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Lauren Dane
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of food from the snack she left earlier.” Paddy grabbed two
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sandwiches and some fruit.
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He frowned, but maybe.
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But when she still hadn’t shown up for the late meal, he knew
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something was wrong. It was nearly midnight. There’s no way
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she would have just not shown up.
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“Go check on her.” Ezra tipped his chin.
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“Yeah. Be back.”
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“Let’s call it a night anyway. It’s late and we had a good day.
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No one drew blood. Win.” Paddy stood and stretched.
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“Okay.”
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“Let us know if there’s a problem,” Vaughan called out as
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he left.
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The house was quiet, though the lights were on in the kitchen.
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“Mary?” he called out.
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Her laptop wasn’t on the table though. Maybe she’d taken it
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upstairs to work and had fallen asleep.
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He knew when he got upstairs that there was a problem. His
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heart thudded in his chest and he was terrifi ed he’d fi nd her
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passed out or hurt in some way. And when he got into his room
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he noted her things were gone. He’d given her space in his closet
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where bare hangers hung now. He rushed into the bathroom,
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and the counter where she’d left her stuff was empty; her hair
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stuff wasn’t in the shower.
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“Mary?” His earlier casual call had turned into a louder
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demand for her presence, laced with fear as he rushed from room
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to room. “Damn it, this isn’t funny. Where are you?”
28S
His car wasn’t in the garage though. He checked his phone
29N
and saw a message from a number in town.
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Lush
“This is Quickie Rental. We’re calling to let you know your
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car is waiting here to be picked up. We close at ten tonight but
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we’ll be open in the morning at six.” They left a number.
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“What the fuck?”
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He ran to Ezra’s, pounding on the door. His brother answered
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moments after.
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“What? Is she all right?”
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“She’s gone. She’s . . . I got a call from the rental car agency
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in town that my car is there. They left it at a little after one. Her 09
stuff is gone. There’s no note.”
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“Did you call her?”
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Shit. “No. I’m sure there’s an explanation.” He dialed her
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up and was told by a not so cheerful recording that his number
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had been blocked.
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“She blocked me. What the hell?”
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“What did you do, Damien?”
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“Nothing! I haven’t done anything! I swear.”
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“Woman like Mary doesn’t just leave without word and
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block your number for no reason. Call her house.”
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“Good idea.” She still had a landline.
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She’d blocked him on that too.
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“Let’s go up to Mom and Dad’s place. Did you check your
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e-mail?”
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“I looked but there was nothing from her. A shit- ton of other
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stuff, but there always is.”
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They got in Ezra’s truck and headed to their parents house.
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His mother came to the door.
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“What? Is everyone all right?” The sleep went away, going
S28
into crisis- mom mode at the sight of them.
N29
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He told her and she yanked him into the house. “What did
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you do to her? I just saw her this morning. She was fi ne. She
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made us enchilada casserole. Your dad and I ate it for dinner. I
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invited her to lunch tomorrow before she headed back home and
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she accepted.”
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“We were together. Right before I went up to the barn to
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work. Everything was fi ne. Better than fi ne.” He paced, shoving
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a hand through his hair. “She brought the snacks and then
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lunch. She had to have left sometime after that.”
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“Maybe something happened to a family member?” Ezra’s
11
voice attempted to soothe.
12
“She would have said. She wouldn’t have blocked my damned
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number. She thinks I did something. Someone told her some-
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thing. Damn.”
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“Did you do something? Now’s the time to come clean. You
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might be able to salvage it if you just come clean.”
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“Mom! No. I love her. I wouldn’t do that to her. She should
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know better.”
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“She does. So that means whatever she heard or saw was
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pretty convincing. Call Adrian. He might know from his wife.
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They’re close right?”
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“It’s after midnight. She’s pregnant with a kid in school. I
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can’t call him this late.”
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“All right, why don’t you e-mail her and then you can check
25
in tomorrow morning? There’s nothing you can do right now.”
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“I can go to her house right now.”
27
“No, you can’t. You’ve been drinking with your brothers and
28S
you’re tired out. I don’t want you driving or fl ying up there in
29N
the dark. It’s not safe.”
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Lush
“Mom, I can’t not go. What if she’s upset?”
01
“She’s upset. Of course she is! But she’s going to have to deal
02
with it until it’s daylight and you can get to her safely.”
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He left the house and Ezra came after him. “She’s right, you
04
know.”
05
“I know she is. This is killing me, Ezra. She thinks I’ve done
06
something and she’s hurting and I can’t stop it.”
07
“I expect you’re hurting too. Never been in love before and
08
now you are, and now you know what it means.” He paused.
09
“Is there anything? Maybe something that could have been mis-
10
interpreted? Let’s go in and check the Internet. You e-mail her
11
and I’ll search to see what’s out there. All right?”
12
“I can’t lose her. She’s everything to me. My god. I’ve never
13
felt so helpless. Not even when . . .” He looked away from his
14
brother. “I’m sorry.”
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Ezra blew out a breath. “Don’t be sorry. You helped me then.
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I’ll help you now. Come on. If I can kick heroin, you can get
17
your woman back.”
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S28
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S
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he got just south of Tacoma and it hit her so hard she had
17
to pull off the road. Up to that point she’d been so involved
18
in just leaving, in getting the hell away from Sweet Hol-
19
low Ranch and out of Oregon, that she’d held the tears off.
20
In the parking lot of a suburban mini mall in front of a chain
21
Italian restaurant she cried so hard she thought she might
22
throw up.
23
Five hours ago she’d never been happier. She could envision
24
this man and his family in her life. She was loved.
25
Had been loved.
26
Maybe.
27
Never.
S28
She didn’t know what to do. She sat there in her rental car
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
in the bleak, gray northwest November weather and stared for
02
so long she wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
03
Her fi rst instinct had been to call in the cavalry. To tell Daisy
04
about all this. And then she hesitated because the last thing she
05
could endure at that moment was to have an I- told- you-so 06
moment. Especially when it was deserved.
07
She’d walked out on a job. Even if he had been a cheating
08
bastard, she’d taken money and didn’t deliver her promised ser-
09
vices. She’d send the money back when she got home.
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First thing though, she blocked Damien from her cell. If he
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came back and found she’d gone, he might try to call, and if she
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heard his voice she’d lose it. No, it was better to ice him out so
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hard he got the point right away.
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She didn’t look at her screen because his picture was there
15
with his number. Once that was done she took a deep breath and
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got back on the freeway.
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Though she felt guilty for slinking back home without tell-
18
ing anyone, she needed to be alone for a while. She grabbed her
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camp chair and a blanket and headed out, up to her spot.
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21
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Cal had been on his way back from his parents’ place when he
23
noticed a strange car in Mary’s driveway. She was in Oregon
24
until the following day.
25
Suspicious, he pulled in behind the rental and got out. The
26
car was empty so he went to the house, taking a walk around
27
the outside and fi nding nothing out of the ordinary.
28S
He knocked on her back door but no one answered. Alarm
29N
began to rise so he let himself in.
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Lush
“Mary?”
01
Her bags were in the kitchen, tossed, nearly haphazardly,
02
which was not like her at all. After a quick check, she wasn’t
03
in the house.
04
Her cell was off.
05
He called Jules, who said she hadn’t heard from Mary since
06
the day before. Same with Daisy.
07
He knew of one other place she might be, so he headed
08
out the back door.
09
He found her in her thinking spot, burrowed in a blanket,
10
staring off into space.
11
“Hey, I thought you were in Oregon?”
12
She turned to face him, startled. That’s when he noted how red
13
and puffy her eyes were. He moved quickly, kneeling before her.
14
“What is it?”
15
She went into his arms, shaking as she cried. And he was
16
helpless. His sister was strong. Scrappy. When they were grow-
17
ing up he saw her cry maybe a handful of times. But when she
18
did, it was really bad.
19
He loved her fi ercely. She was always there when he needed
20
her. Defended him, protected him, got on his case when he
21
needed it. No one had ever loved him as unconditionally as his
22
sister had. It broke him into little pieces to see her cry.
23
“Tell me. I’m freaking out here.”
24
“Damien cheated on me.”
25
He froze. “What? Baby, are you sure?” He hadn’t liked
26
Damien at fi rst, but over the months as the guy had come
27
around, he’d more than proven himself to Cal. The guy was so
S28
crazy- gone for Mary, it was written all over him.
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
“While he was in New York last week. With the lingerie
02
model he was with before me. Her head was on his shoulder. In