“You mean in our fantasy?” she says as she moves her spoon around in her ice cream.
I scoop up a bit of the fudge brownie from my bowl and feed it to my little girl. “Sure, in our fantasy.”
She grins as soon as the chocolate hits her tongue. “I’d put a big cow statue outside of the shop and everything would be cow print. My napkins, the walls, the bathrooms… everything.”
“Would you have signature sundae recipes?”
She grins as a warm breeze passes through. “Of course! I’d like signature ice cream flavors like,” there’s a pause while she thinks, “Rugged Mountain roads.”
“Oh, what’s that? Like a play on rocky road?”
“Exactly. It’s charcoal vanilla ice cream, molten marshmallow streaks, with chocolate and graham cracker chunks. Sounds good, right?”
I lean in and kiss my sweet girl’s forehead gently, feeding her another bite of the brownie sundae. “What would you name the place?”
She looks off in the distance for a minute then returns, her gaze soft, her brows downturned. “Moe’s.”
“Why Moe’s?”
“My family called it Moe’s after my mom started saying it. It’s her nickname.”
“Because she called the place Moe’s?” I take a bite for myself, savoring the ultra-sweet chocolate.
“No.” Pepper shakes her head as she stares out at the river. “My mom’s name is Moira, but everyone called her Moe.” She shakes her head and glances back at me. “Maybe it’s a stupid idea.”
“Not at all,” I say, scooping up another bite for my baby. She could name the place after a steakhouse, and I’d grin and buy her whatever the hell she wants at this point. I want to give her the world. I want to make her life easy. I want to take care of her. I want her to have everything she’s ever wanted and then some. I’m not sure where I’ll get the money for any of it yet, but that’s neither here nor there. If my girl wants something, I’m going to do whatever I need to make sure it happens.
She’s sliding another bite off of her spoon when my phone rings. I should’ve turned it off. We reset after Nathan disturbed us this morning, though given the number on my phone, the Rugged Mountain Police Department hasn’t gotten the memo.
“Who is it?” Pepper asks as I stare down at the screen, debating my options.
“Brooks.”
“Officer Brooks?” She freezes. “What does he want?”
I shrug, though I can’t imagine it’s anything good. “Doesn’t matter.” I nudge the spoon toward her lips, prompting her to ignore the rest of the world with me, but she isn’t having it.
“No, we have to answer. What if he found the ring? What if we’re in trouble?”
“If we’re in trouble, I don’t want to know, and he didn’t find the ring if you left it on the flowerpot in the house. He’s not anywhere near the house, at least he better not be.”
Given the anxiety this call is causing my girl, I decide to answer. Knowing why he’s calling is better for her than the guessing game, and what’s best for her is what’s best for me.
“Hello,” I clear my throat, “Rhett here.”
“Rhett, it’s Brooks from Rugged Mount—”
“Yeah, I know. What do you want?” I’m far gruffer than I need to be, but the words are out before I can stop them.
Brooks and I knew each other in high school, and we’ve run in similar circles through the years, but we were never too buddy-buddy. I’m not sure why, we probably have a lot in common, but for whatever reason, he had his side of town and I had mine.
He drags in a deep breath as though he’s recalibrating his own tone. “Pepper’s father called looking for her. He said she was with some guy with tattoos who’s renovating a lake house, but they didn’t have a number.”
My shoulders tighten as a crow lands on the edge of the picnic table like some kind of ominous fucking message. “Okay…”
“The ambulance just left the station headed for her parents’ house. Pepper’s dad wanted to get a hold of her so they could tell her what’s going on. I couldn’t give your personal information out, so he asked if I could pass the message along.”
My stomach knots as Pepper takes another bite of the brownie sundae, her eyes wide as she stares toward me, still oblivious.
