“Dean. She’s not fine.” Claire shuffled her feet, her face a mass of concern. “We can take a later flight. I’m not leaving for a week, when she’s not okay.”
Velma slipped Claire’s hands from her shoulders and squeezed them. “I’m fine.” She drew out the last word. “I can’t exactly tell him I’m in love with him when you’re hovering.”
“But you’ll call me?” Claire asked. “After you talk to him?”
At this rate, they were going to have to force her out of the country club and into the waiting car.
“She will call you. I will call you. Everyone will call you.” Heather shooed Claire along as she silently mouthed to Dean, “We’re not calling.”
“Everyone ready?” Brek strode around the corner. “Your stuff is all loaded. Claire, your purse is in the back seat. I checked with the hotel and airline, everything’s set.”
Dean held out his hand to his best friend; they did a combo shake and bro hug that was more of a smack on the back. “Wedding was kickass. You did great.”
Brek tossed him a lopsided grin. “You owe me.”
The doors opened, and the family cheered and threw rose petals and birdseed as Claire and Dean ran to the waiting limousine.
Brek had found them a purple Hummer limousine. It was perfect.
Velma felt him behind her. His presence. He stood right there. A step back and she could’ve leaned right into his embrace. Everything was going to be okay. He had her back. She had his. It’s what they did.
Claire turned as she climbed into the back of the Hummer, her eyes meeting Velma’s. They sparkled with happiness. She made a little phone with her thumb and pinky and held it to her ear.
Velma shook her head.
Dean scooted into the car after Claire, and they were off.
Her sister had found Mr. Right, and she’d wasted no time in marrying him. Velma was done messing around with ridiculous five-year plans and spreadsheets that told her absolutely nothing.
She turned to tell Brek she loved him. Right there at the wedding. He needed to know.
He wasn’t there.
She found Amy in the country club kitchen. “Where’s Brek?”
“He took off. Said he had business he needed to handle.” She gave Velma a sympathetic look, but Velma had no energy left to figure it out.
So, he’d already left? That was okay. They could talk at home where it was quiet. It’d be better this way.
Still…a niggle of doubt tickled. The little chink in Velma’s heart cracked further. She should have hurried home, but a twinge of avoidance had her turning left to take the long way, instead of right.
It didn’t matter. Brek’s parking space in the garage was empty when she pulled in next to it.
She held her computer bag tight and headed for the apartment, each step harder than the last. This was ridiculous. He wasn’t there. That didn’t mean there was anything to worry about. He’d made it clear that when you find the one you are meant to be with, you hang on tight.
She pushed the door open. Lights burned bright in the living room.
Brek never left the lights on. Something was wrong.
Really, really wrong.
Her pulse quickened, taunting her as her feet seemed to move on their own through the hallway to the bedroom. She flicked on the light.
His things were gone.
Not that he had a lot of them, but the motorcycle jacket he always tossed over her vanity was absent. Socks that never made it to the laundry bin had disappeared. The crack in her heart widened past a dull ache to full pain.
She tossed open the closet and the rucksack usually shoved on the top shelf wasn’t there.
