Page 42 of Love Like Ours

Chapter Thirteen

Sophia waited eagerly for Palmer to show up. Whenever the bell over the door signaled another customer, she jerked her gaze towards it with a big smile on her lips. But every time over the next two hours, she was disappointed.

Where was he?

He’d messaged her two hours ago that he’d be there. She didn’t want to seem like she was bugging him by texting him and asking if he’d changed his mind. Maybe he had to go home and shower?

An hour before closing, she shot him a text.

“Did you change your mind?” She waited a while and, when he didn’t respond, worry started edging into her mind. For the next hour, she looked at her phone every few minutes, waiting and hoping for a response as her worry grew. She tried calling him half a dozen times in the last half hour while she helped close up.

After locking the door of the restaurant, she decided to drive over to the cabin and check up on him. It hadn’t been very long ago he’d gotten the flu. Maybe he was sick again?

Palmer’s truck wasn’t there. When she knocked on the door, Loki started barking, begging to get let out. She pulled out her phone and called Parker.

“What’s up?” he answered on the first ring. He sounded like she’d woken him and worried him.

“Have you heard from your brother?”

“Not in the last few hours. He was heading up to the lighthouse to go over a few changes with Max. Is that Loki?”

“Yes, I’m at the cabin. Palmer was supposed to come in tonight for tacos. When he didn’t show, I came over here. His truck isn’t here, and Loki seems desperate to be let out.”

“There’s a key under the second flowerpot on the stairs,” Palmer said, and she could hear him shuffling around. “I’ll head up to the lighthouse to retrace his steps. I know he made it to that appointment.”

“I can call Max, see what time he left. I assumed he was done when he texted me three hours ago.” She found the key and opened the door. Loki burst through it, giving her a quick boop on the leg with his nose before running over to the grass and relieving himself.

“Let me know what he says. I’ll still head that way while trying to call him myself.” Parker hung up.

When Max answered, he confirmed what she’d believed. Palmer had left his place three hours before.

“I’ll head down from here and meet Parker along the way,” Max said.

She corralled Loki and tried to persuade him to go back in the house, continuing to worry. In the end, the dog won out and she opened her car door for him to join in the search for his master.

She had just made it into town when Max called her.

“I found his truck at the end of the driveway in the bushes. There’s no sign of him though. I think we should call the police.”

Her heart skipped and her hands shook so badly that she had to pull into the parking lot of Baked. “I… I’ll call them. I have their direct number,” she said quickly and hung up.

When Alice, the dispatcher at the station, answered, she quickly rattled of what was going on. Alice assured her that she’d send Nick and Aiden over there, and Sophia hung up and called Parker.

“His truck was at the entrance to the lighthouse. Max is there now. He says there’s no sign of Palmer. I’ve called the police. Nick and Aiden will be there soon,” she rattled off quickly.

“I just got here,” Parker said, then she heard him curse. “His truck is pretty banged up,” she heard him say before he hung up.

“Oh god.” She cried as she drove the rest of the way through town, her worry growing. She refused to let her mind wander to the dangers of the cliff in that area. Had it been dark when he’d left? Three hours ago. Yes, the sun would have just set or would have been setting. It had been really foggy and cloudy the entire day and, even now, the fog was thick enough that she had to slow down in areas.

Did his truck slip on the muddy drive and go into the ditch? Then what? Maybe Palmer was hurt and stumbled around in the dark? Maybe he had gotten too close to the cliffs?

“Oh god, oh god,” she muttered as she parked next to Parker’s truck. When she got out, Loki surprised her by bolting from the car and heading directly into the bushes beyond the truck.

“Stay, I’ll follow him.” Parker bolted after the dog.

Max walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “He’s okay,” he assured her as she began to shake.

The minutes seemed to crawl by while they listened to Loki’s bark and Parker trudging through the thick brush and foliage. When the dog’s bark turned eager and happy, her heart jumped in her chest. She lurched forward slightly, but Max held her back.