“What is it?”
“That Cilla’s story was incorrect, either on purpose—which I feel is very unlikely since the whole tale is backed up in her diaries—or in some way she couldn’t have known.”
“Such as?”
“Maybe you got into the river some other way.”
He lowered his head to hide the hurt that kept creeping in. “You mean, maybe someone left me there.”
She bit her lip but nodded.
“I can’t say I haven’t been wondering the same thing.” He took a long pull from his bottle. When he set it down, he said, “That was your main idea, you said. What are your others?”
“Just one really. We need to go back to Big Bend, where Cilla was staying when you were found. Work our way upstream with a stop in whatever towns got hit hardest by that flash flood.”
“And do what?”
“Ask questions. Talk to the locals, the ones old enough to remember.”
He pressed his lips and said, “I gotta say, I like that option better.”
She smiled quickly. “Because the other one’s too depressing?”
“Because the other one’s the end of the story. And I’m not happy with that ending.” He held her eyes for a long moment, but then someone dropped some change into the jukebox and started up a song.
He took her hand and pulled her out onto the floor, where nobody else was dancing. He didn’t know why; he just did it. She came along laughing, and he led her through the simple, bouncing steps his mom and grandma had taught him as a little boy, part cha-cha, part jitterbug, Grandma Sage had said.
She picked up the steps quickly and was soon laughing with him on the floor.
Wolf felt better than he’d felt in ages, aside from the notion that he’d been thrown away like unwanted garbage as a baby.
The music stopped and a slow song came on; he was still holding her hands. They locked eyes. She shrugged and smiled, then slid her hands around his neck, so he moved his to her waist, and told himself the urge to pull her in closer was a very bad idea.
Then she pulled herself closer and rested her head on his shoulder. His breath whispered out of his lungs and for a second, he forgot to suck anymore back in. Then she picked her head up and said, “So you want to do it?” And before he could put his eyeballs back into their sockets, she added, “You want to head down to that national park on the border and try to find your origin story?”
His heartbeat hadn’t slowed back to normal yet. “Yes. I do.”
“Can you get away for a few days?” she asked. “Starting tomorrow?”
“Boss on my construction crew told me to take some downtime after I explained about my mom and all. Said he’dhold my spot for me for a couple more weeks, but after that, all bets are off.”
“Well, heck, we oughtta be able to wrap this up in a couple of weeks. One way or another, we’ll have reached the end of the line by then.”
“And it’ll get you outta town for a while,” he said. “Give that ex time to cool off.”
“I don’t know why he left me alone for six months only to call again now,” she said.
“But you could find out. I mean, you’re a P.I.”
The song wound down, and he walked her back to the table with his arm hanging lightly around her waist, resting on her hip. Casual, not intimate. But almost intimate. Maybe.
As she slid into her chair, she said, “Like I said, I was afraid to check up on him. If I slipped and he realized it, it might spur him to start up again.”
“Well, he’s started up again anyway, hasn’t he?”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Here, use my phone. Then he won’t know it’s you.” He handed his phone across to her. She tapped away while he waved at the waitress and asked for a refill on his beer.
