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“Have you seen Cadence?”
Jack looked at the other farmhand and nodded toward the barn. “Get back to work.”
The kid took off in the direction of the barn as he was told, and Jack looked at me. “She was here. She left in a hurry, seemed upset and a little distraught. I tried to talk to her, but she said she had to go. Told me I was to take care of things until Gabe came home. It was weird, Connor. I was going to call you, but I got busy with things in the barn.”
“Don’t worry about it. Did you notice if she took anything with her, a bag?”
Jack shook his head. “Not that I know of. Is she all right?”
“Not sure,” I said, heading toward my truck. Anger coursed through me. “Call me if she returns at any point!” I yelled back to him and climbed into my truck.
Cadence
My eyes were red and swollen from all the tears I’d cried. I sat in my truck outside of Bluebird Books, trying to calm myself before going inside. I took a sip of the latte I’d just picked up and relaxed my head against my seat. My head was pounding, and my eyes hurt. I needed to figure out what my next steps were going to be. I could always drive out to the airport, grab a flight somewhere, and just figure it out once I land, I thought to myself. Or I could just go back to my grandparents’, take my time cleaning up the rest of the items in the house, and go from there.
I glanced in the rearview mirror, my bag still sat in the back seat of the truck. I’d packed it and shoved it in there while a mix of hurt and anger coursed through me. Perhaps they had reopened the inn, I thought to myself. Maybe just hiding away there for a few days would do me good. Give me time to figure things out.
I glanced at my watch. Whatever I was going to do, I needed to decide. I grabbed my cup and my purse and climbed out of the truck. First thing I knew I needed to do was to grab a book on a couple places I figured I could go.
I stepped into the small bookstore and noticed that both Trinity and Peggy were sitting enjoying tea together. There was one other person shopping inside. I nodded to both of them and walked over to the travel section.
“Cadence, right?” Peggy questioned.
“Yes.” I did my best to give her a smile.
“Anything I can help you find?” Trinity asked, getting up from the chair she was seated in.
I looked up at the wall of books and ran my fingers over the spines. “I’m looking for a couple books, one on Florida and the other on…” I quickly skimmed the names of states and countries on the spines of the books and then blurted, “Canada.”
Trinity gave me a funny look and nodded. “Okay, Florida and… Canada.”
I watched as she ran her fingers over the books, pulling out two or three different ones on each place. “Here we are. Florida and Canada,” she said, handing me two separate piles.
“Thank you,” I muttered.
“Take a seat, peruse those books. Make sure they are what you are looking for before you buy them, dear,” she said, pointing to a large wingback chair against the window. “I want to make sure they contain the information you are looking for.” She smiled.
I walked over, noticing a small black cat curled up on the back of the chair. I almost didn’t want to sit down for fear of disturbing her.
“Don’t worry about Luna,” Peggy said. “She loves people and loves that chair. You may be her new best friend.” She winked.
“Thanks,” I said as I sat down on the edge of the chair and placed the books in my lap. I’d flipped through the first book and placed it beside me, starting in the next one.
“So, do you mind if I ask what made you choose those locations? I mean, they are in the exact opposite direction of one another.” Peggy said.
I looked over and saw both ladies were looking at me, curiosity in their eyes.
“Well, I um…I need a change of scenery. A new start…if you will,” I said, continuing to flip through the books.
“Oh, I thought you were going to settle here?” Trinity said, taking a sip of her drink.
“Me too,” I muttered, my mind going back to Connor. It was then my eyes got blurry. I wiped at them, quickly removing the tears that were building in them.
“My dear, is everything all right?” Trinity asked, coming over to me with a box of tissues. “Here, take one, please.”
I quickly took two and thanked her, blowing my nose and wiping my eyes before I looked over at them. “How did you know something was wrong?”
“Oh goodness, dear, you look like you’ve just lost everything you ever had. We are happy to listen if you need to talk. We don’t pry. Whatever we talk about stays between these four walls.”
