Page 150 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

But Mabel cut her off, “Fly will watch you with his binoculars. If you turn around, and he sees you, I’ll shoot your dog. Understand?”

Cat felt her insides twist. Lucy whimpered and Cat felt the lump in her throat harden. If anything happened to Lucy, she would hunt down these two geriatrics and make them pay. Cat turned and began to walk in as straight a line as possible. How would she ever be able to find her way back? Then she remembered what Jared had told her. She knew the Bickersons were watching her so every few yards she carefully reached out and twisted the limb of a creosote bush, hoping that later she would be able to use the marker to find her way home.

Cat’s SUV was found at the base of the Copper Creek Buttes. There was no sign of foul play, but that did nothing to ease the terror that pounded through Jared like random cannon fire.

After questioning her neighbors, he discovered she’d been gone most of the day. She’d last been seen late in the afternoon, driving through town with an older couple. She’d taken Lucy with her. It was assumed she’d gone out for a drive with friends.

Assumed. The word sent waves of panic coursing through Jared’s body. Assumed missing. Assumed dead. He hated the word “assumed.” It was all his fault. He should have kept a closer eye on her.

The description of the older couple matched the Bickersons exactly. Jared remembered Cat’s insistence that Mabel and Fly were following them. He called Jess. She confirmed what he feared. The Bickersons were felons wanted in connection with the heist of the Divine choker from the New England Heirloom Museum. They were last seen in an RV headed west.

The crisis was not alleviated by Cameron Levery’s sudden appearance in town. On an unexpected business trip to Phoenix, he’d decided to surprise Cat with a quick visit.

“What do you mean my sister is missing?” he shouted. Having gone to her house and found her gone, Cameron had driven out to the ranch to visit Jared. It was then that Jess called to report that Cat’s car had been found.

“We think she went for a drive,” Jared said, not mentioning the Bickersons’ possible abduction. He didn’t think Cameron’s nerves could take it. “But she’s been gone all day, and no one knows exactly where she went.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Cam said, pacing the room like a nervous father on prom night. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“What plan?” Jared asked.

“My plan to fix you two up,” Cam said. “She was never supposed to be out of your sight. You were supposed to fall in love on the drive out and then you’d be together and I could stop worrying about the two of you. So, what’s wrong with my sister that you didn’t fall in love with her?”

“Who said I’m not?” Jared asked.

Cameron scrutinized his friend’s face. Jared didn’t need a mirror to know his jaw was clenched so tight that lines of worry were creasing his cheeks and brow. He knew he looked as scared and desperate as he felt and he knew Cameron could see it, too.

“All right.” Cam nodded. “Only a man in love could look as wrecked as you do. Let’s go find her.”

She felt as if she’d walked for hours. She’d promised herself she would walk until the sun set and then she would turn around and go back the way she came. There was no way Mabel and Fly would be able to see her in the dark, assuming they were still watching.

The sun was just beginning to set and it was getting cooler when she heard a rustling in the scrub behind her. Cat spun around, looking for anything that slithered or scurried in the desert brush. All was still. She tried not to panic, but the rustling noise started again and it was getting closer. Did coyotes attack people? What if it was a rattlesnake? What could she use for a weapon?

Cat searched the ground looking for a big stick or a rock. There was nothing save dry grass and dirt. There were no large trees to climb, no water holes to jump into. Nothing.

The noise grew louder and Cat strained to see what was coming out of the bush at her. Didn’t they have javelinas, wild pigs, out here? She turned and braced herself, ready to kick at anything that came within a yard of her.

The animal broke free of the bushes and launched itself at Cat. She had just a second to register the familiar yip, the soft black fur and open her arms. Lucy bowled her over right into the dirt.

“Oh, Lucy,” she said. “I was afraid I’d never see you again. Did you run away or did they let you go? I bet you made a break for it. That’s my good girl.”

Lucy licked the tears off her face and Cat hugged her close.

They were standing a hundred yards away from a large flat-topped boulder. Knowing that the Bickersons couldn’t possibly see them any longer, Cat hiked to the boulder. She climbed onto the rock and Lucy followed her. It was unlikely that anyone knew she was missing or would even know to look for her out here in the desert, but she figured her odds of being spotted were better if she was above the desert floor. Hugging Lucy close to her chest, Cat decided to wait out the dark night and to start back at first light.

There was no moon and the night was as black as tar, but Cat could discern the familiar forms around her. She sat cross-legged on the rock, her sleeping puppy nestled against her side. She’d had moments of sheer terror. Amazingly, it wasn’t death that frightened her, but rather the fear that she might never see Jared again. Suddenly, it didn’t seem to matter whether she was independent and self-sufficient or not. All that mattered was the man that filled her heart.

He was right. She was different with him. Why had it taken her so long to see that? With Jared, she never lost herself. With Jared, she never felt a need to subvert her needs to meet his. From the first day she’d met him, she’d been able to assert herself with him. He’d accepted it and loved her in spite of it. And he did love her. She knew that now.

Why hadn’t she seen it sooner? Why hadn’t she acknowledged all of the little ways she remained herself with him? He’d saved her life, yes, but she’d given him his. They were two halves of a whole. Yin and yang. Earth and sky. Sun and moon. And she was an idiot.

When the first pink fingers of dawn began to stretch across the sky, Cat opened her eyes. She was cold and her muscles ached. But, she reminded herself, they were alive. Curled up around the puppy with only a sweatshirt for cover, she rubbed Lucy’s cold fur until they were both warm. They would be all right. They had to be.

“Let’s go home,” she said and Lucy jumped off the rock, eager to be on their way.

The morning chill soon dissipated, and Cat shed her sweatshirt, tying it around her waist.

They stopped to rest at the base of a hill that Cat was certain looked familiar. The bent limb of a creosote marked it as a place she had been. A cactus wren watched them from the tip of a saguaro, while Cat kept her eyes on the ground. She didn’t want any surprises, like a rattlesnake, to leap up and catch her or Lucy unaware.

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