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“Leave it to you to go from no present to blowing the rest of us out of the water.” Chuckling, Sam followed me up the path to the wide, covered front porch. “The new ramp looks great with the original porch design.”
“It does,” I said evenly. I knew they’d added the ramp mainly for me. Oh, Knox had touted their accessible guest suite on the first floor, and Monroe had talked about the growing number of elderly and disabled tourists, but their words felt too careful, the ramp too big a priority to be merely a business tool. “Rides smooth.”
I wheeled myself up the ramp easily, Sam trailing next to me, but he paused before I could knock on the door.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Just a lot on my mind.” No way was I confessing the bad pain day, crappy sleep, or conflicted feelings about this party. Instead, I waved a hand. “Stapleton case. End of semester. Finals. Podcast.”
“Understandable. We all want the case solved.” Sounding distracted, Sam pulled out his phone, idly clicking the screen on.
“What about you?” I pointed to the phone. Four months ago, I never would have seen Sam with his phone. He was polite to a fault, not the type to scroll while friends were talking, but lately, he was every bit as distractible as me. “You’re way more married to your phone these days.”
“Me?” Sam played dumb, then huffed a breath. “Nah. But you mentioned the Stapleton case, and I wanted to see if I had a new message from Worth.”
“New? As in, there have been multiple?” I tilted my head, considering him more closely. Monroe had given Sam Worth’s phone number a few months earlier, but I hadn’t been aware of that leading anywhere. None of us had heard from Worth since Monroe and Knox’s San Francisco trip during the summer.
“Nothing related to your case.” Sam’s tone was dismissive, but I wasn’t buying it. “I send him funny memes. About every tenth meme, he texts back something other than LOL. Very occasionally, I get more than three words.”
“So you’re friends.” I laughed because Sam’s puppy crush on Worth back when he’d been in eighth grade while the rest of us were seniors was practically town legend by now. Sam had managed to turn up all sorts of places that last year before everything changed. Before Rob and Petra had Knox. Before Monroe left for the navy and I’d headed to the police academy. Before Worth’s mother disappeared the following summer. Back then, Sam had been an annoying pest, but now he was a decent friend, and I honestly hoped he got through to Worth. “Good for you.”
“Wouldn’t go that far.”
“Keep trying. I’m sure reopening his mom’s case has been hard on him, even if he’s not saying.”
“Yeah.” Sam’s mouth moved like he might be about to say more, but the front door burst open to reveal Monroe.
“You guys made it!” Monroe greeted us by throwing his arms wide. Thank God he was not in a Christmas sweater, but he still radiated domestic bliss in his usual button-down, khakis, and fuzzy slippers. It was the slippers that did it, both because they loudly announced this was his home and because I’d put money on them being a gift from Knox. “Come in, come in.”
“Brought you and Knox a little something for your first Christmas.” Sam held out the small gift bag as Monroe ushered us in.
“Thank you, Sam. You’re the best.” Monroe was all jolly host energy, completely unlike his formerly broody self. I peered around him and Sam to the living room where Knox stood near the Christmas tree, talking to Frank and Leon. He wore his baby brother, who was all chubby and drooly now, in some flowered sling thing.
“Dude. Your boyfriend has a baby strapped to his front,” I joked to distract from my own lack of gift.
“He’s helping out while Jessica and Rob show the girls the upstairs. Knox had the idea to do one of the new guest suites with a family theme. Built-in double bunk beds plus a nook for the parents too.”
“Fun.” I forced a smile. I’d compliment the idea again when Sam showed me pictures later.
“And, of course, we can’t wait to show you the accessible suite behind the kitchen.”
“Of course.” I kept my face neutral. They were trying. I could too.
“Did you tell them?” Knox strode over, bouncing the baby as he walked, a huge grin on his face.
“Tell us what?” I asked. Please don’t be engaged. Please don’t be engaged. I wasn’t jealous. Never had much of an attraction to either dude, so it wasn’t that, but there was only so much domestic happiness a dude could take.
“A new development in the Stapleton case.” Monroe smiled, and so did I. Thank God. This I didn’t have to fake enthusiasm for. “A few weeks ago, when the case stalled again, I reached out to an old military contact who put me in touch with Saving Grace Diving. It’s a nonprofit run by a former SEAL rescue diver. They specialize in recovery efforts, especially on cold cases.”
