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Would everything have turned out better for her son if his father had truly cared?
CHAPTER FOUR
Nick settled into awicker chair out in his lanai and opened his laptop. But instead of trying to make himself work on his neglected book manuscript, he dropped his hands onto the arms of the chair and stared out at the lush green foliage surrounding the backyard.
Though this was the first week of December, some crimson hibiscus flowers were still blooming, and the towering wall of plumeria along the back fence still held an array of pink-tinged yellow blossoms. The sweet scent of jasmine filled the air.
Carrie would have loved the endless beauty here in Hawaii. The unique and vibrant flowers. The stunning white sand beaches.
She would have been the first one in the water to snorkel and look for the spectacular tropical fish that abounded in these crystal clear, turquoise waters. She would have loved to tackle the most challenging trails—and he would have been right behind her, always captivated by her joy in the simplest things.
Yet here he was. Alone.
The sharp edge of grief had faded into an ever-present, quiet ache. But even after two years, he longed to talk with her over supper about every event of the day. To hear her delighted laughter and see the amusement sparkling in her big green eyes.
Because she was gone, the years ahead had seemed to stretch out into a vast, lonely, and never-ending wasteland. And so he’d immersed himself in the dream of being a writer that he’d had long before vet school.
At least in the fictional world unfolding for his characters, he could lose himself in other lives. In a place where he had control.
But inadvertently meeting Lucy had given him a jolt of awareness beyond his own insular existence.
It couldn’t have been a glimmer of attraction—he was far beyond that now. He would never try to find anyone else, because no one else could ever measure up to Carrie.
Maybe he just needed to get out more and work less.
With a sigh, he clicked on the Internet to look at his email, then clicked over to check the local news.
The headline sent a shockwave down his spine. And when a text chimed into his phone, he took one look, launched to his feet, and headed out the door.
* * * *
“IWASN’T EXPECTINGto ever see you again,” Lucy said quietly. “But I was told the officers wanted to talk to you as well, so I gave them your number. Apparently they didn’t write it down correctly.”
“Have they seen you yet?” Nick took a seat next to hers in the waiting area of the police station. Beyond a plate glass window he could see a female officer at the front desk talking to an officer behind her.
“Nope. A very inebriated woman was just taken to the back and she was quite a handful. Do they have holding cells in a station this size?”
