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“Okay, then. Where would you be the happiest?”
“If I knew that, I’d have my answer.” She sat taller and busied herself straightening the items around the register. “Do you ever regret making the sacrifices you’ve made for Dad over the years?” she asked.
She’d expected her mother to immediately say she didn’t regret a thing, so she was surprised when her mother didn’t answer right away.
“Mom?” Talulah said, confused.
“It was different back when I married,” Carolyn hedged.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I probablydidmake more sacrifices than I should have. But I believed it was the woman’s place to put her husband first, and I took that to heart.”
Was she still doing that? Talulah had wondered if the mission—at least such a long one—had been her father’s idea. “You’re saying youdohave regrets.”
“If I’m being honest, I have a few.”
“What am I supposed to make of that?”
“Don’t give up the diner too soon,” her mother said, and then her father must’ve come into the room because she immediately changed the subject.
“Dinah called me recently and told me that while you were in Coyote Canyon, someone threw a rock that shattered the window and you were cut.”
“Yeah. I bet you can guess who did that.”
“Charlie?”
“Or Averil.”
“You thinkAverilwould do something like that?”
Talulah remembered finding Mitch’s teddy bear behind the barn, so she knew Charlie wasn’t the only one coming by late at night. “I don’t want to believe it. But it would have to be her or Charlie. There’s no one else it could be.”
“Dinah says Averil insists it’s Charlie. But she doesn’t believe it. She says it has to be someone else.”
“Of course she’d say that. She’s his mother. But no one else was mad at me. Not enough to—” Talulah let her words drift off as she remembered that therewasone other person who was mad at her. Paul had been mad at her, and he hadn’t been picking up his phone for several days right about the time it happened.
He was in Seattle at the time, though, wasn’t he?
A strange feeling came over her as she jumped to her feet. “I’d better go, Mom. It’s getting late, and I’m still at the diner.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll talk to you again on Sunday,” Carolyn said, but after she disconnected, Talulah didn’t pack up her tote. Her heart was pounding as she considered possibilities that’d never occurred to her before. Could Paul have come to Coyote Canyon earlier than he’d said? “This is a long shot,” she muttered, and yet the hair on her neck was standing on end. Since someone wouldn’t be likely to drive that far twice in such a short time, she grabbed her laptop from under the register and logged into his Southwest account. It was only an hour-and-forty-minute flight. Because they had a Rapid Rewards credit card they used for the business, which earned travel miles, and those miles belonged equally to both of them, Talulah had the username and password.
She kept telling herself that she was being ridiculous, that this was the most unlikely of scenarios. Paul had acted so surprised when he saw her arm. He’d asked about the stitches. It couldn’t be him.
And yet...
She sank onto the stool, scarcely able to believe what she saw. He’d booked a ticket to Bozeman, where he must’ve rented a car, the day she’d been cut.
Brant hadn’t heard from Talulah today. She hadn’t even responded to his text. He could feel her slipping away from him and didn’t know what to do next.
“What’s wrong with you?” A gust of wind slammed the door as Ranson came into the living room from outside, followed by Miles. They’d just returned from a friend’s house. They’d invited Brant to go with them to play beer pong, but he’d said he had stuff to get done.
“Nothing,” Brant replied. “Just tired. I’m about to go to bed.”
“Whatever show you were watching is over, dude.” Miles gestured at the TV. “In case you haven’t noticed, the screen’s frozen.”
“I told you, I’m about to go to bed,” Brant responded, but he couldn’t have said how long it’d been since the show ended. He couldn’t even have explained what the show had been about. He’d been lost in his own thoughts for so long, trying to figure out what he was going to do if he had to go on without Talulah.
