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“Mama,” she chastised.
Mama looked at her, and Jill searched her face. So much was said without any words, and the two of them burst out laughing simultaneously. Jill grabbed onto her mom, who latched onto her, and they laughed and laughed and laughed.
“What’s goin’ on down there?” Daddy finally called from the top of the steps. “Are we out of rocky road?”
“Oh, that man and his rocky road,” Mama grumbled as she moved over to the chest freezer. “I’ll show him a rocky road.”
Jill continued to giggle as she took the gallon of ice cream for her father while Mama took out a container of frozen lemon tarts. Together, they went upstairs, Jill’s steps and her heart lighter than they’d been in years.
Thank you, Lord, she thought as she handed Daddy his treat.Thank you.
She managed to eat a couple of tarts and answer a few questions about Slate for Haven before she could make an excuse for why she needed to leave. As she got behind the wheel of her car, her phone rang, and Luke’s name sat on the screen.
“Hey,” she said cheerfully. “Did you guys make it back to the ranch?”
“No,” Luke said, his voice full of panic. “You haven’t heard from Slate in the past ten or fifteen minutes, have you?”
“No.” Jill frowned, all kinds of alarms going off in her head. “Why?”
“We can’t find him,” Luke said. “We were at his parents’ place, and he went inside with his brother, and now he’s gone.”
“Gone?” Jill asked, starting her car. “What do you mean, gone?”
“I mean, he’s gone,” Luke said, something rustling on his end of the line. “His phone’s right here, Dallas.”
“Luke,” Jill practically yelled. “Tell me what’s going on.” She heard Dallas’s voice talking, and Luke said something else too, but he’d covered up the speaker. “Luke,” she said again, desperation making her voice pitchy.
“He’s bailed, Jill,” Luke said, equal parts misery and anxiousness now. “He’s in the wind. Gone. AWOL. In Austin.”
Horror struck Jill right behind the heart. It slid around every rib, crushing them as it brought them closer together. “He hates Austin,” she whispered.
“I know,” Luke said. “We’ll find him, Jill, okay? I promise you, we’ll find him.” The call ended, and Jill could only stare at her phone for several long moments.
Then she put both hands on the wheel and looked up at the ceiling of her car. “Dear Lord,” she prayed. “Thou can see the whole picture. Please bring him back to Sweet Water Falls. Please protect him. Please.”
She breathed in.
“Please.”
And out.
“Please.”
