“Where is she?” Nora whispered.
Maddy covered the mouthpiece. “She’s fine. She’s in Idaho.”
Emma frowned. “Idaho?”
Nora’s shoulders sank. “Thank God.”
“Gram...” Maddy struggled to keep a respectful tone. “We’ve been so worried about you. We were going to put up fliers with your picture in town this afternoon, for heaven’s sake.”
“We? Who’s we?”
“Nora, Emma, and I. We all arrived yesterday, and we’ve been worried sick. We filed a missing persons report with the sheriff’s office!”
“Oh dear. You might want to cancel that. I’m just fine and dandy.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were leaving? You left dishes on the table—and newspapers have been gathering on your porch.”
“I’m sorry to have worried you all, honey. I must’ve forgotten to cancel my paper. But I’m just fine. I’m having a grand time, in fact. I’ve decided to make a real vacation of it. My return flight is open-ended.”
Maddy palmed her palpitating heart, trying for patience. Trying to let the relief that had engulfed her when she’d heard Gram’s voice take precedence.
Wait a minute. Why had Gram called her home phone if no one was even supposed to be here? Her eyes drifted to Connor, sharpening on his face.
He’s a dear boy, so helpful... I don’t know what I’d do without him.
Her fingers tightened on the chair, and heat rose up the back of her neck. “Gram...”
“You know what, dearie? Since the three of you are already there, you may as well take a little time away from your busy lives and enjoy each other’s company. You have a lot of catching up to do.”
With those words, Maddy’s sneaking suspicion became a full-on certainty. Her grandmother had done this on purpose.
Her eyes fell shut. For years Gram had been trying futilely to reunite the sisters. She’d put out invitations, she’d begged, and now she’d resorted to luring them to Seahaven under false pretenses. Never mind that they’d had her lying in a gutter somewhere.
“What?” Emma whispered from nearby. “Is she okay?”
Maddy opened her eyes to find the others staring at her. She waved their worry away.
Her grandmother was still talking about reconciliation and the importance of forgiveness and family ties. She reiterated for the dozenth time that their father would be heartbroken to see what had become of their family. There was plenty Maddy wanted to say, but with the self-discipline of a saint she bit her tongue and let her grandmother finish.
Meanwhile she watched Connor wander over to the back door, take his phone from his pocket, and thumb out a text. Just where did he fit into this scheme? Was he really the concerned neighbor—or had he actually been her grandmother’s willing pawn?
When Gram finally ran out of steam, Maddy assured her she’d talk to her sisters about reconciliation and wound up the conversation.
“What’d she say?” Nora demanded as soon as Maddy hung up the phone. “She’s all right?”
“She’s perfectly fine. She’s in Boise for her sixty-fifth high school reunion, and she apologizes for worrying us.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Emma said. “Why’d she leave her dirty dishes out? Why didn’t she tell anyone where she was going—even her neighbor who looks in on her?”
Maddy turned toward Connor.
When he looked up from his phone, she gave him a piercing look and crossed her arms. “That’s a very good question, Emma. What do you think, Connor? Why would our grandmother simply disappear without a trace? Why would she neglect to tell a soul? Why do you think she might scare her own granddaughters half to death?”
His eyes flitted between the three sisters, finally landing back on Maddy. “I feel like I’m supposed to have the answers to all these questions.”
Maddy quirked a brow. “Don’t you?”
He regarded her with a tight smile. “Why don’t you just spell it out for me, Maddy.”
