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“Are you sure—”
Declan hit the End button before Sean could say more.
He set his phone down before slumping against the counter and staring out at the driveway currently blanketed again with snow. The plow would be coming through soon. But it looked peaceful at the moment.
He could text Sean or his brother for Nat’s number, but should he? Was it fair to reach out? He’d told her he could only give her the week. And he was the one with the baggage—the crazy ex and the stressful job.
Declan’s phone rang again. This time, Ryan’s name appeared.
“Yeah?” he said, lifting it to his ear.
“Is it normal for a pregnant woman to go from crying to ripping your clothes off in the matter of five minutes?”
“Am I your only friend with kids?” Declan snapped.
“You’re moodier than usual. What’s with you? Wait, is it that witch, Lauren? How dare she wreck Christmas? Hold on. Let me get the reinforcements so we can plot together.”
The phone went silent. Declan pulled it back, but the call was still connected.
“One more sec,” Ryan said and disappeared again.
What the hell? Declan didn’t have patience for this.
“Marc, Corey, Quinn, ya there?”
After their teammates all confirmed, Ryan went on. “Tell us what the witch did.”
Declan sighed. No matter what it was, Ryan was always too much.
“It’s not Lauren. I called Sean because I gave this chick my car—”
“Uh oh.” Corey chuckled. “Sean probably had a field day with that. He was pretty upset when Taran stole mine—”
“I did not steal your precious truck!” Taran shouted in the background.
“The second I heard that, I knew you were a goner, man,” Quinn said. “You love that truck more than just about anything.”
“Not more than you, chipmunk,” Corey assured his girl.
“Why are you on speaker, Corey?” Ryan asked.
“Because Marc and I are at Grant’s. We’re watching Will star in the Very Merry Evans Christmas Drama Fest.” Corey laughed.
“Cor,” Marc sighed. “You calling your best friend drama is like the Grand Canyon calling a pothole deep.”
Declan cleared his throat before he lost his teammates down a rabbit hole.
“Let’s focus. I need to get back to my wife and the kids,” Marc said. Sometimes Declan was still jarred by Marc’s turnabout from the bad boy pitcher of baseball to the family man who now coached for the Metros because it had only been a couple years. In Declan’s head Marc was still a teammate but he was actually Corey and Quinn’s pitching coach these days. “Declan,” Marc continued, “start from the beginning. Aren’t you in the Adirondacks? How did you give a girl your ride?”
Declan filled them in, starting from the moment Natalie fell off the counter and into his arms and ending a few moments ago with the phone call from Sean.
“Easy. Let’s blast on social media. We’ll find her,” Ryan interjected. “I’ll even have my sister blast it on the Silver Lining’s socials. Everyone at the bar loves a good love story.”
“Taran can help. She’s a kick-ass reporter. She’ll track her down.”
Taran was grumbling about staying out of whatever scheme they were concocting.
“I have a friend who can help,” Quinn tossed in.
