Page 88 of Living Hell

“I can’t seem to locate Iona or the mayor. They’re supposed to be on the float soon.”

He held up a finger and lifted a phone to his ear. I glanced around and noticed a lot of men with sunglasses and suits milling around.

“Sorry. Had to check in with my team. What was that about Iona and Mayor Bailey?” Garrison slid the phone into his back pocket.

“Have you seen them?”

“She’s not on the float?” he asked, then looked at the ground mumbling, “I thought that’s where she was.”

I shook my head. “No, and I’m worried. I can’t seem to locate her anywhere.”

He reached back for his phone again. “Give me a minute. I’ll come over to the float when I have something.”

I wanted to stay. Every nerve ending in my body pricked with awareness. Something was terribly wrong. The sheriff was on edge and that man was always as cool as ice.

Slowly and with a keen eye, I made my way back to the float. A few times I thought I saw her, but it turned out to be other women with long black hair. The other time it turned out to be a biker guy in a leather jacket.

Several pairs of eyes stared at me as I meandered closer to the float. I held up my hands. “Nothing yet. The sheriff’s looking for her now.”

“Fuck,” my brother said and stormed off.

He was never one to take failure lightly and he screwed this up good. When this parade was over, I was going to make sure he understood that I wasn’t happy with his performance. I may not be his boss, but I was still his older brother.

“I found her phone up on the float. She was there at some point this morning but must have left. Maybe she’s just throwing up in one of the porta-potties,” Cara offered as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

There was concern in her eyes. I had never felt so helpless in my life. When tragedy struck, I was always able to help. People brought in animals on death’s door all the time, and I was the one who took action. When my mom overdosed, I knew to call the ambulance and even performed CPR on her. When our parents died, I was the one to arrange the funeral and take over the bills.

I was the person people turned to for help and right now, there was nothing I could do. I thought when Iona left eleven years ago, that was the worst feeling in the world, but this was torture.

“Hey, everyone.” Austen strolled up with a smile on his face. He took one look at me and frowned. “Tyler, what’s going on? Did Iona drink pickle juice in front of you again?” The man chuckled at my pain.

“We can’t find her. Or the mayor,” Babette said.

“Just now?”

“No. We’ve been looking for her for twenty minutes. The parade starts soon and they’re nowhere to be found.” Cara looked up from her phone. “I’m texting the mayor’s assistant to let her know to hold off on the parade until they’re found.”

“Fuck the parade, I want my fiancée.”

I meant it. This engagement may be fake to Iona, but I wanted to marry the woman. Deep down, I knew this scheme would either end with me harboring a devastated broken heart or calling her my wife.

Austen’s hand landed on my shoulder with a firm grip. “Then let’s find her. She couldn’t have gone far.”

“Good idea. We’ll break out to find her. Cara, you stay here in case she comes back,” Babette said before turning to face me. “I care about her, too, despite what you may believe. I’ll do all I can to find her.”

I knew in her own way, Babette did love Iona. She may need a lesson in truth as opposed to lies to find happiness, but that was something she had to figure out herself.

Babette searched the floats while Austen and I scoped out the perimeter.

We were silent for a moment before Austen finally spoke. “Look, I know about the fake engagement.”

My head swiveled around in surprise. “You do?”

“Yeah. I overheard Iona on the phone a few weeks ago with Babette. She was up in the bedroom, and I went up there to use your bathroom because the one on the main floor smelled like pickles. And I really hate pickles.”

I too had developed a deep loathing for pickles in recent weeks.

“Anyway, the conversation she had was somewhat muffled through the vents but clear enough that I made out a few things. One of which was the engagement.”

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