we both know how those kinds of cases are.”
“Yeah.” I did. Most missing people were missing because they didn’t want to be found for a little while. Not all of them. But every cop preferred a case where a missing person was just inconsiderate, or too dumb, to make sure the people around them knew where they were, rather than something awful happening to a person.
“Well, goodbye, back to keep an eye on the streets.”
I smiled. “Goodbye.”
After we hung up and I was through making my stew, all I could think about was Emma. She was mercurial but in a good way. I never knew what to expect from her, and ever since she’d come back to town things had been interesting to say the least. When she’d made the water at the falls flow again, I thought I was going to faint, and the way she cared about Henry, she was clearly a dedicated woman. If Rick had done something to hurt her before they split, then I’d have a hard time not going after him myself. The fact that he’d let a woman like Emma slip through his fingers told me everything I needed to know about him. And the fact that he had a new girlfriend when I wasn’t even sure the divorce was final?
I knew exactly what kind of man he was. Wasteful, power hungry, unscrupulous, with a cold heart. After all, Emma was the mother of his child, and from my understanding they only had the one.
Part of me couldn’t help but wonder what Emma’s kid was like, even though he wasn’t really a kid anymore, since he had to be away at college at the least if Emma was here alone. Had she raised the boy more in her image or did he take after his dad. Did he call her? Did she miss him?
That last one was a dumb question, of course she missed her only child. Somehow, I don’t think I would assume the same about her ex though. Letting your wife, who seemed to be amazing to me, go, no, not just letting her go, but walking away from her? It was the move of someone who didn’t care about much of anything other than themselves.
Of course, there were instances where people fell out of love with one another, where divorce was what was best for both of them, but the way Emma talked about Rick? I didn’t get the impression that she had fallen out of love with him, not until he’d yanked her heart from her chest and stomped on it.
Why did I want to be the one to repair it? My own heart was still damaged after everything that happened with Sarah. How could I repair something that was broken for someone else when I couldn’t even fix it for myself?
Maybe we didn’t need to be fixed though. Maybe we were fine as we were and our broken pieces could fit together, bring us closer. I pushed the thought away.
Sarah had been gone a long time and I had dated since, but there was something about Emma that was different. Something about her, and the way I felt about her, scared me when it came to taking the next step, and I wasn’t a man that was easily scared.
After dinner, enough was enough. I wanted to call her; the goofy, silly woman who never failed to make me smile. God when she came running down the stairs with that underwear on her head the last time I was over, I thought I was going to lose it. She’d clearly fussed with her hair as well to get it to stand up like that. Her face when she saw me was a picture, and the blush that rose on her cheeks from being caught was more than a little enticing. There was no way she could’ve done something to hurt her ex. The woman I knew just wasn’t capable of it.
As I considered calling to ask Emma out on a date, something made my sixth sense tingle. My bear senses were heightened and going off like crazy. Something was happening outside.
With a growl, I flung open my front door. I was one of the biggest, baddest shifters on the Eastern Seaboard. It wasn’t likely to be something that could take me out. It was something that needed to learn some damn manners, and to stay off my property. A lesson it was going to learn very quickly if it wanted to stay alive.
As I stepped off my front porch, my instincts going wild, I had to prepare to shift. There was something out here that needed taking care of. I wasn’t about to let anyone roam my land unchecked.
17
Emma
When I got backfrom dancing naked in the woods, I found a very exhausted-looking Henry and Alice. Henry was wearing his favorite pajamas, with video game characters on them. And Alice was wearing a zip-up onesie with anime characters smiling from the pink fabric. They were both taking their vitamins in the kitchen and seemed to be ready for bed.
