Page 72 of Duty and Desire

My world, the one I’d created for myself on the island, had just crashed and burned.

I had a father and a brother to bury.

A new life to lead, one that meant leaving the only man I’d ever loved.

And I can’t tell him what’s happened.

I can’t even say goodbye.

Chapter Twenty-Four

May 20

Gio

By eight o’clock, I was growing frantic.

He should’ve been here hours ago.

Nick hadn’t replied to my texts. He hadn’t answered my calls. And when my last attempt resulted in a mechanical voice telling me the number was unavailable, I swear, I had palpitations. I couldn’t shake off the overwhelming sensation of dread pervading me, my mind conjuring all kinds of worst-case scenarios, until I was nauseated.

Where are you?

I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. I’d been doing that for hours, and all it had gotten me was a pounding headache and an uncontrollable bout of the shivers. I grabbed the keys to the buggy, then headed for Kai’s bar. Having to focus on the road proved a welcome distraction, but by the time I reached the bar, I felt as though someone was smothering me in heavy layers of panic and fear.

Kai stared at me with wide eyes. “You look awful.” He peered around me. “Where’s the boyfriend?”

“Have you seen him today?” I knew it was a long shot but I had to try something.

Kai shook his head. “I’ve been here since we opened, and I haven’t seen him. What’s wrong?”

I explained the situation. “Would he have gotten called in to tend bar someplace? Maybe someone called in sick, or something?”

He reached for his phone. “Let me call the places where he works. Maybe they’ve seen him.”

I left him to it, and gazed at the bar’s customers, not that I was really seeing them. My head was too messed up. The TV sounded louder than usual, blaring out some game or other, watched by a group of guys in loud shirts, downing beers and shouting at the screen.

They weren’t loud enough to drown out the thoughts rampaging through my head.

He’s had an accident.

He’s fallen overboard.

He was diving and he ran out of air.

Kai’s hand on my arm made me jump out of my skin. His furrowed brow told me it wasn’t good news.

“No one’s seen him.” He froze. “Wait a sec. There’s something Icando. It’s not much, but you never know.” He tapped his phone and scrolled. “I can crop this photo, then stick it on the island’s Facebook community page, and Instagram. You know the kind of thing…Have you seen this man?”

I peered at the picture. “That was us last night.” Nick was gazing at me, his eyes bright, with a smile that could power a small New Hampshire town.

Wait a minute…

I frowned. “Why were you taking pictures of me and Nick?”

Kai rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing sinister, okay? The guy who owns the bar has this idea. He wants to update our Facebook pageand website, so he asked me to take photos of the bar to put online. The cheapskate didn’t want to pay for a professional photographer.” He flushed. “I was going to ask you if it was okay before I uploaded it, honest.”

“Do it,” I barked. He was right. It was the fastest way to find someone who knew Nick’s whereabouts, even if it reeked of desperation. I’d seen many such photos in the States, and in most cases, there wasn’t a happy ending.

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