It hadn’t helped.
Nothing helped.
Bronwyn was gone, and there was an empty space inside of him that he didn’t think would ever be full again.
He’d heard Cal and Meredith approach earlier, but they’d stayed out of his line of sight. He should let them say what they needed to say so they’d leave him in peace. “You might as well come out. I know you’re there.”
Tentative footsteps, a few sniffles, and then Meredith’s head dropped onto Mo’s shoulder. Cal’s hand landed on the other. They sat there, the three of them, for several quiet minutes.
“I’m praying she’ll be okay.” Meredith’s words came out on asob. “I don’t understand why she left, why she stayed away, why she didn’t tell us ... but I’m going to pray for her every day.”
Cal’s grip tightened. “Same.”
Mo couldn’t tell them that he agreed. Or that he appreciated it. A few months ago, he would have been the first to start the prayer chain. But now?
What was the point?
He’d prayed for Bronwyn Pierce since he’d been old enough to realize she was something special in his life. He’d prayed for her parents. He’d prayed for her family. He’d even prayed for The Haven to be successful because that was good for her.
He’d prayed for her every day while they were away.
Every day.
Maybe Cal’s and Meredith’s prayers would work, but it was clear his didn’t.
“She’ll come home.” Cal probably thought he sounded confident, but Mo heard the uncertainty.
“Are you kidding? She found a way out, and she took it. She won’t be back.” Mo’s words were right but also completely wrong. Bronwyn was tough and stubborn and sometimes headstrong. But she wasn’t an idiot. Ultimately, she’d come around to the right decision.
At least, he hoped she would.
Cal and Meredith spent the next ten minutes trying to convince him everything would be okay. In the end, Mo knew he had only one option. He would have to pretend to be okay or his family would never let him hear the end of it.
He had to go through the motions and keep up appearances, but he could never let on that something inside of him had died.
Twenty-Two
Present Day
Mo didn’t like sitting in Bronwyn’s house when she wasn’t home. Even though she knew he was there, he couldn’t shake the sense that he was an unwanted intruder.
His phone rang and he picked up with a grumbled, “What do you want, Cal?”
“What’s your plan for the day?”
“My plan is to go to Bronwyn’s office and work on her computer.”
He’d done all he could do from his laptop. There was nothing more to be done until he had access to The Haven’s internal network.
Bronwyn had been correct that the computer in her office was one of only a handful that could be used to access their server. And she’d also been correct that it was hardwired.
Where she’d been wrong was in believing that all the information Mo would need could be found on the hard drive of her computer.
Somewhere at The Haven, there was a network server. She probablydidn’t realize that it would be possible for people to save data there and not keep it on their hard drives.
He wanted to have things locked down better before he shared details with her. And to do that, he was going to have to find a way to work at The Haven on her computer. Mo stood and looked out the window. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas how we can make that happen?”
“Yep.”
