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“What is it?” I sit all the way up.
He pauses, which tells me I’m not going to like it. Next to me, Moose shifts, lays his head on my lap, and lets out a deep sigh that has his gums flapping. My fingers instantly go behind his ears and begin rubbing his head.
“We need you to go over to Emma’s and check on her.”
Mic drop.
Did he just say Emma?Certainly not.
A white noise rushes through my ears. Although I never gave him any of the details about our very brief affair, he knows when it comes to her, I purposely keep my distance.
“W-What? Why?” I ask, barely being able to spit out the words. There better be a real good reason.
“Tell him.” This part is whispered next to him.
“She was headed to her lake house last night and Avery can’t get a hold of her. Well, neither of us can, which has us worried.”
“Maybe she forgot to charge her phone,” I tell him, thinking they’re both being irrational about this. She’s a grown woman who doesn’t need to be tracked twenty-four seven.
“Or maybe it’s because the power is out at her house from the storm.”
The storm.
“We had a whiteout last night.” I glance toward the window, and even though the sun is just starting to make itself known, I can see the snow piled up on the window ledge and the ice crystals clinging to the glass.
“We know. We saw the weather alerts come in and now no one can reach her.”
“Why was she coming here?” I ask defensively. I hate that I feel like the lake is my place and only my place, but I don’t want her here. When she’s here, I think about her, and that’s the last thing I want to do. I want to finish this year and start the new one free and clear of her.
“I don’t know, maybe because she likes it there and has a home there. We’re gone and Cora is on vacation with her family, the city sucks for New Year’s, and you know she loves it there.”
“She shouldn’t have come. The roads are undrivable.” An edge of unease makes its way under my skin, because what if something did happen to her?
“Exactly, and Avery is worried, like very worried. You have a snowmobile, and we need you to go over to her house and see if she’s there.”
“What if she’s not?”
“We can’t go there yet. Please, Clay.”
I let out a groan. The very last thing I want to do is get out of my warm bed, drive across the freezing lake, and check on her, but if something did happen to her . . . that unease under my skin grows.
“Thanks, man. We owe you one,” he says sincerely, even though I haven’t said yes.
“Fine,” I mutter, and he chuckles as I throw off the covers and climb out of bed.
Moose continues to lie there in the blankets, and if he could speak, I’d bet he’d be saying, “Sucker.”
“Let us know if you find her. My poor wife is going crazy.”
“Thank you, Clay,” she says in the background.
Wife. Ash has a wife. It’s still strange to hear that.
“Will do.”
It takes me five minutes to get dressed. I force Moose out of the bed so he can go to the bathroom, and when I open the garage and see all the snow, I can’t help but smile. Most people hate it when it’s like this, but I love it. I really do.
Grabbing a shovel, I make a path out of the garage, and then I drag the snowmobile into the snow. I fire up the engine, climb on, and head to town. Everything is covered: the road, thetrees, the houses. It looks like a completely different street, and while it’s a pain to deal with, it’s so pretty.
