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Katie’s pen was pressed against her paper, and her eyebrows were raised. “Did I just hear that the project won’t be completed on time because of code issues?”
Chase sighed. This cannot be happening.
* * *
Later that afternoon, Harper exited the clothing donation center after dropping off the old clothes that would not come to Vegas with her. The sun was bright and warmed her face as she headed down the industrial street in the north end of town. She tilted her head back, absorbing as much as she could before glancing down the sidewalk again. She had been too busy to sit outside like she usually did, reading on the deck or having Emma and Megan over for wine and girl talk while they suntanned.
When she reached her car waiting at the curb, she clicked the key fob opening the doors and hurried inside, getting on the road in a jiffy. There was still so much to do before she left.
Besides, she couldn’t dillydally. With Brody and Faith getting married on Friday, she needed to clear out her room completely. At some point they would have a family and would need to use her bedroom for a nursery. She figured it was better to clear it out now than make them do it later.
With the sunlight glistening off the car ahead of her, she passed by the flower shop she’d worked at one summer, her favorite slow song playing through the car’s speakers. A swell of emotions began to tighten her chest again at the emotion in the singer’s voice. That emptiness she sensed last night was still there deep in her chest and still very much confusing. Her entire life was either being packed up in a box to be stored in the basement or had been left back at the donation center. And yet, every step forward felt unsteady, as if she was walking down a hazardous trail.
Why? repeated in her mind.
As she drove by the library, which had been her second home growing up, her cell phone rang. She hit the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Emma.”
“Hi, you. What’s up?”
Emma’s voice was tight, edged with concern. “Okay, you know that I wouldn’t normally stick my nose into anything, but I think you should go see Chase.”
Harper stopped the car as an elderly man crossed the street with his Yorkshire Terrier. “Why?”
“The inspector came again today.” Emma paused. “Things didn’t go well.”
“Seriously?” Harper’s hand tightened against the steering wheel. “What in the hell is with this guy?”
“I don’t know. It’s weird. Last time, it was the fire alarms. This time, it’s the stairs and toilets.”
Harper’s heart squeezed. “Poor Chase.”
“Yeah, I know,” Emma said softly. “He seems . . . tense, and understandably so.”
She reached Main Street then took a right at the green light. “Where is he now?”
“At home.”
“Okay, I’ll go there now. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Give him a big hug for me.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye.”
The line went dead, and Harper stayed focused on the road. She blessedly did not hit another red light through Main Street. Soon the pretty downtown faded away to the vast beauty of the Colorado landscape. Once she made it out of the city limits, Harper punched it forward.
Ten minutes later, she drove up Chase’s driveway and found his truck in front of his house. She parked behind him and was out of the car a second later, hurrying up the porch steps. She entered his house without knocking.
Three steps in, she found him.
Chase sat on his living room couch, his arms on his bent legs, his head bowed.
“Chase,” she said.
He didn’t even flinch.
