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“What did your mother feed you two?” he asked and Fee giggled.

“A lot,” she said.

Sal cackled. “I bet she did!”

A small, older woman appeared on Theo’s other side. “Phoebe!” she said, grasping Fee’s hand. “You never told me you had such a strapping boyfriend.”

“He’s just a friend, Dolores.”

Dolores rolled her eyes. “I’m old enough to have heard that particular lie plenty of times.”

“Well, this time it’s true!” Fee insisted, breaking his heart with her words. “Now why haven’t I seen you in a while? Do you need more of that tea for your arthritis?”

Ah, so that was how Fee knew this woman. She made teas and tonics for the towns around her oak grove. Apparently, Dolores was a customer.

“Oh, yes, I’ll need more soon! I’ll come see you.”

Fee nodded in approval.

“Anyway, I call dibs on Rafe for my partner,” Dolores proclaimed and linked her arm through Rafe’s.

“Hey!” Ruby said, and Theo thought the two women might actually get into it over his big broody brother. He bit down on a laugh.

“Dolores, we thought you could man the bar with Sal,” Tom cut in, diplomatically. “We’ll need people here in case Lena shows up.”

Dolores looked up at Rafe. “That okay with you, big guy?”

Rafe smiled. “That’s okay with me, Dolores.”

Theo wondered when the hell his grumpy brother had befriended a tiny old lady. It hurt that there was so much he didn’t know about his own family anymore.

Dolores nodded and went to stand beside Sal, ready for duty.

“What about you?” A woman in a cheetah-print top was eyeing Theo from her seat atop a bar stool. “Do you need a partner?” Did she just wink at him?

“He has one,” Fee said, putting her tiny body between him and the cheetah woman. He was fighting a grin with all his strength. Jealous Fee was his favorite.

“Sierra, why don’t you partner up with Bert,” Tom suggested before Fee could get too fired up. Unfortunately.

A large man with a big belly and a limp put out a hand to Sierra. She took it and hopped down from her stool.

“Let’s go Bert,” she said with another smile at Theo on her way out. “I need to change out of these shoes before we start.” Theo glanced down at her stilettos and nearly laughed. She certainly wouldn’t be doing much searching in those.

“Okay, that should do it,” Tom said. “Gil and Kev and I will take the north section of the woods. Trina and Kurt have a group headed to the south.”

“Really?” Ruby asked like she was surprised to hear that those particular townsfolk were helping.

“Of course. It’s all hands on deck,” Tom said, leaving the clipboard on the bar. “Macy will man the bar with Sal and Dolores. Where do you want to start, sweetheart?”

“I thought we could check some of Lena’s favorite places. You know, in case she left on purpose.”

“That’s a great idea,” Fee said, wrapping an arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “We’ll help with that. Just tell us where you want us to go.”

Ruby’s face brightened. “Well, Callie and Sawyer are already on their way to Callie’s grandmother’s house. We loved to spend time there as kids so maybe Lena is there. And Rafe and I are going to go talk to his brother, Knox. He lives nearby.”

Theo figured she’d added that last bit for the humans in the room. He could guess the real reason they were going to talk to Knox. If the Highlanders hadn’t gotten to Lena, maybe his brother had.

“If it’s not too much trouble, there’s this little place we used to go to with our Aunt Millie. Up north. It had cute cabins and I don’t know … if Lena wanted to … get away for a while … maybe she would have gone there.”