“Neither can I.” Holt tilted his head slightly as if listening.
“Do you think we’re in for a storm?” June’s eyes widened a little.
“I didn’t get a weather warning.” Holt pulled out his phone.
“Neither did I.” June checked her own.
There was nothing on the phone, and that should have reassured her, but it didn't.
Because the children were gone on that camping trip. Their children and grandchildren and their friends, not to mention all the other kids who had been sent off with leaders everyone trusted.
“I’m worried about the campout,” June admitted.
“I know.” He didn't try to dismiss it, and somehow that made her even more uneasy. “That was the first thought that crossed my mind.”
“Where exactly are they all?” June asked, trying to make herself think rather than just worry. “I know they were splitting them into groups, but I didn’t get the exact details. Did you?”
Holt nodded.
“Willa and Ace took the fourteen to seventeen-year-olds. They got permission to camp on Sandy Shore Island.”
“That nature reserve?” June’s stomach tightened. “The one on that island in the sea?”
“Yes.” Holt nodded again and glanced at his phone.
“It’s beautiful,” June said, trying to quell the rising unease growing in her stomach. “But it isn’t a very large island. And if a storm hits suddenly out there, it can get brutal fast.”
“I know,” Holt said again, and she was starting to get annoyed with that answer.
“Where are the others?” June asked, noting that he, too, was thinking exactly the same thing that she was.
“Margo and Rad took the larger group,” Holt said. “Those are all the kids under thirteen. Carmen and Zane couldn’t get away because someone needed to stay back while Willa was gone.” His eyes lifted to hers. “I believe that Willa managed to get a senior camp counselor to go with them to help with the large group.”
“So Grace, Katey, Andy, and Tyler are with Willa and Ace on the island.” June tried to order it in her mind.
“Yes.” Holt gave her a tight smile. “And Margo and Rad have Becky, Zoe, and the younger children.”
“Okay, and do you know where they are?” June watched Holt, and she couldn’t stop the bad feeling that moved through her then.
Not dramatic. Not the kind that shouted. Just a quiet, cold line of worry that settled right in her stomach and refused to move.
If there had been any warning, she told herself, the camp would have pulled back already.
That had to mean this was just heavy weather moving through.
Nothing more.
Still, when she looked at Holt and saw him scanning the horizon again, frowning now, she knew he wasn’t comfortable either.
They didn't say any more about it.
Instead, they finished eating, packed up the leftovers, and carried everything inside.
The mood had shifted. Not ruined, but sharpened.
June opened the fridge to put something away just as Holt turned from the counter behind her.
They collided.
