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Sully lightly touched his fingers to Alanna’s back and steered her toward the exit.
Outside, in the sunshine, Alanna held the white card in her hands. “Another card, another clue?” she asked.
“Open it and find out.”
And so it went. Alanna followed the next clue—For the start and end of the day—to the Buzz and Brew café. The hipster owner, Chaz (“Just Chaz”), possessed double arm sleeve tattoos, a ring through his nose, and an impish smile. He seemed to be in perpetual motion, frothing cappuccinos from the coffee counter on the left side of the small café and then, quite suddenly, pouring beers from the counter on the opposite side of the building for a late-lunching group of men in business suits.
“Gotta go with Batman from Six Flags,” he decided when Alanna asked him his favorite roller coaster. This started a heated conversation between the customers, with one insisting “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a million times better than Batman,” and another proclaiming “Space Mountain, hands down!”
Alanna looked to Sully as they eased out of the small shop. “You’re going to cause a riot.”
He shrugged. “Ice breakers are powerful.”
The hours flew by, and Alanna grew ever more grateful for her running shoes. The scavenger hunt took them all over the downtown area of West Yucca Hills, to places she’d known all her life, like the Cactus Blossom, where she greeted her mom’s boss, Jeannie, and to new businesses like a yoga studio called Flow.The tall, slender redhead who ran Flow seemed both nervous and eager to please as she answered Alanna’s question about what song she always sang in the shower (Don’t Stop Believingby Journey) while cleaning down yoga mats.
Over at The Auto Yard, a surprisingly clean and chipper mechanic shop, she discovered the high school bad boy, Hector Gonzalez, had grown into a wickedly handsome sweetheart. Leaning against a workstation covered in pictures of his young daughter, Hector sheepishly admitted his guilty pleasure movie was TheFast and the Furious.(“Everything about cars in that movie is wrong, but I still love it.”)
Vince, the chiseled, humorless man who ran the new smoothie shop, admitted that one of his favorite family traditions was eating tofurky on Thanksgiving with his mother. After they left the shop, smoothies in hand, Alanna’s feet reminded her that she’d walked up and down the Yucca Hills business district all day. Funny how she’d barely noticed the time slipping by. This was her hometown, but it felt like she was discovering it all over again. During her childhood, she’d existed only in survival mode. She’d wanted so desperately to leave that she’d never bothered noticing the town’s charm. She looked up at Sully, at the smile that was beginning to feel like a part of her. He’d shown her this side of Yucca Hills. He’d reminded her what it was like to be home again.
“What’s the next clue?” he asked.
She opened her latest card and read it.A place that cares for all things great and small.
That one took her a while, and she was a little ashamed when the answer finally came. She tugged Sully’s hand and led the way.
In front of the All Paws and Claws vet clinic, Alanna noticed the ragged edges of a Missing Petunia flyer on the front door. The storm two days ago had torn the unprotected paper clear away. It was probably for the best. It’d been nearly two weeks since the cat disappeared. Alanna swallowed through a surprisingly tight throat as she pushed through the door.
Layla broke into a huge smile behind the reception desk when Alanna and Sully entered. Alanna glanced around the small vet clinic, realizing she’d never once bothered to visit the place, though Layla had worked here since she was in high school.
“Welcome!” Layla said, rising from the desk. “I’ve been waiting all day for you.”
Alanna noted the cheerful, hand-drawn signs, the treat containers on the desk, and the huge corkboard on the back wall filled with pictures of cats, dogs, rabbits, parrots, and even a bored-looking camel. The whole reception area seemed to exude sunshine and happiness. Clearly, that was Layla’s doing.
“I’m sorry I haven’t visited before,” Alanna said. She’d been meaning to bring Petunia in, but considering she hadn’t even been able to put a collar on the cat, a wellness exam at the vet hadn’t been a top priority.
“Oh, that’s okay.” Layla waved away her apology. “You’ve just been really busy. That’s all.”
Busy.There was that word again. Alanna had been too busy for a lot of things, apparently. Pushing away her guilt, she turned over the latest white card.
“What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?” she asked.
Layla’s brow puckered in concentration. “Cal has given me so many nice gifts,” she said. “All the jewelry. The cars. The vacations. And the kittens, but that wasn’t really a gift. Oh!” She brightened. “Of course. The best gift I ever received was my family!”
“Great answer,” Sully said, while Alanna felt her cheeks flush. Thatwasa good answer. Much better than what Alanna would have said in her sister’s place. Yes, the cherry red Mercedes GT she’d bought herself when her agency’s earnings hit seven figures was certainly a sweet reward, but it didn’t beat family.
“This is such a cute idea,” Layla gushed, her grin practically reaching her ears. “I can’t tell you how nice it was to meet you yesterday, Sully. I admit, we’ve been curious.”
“We?” Sully asked, uncertainty hitching into his voice. “The knitting club?”
Layla giggled. “No, silly. The Crazy Cat Lady Club!”
“The what?”
“AND, we’re leaving,” Alanna announced. “Hand over the card, Layla.” She held out her hand to her sister.
“This is soooooo adorable!” Layla cooed while digging through her massive purse. After putting a wallet, two headbands, a packet of tissues, three tampons, two tubes of lip gloss, a box of band-aids, and a pink pepper spray container on the counter, she finally produced a slightly crumpled white envelope.
“Here you go!” Layla’s gaze switched to Sully. “Oh, and I found Alanna’s senior high school yearbook picture we were talking about yesterday.”
