But dammit, it did. She’d softened toward him since the cellar incident. And maybe she’d even started to wonder if he was different.
Maggie turned her head and frowned at her from the third row, a silent, “What are you doing back there?”
Polly just gave her a small smile before throwing more popcorn into her mouth. She had too much pent-up anger to sit. Standing in the back felt better.
Of course, Ward also got part of the credit for her bad mood. She’d gone to him about the phone she’d found. He’d beensitting behind his desk, eating apple pie at ten a.m. Why that irked her so much, she wasn’t sure. Then she’d told him about the phone. About the messages and the photos. Also about her being stuck in the cellar, only for the phone to then mysteriously go missing, because the two had to be related.
And what had he done? He’d looked at her like she was telling a fictional story. Like she wanted attention or something.
Another piece of popcorn in her mouth. Now she was just rage-chewing because today had sucked. Big buckets’ worth of suck.
Ward hadn’t cared. Not even a little bit. And yes, she knew he was useless, so she should have expected it. It still made her angry.
When she’d asked what had happened to this Eileen lady who’d owned the phone, he’d simply said she’d probably left town. Something about a bad husband she was trying to disappear from.
Someone came to stand beside her, and she internally groaned when she saw who it was—Gerome, Ward’s son.
The sucky day wasn’t over yet.
Gerome smirked at her. “Enjoying that popcorn?”
“There are spare seats, you know.”
“I saw you back here and thought you looked lonely.”
“You thought wrong.” She frowned at his smile. “Why do you look so happy?”
“I just have a feeling this town’s going to lose a bit more faith in their precious little SAR team and their misplaced belief that the guys will be our new saviors.”
Her frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”
“Hey.”
Her skin tingled at his voice. And dammit, she was mad at her body for that.
She didn’t look up at Joel on her other side. “Hi.” Another popcorn in her mouth.
“Everything all right?” Joel asked.
She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or Gerome. She answered anyway. “Peachy.”
“Busy day?” Gerome asked, directing the question toward Joel.
She felt him tense beside her.
There was a small chuckle from Gerome before he walked away.
What was that about?
Joel inched closer. “How’s your day been?”
“Fine.” If fine meant a series of terrible events.
“I’ve been worried about you.”
Finally, she glanced up. That’s when she saw it. The exhaustion pulling his brows together. The lines beside his eyes. “Areyouokay?”
His mouth opened, but Ferris cleared his throat from the front of the room before Joel could respond.
