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Shivering against the night chill, Ava started to rub her arms. “I’m worried about mom; it’s so damp after the storm and it’s starting to get cold now. Desi, what was she wearing? Did she have a sweater on at least?”
But Desi hadn’t heard her, hadn’t heard anyone until Lane nudged her because she had been too busy staring at Ava’s wrist. “Desi? Are you alright?”
Shaking her head she said, “Yeah. Sorry, I’m just tired.”
Lane stood watching her while Ava repeated her question. From the way she was acting he knew something was wrong.
“Um...” Desi swallowed hard, trying to fight back the lump in her throat from the sting of tears that suddenly appeared. “She was wearing grey sweatpants and a hoodie with ‘Canada’ written on the front of it.”
“That’s reassuring at least,” Ava said, eyes downcast.
“So, what can we do now?” Kim asked.
Mack spoke up, “You’re more than welcome to come inside and have a hot drink if you like.”
“Might as well,” Mark said, moving to go inside. Ava and Kim started to follow Mack into the store, but Mark stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Are you guys coming?”
Lane pulled his phone from his pocket to make sure Abbi’s phone signal was still in the same area. It was but then he noticed his battery had dropped to 5%. They had to hightail it back to the house and now. Glancing at Desi, he saw a tear run down her cheek as she turned away.
Lane looked at Mark and said, “Nah. It’s getting late. We are just going to head back to the spa.”
“Alright.” Mark raised his hand in a wave. “We’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See ya.” Lane snagged the sleeve of her coat. “Come on Desi, let’s go.”
But she couldn’t move, she couldn’t leave without knowing where Ava had found what she was wearing on her wrist.
She shook her head. “I can’t. You go ahead.”
“What?” He looked at her and raised his hand to her face, wiping the tear away with his thumb. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I need to know where Ava found that cat collar.”
Lane raised his brows, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “Did I miss something?”
“She had it on her wrist... It’s Nala’s...” she sniffed, wiping her nose with the back of her sleeve.
“How can you be certain that it’s hers?”
“I know, because I made it...”
“Then let’s go ask her,” he said, turning towards Mack’s.
Desi hurried after him and thanked him as he held the door open for her to enter the store.
“You two didn’t get far,” Mark said, taking a sip from his mug.
“No.” Lane raised a hand in Desi’s direction and said, “She needs to know something Ava.”
Ava was guiding a nacho chip into her mouth when she heard her name. Turning, she chewed rapidly then swallowed before saying, “Sure, what is it Desi?”
Desi could feel the tears welling in her eyes again, dashing them away, she pointed to Ava’s wrist. “I need to know where you found that?”
“It was in the middle of the road.” Ava darted her questioning eyes to her brother and saw him give a slight nod of his head. “Just out front of the store.” She unclasped it and as she did, she said, “Is it your cat’s?”
Desi nodded. She never took eyes off it, like it was a precious diamond. The second her fingertips touched it she burst into tears. They all watched as she spun on her heel and ran out of the store.
Lane turned and saw three sets of eyes staring at him, expectantly, waiting for an explanation...
