Page 55 of Harmony Island Gazette
I’d expected Kevin to betray me. That’s what he always did.
I just never thought Boone would do the same.
Just as I pushed through the front door and into my parents’ house, a familiar sound stopped me. My mother’s voice.
They were back?
A sob escaped my lips as the tears began to flow once more. I hurriedly shut the door and rushed to the kitchen, where her voice was coming from. But no one was there.
I was alone.
I stared at the machine, realizing that my mom had called to leave herself a message. Something about not forgetting to set up a doctor’s appointment for my dad when they got back. Also, she reminded herself that she needed to check on Mrs. Boulder.
The sound of my mom’s voice mixed with the pain in my chest, and I found myself acting before I could think. I needed to talk to my mom. I needed to hear her tell me everything was going to be okay. So, I reached forward, grabbed the phone and pressed the talk button.
She was in the middle of leaving her message when the dam broke inside of me. Tears were flowing now, and my voice crackled as I sobbed out, “Mom.”
20
BOONE
Juniper wasn’t back yet.
I stood at the register, staring at an elderly woman unloading her groceries onto the conveyor belt. I knew she wasn’t actually moving at a snail’s pace. My frustration had nothing to do with her and everything to do with the fact that Juniper had made plans to meet Kevin and didn’t tell me.
I’d only found out from the texts that were currently blowing up her phone. I’d tried to ignore the buzzing coming from the drawer under the register. I’d figured that Juniper had unknowingly left her phone behind. But when the noise became constant and incessant, I pulled the drawer open only to find that the sender was Kevin, and—from what I could see in the message preview on her lock screen—he wasn’t coming to lunch.
I was now in the midst of trying to figure out when she made these plans and why she didn’t tell me. I thought we’d gotten closer. I thought she trusted me. And even though she had no obligation to tell me where she was going, I’d deluded myself into thinking that she would.
I thought I meant enough to her to at least deserve that.
Apparently, I was wrong.
The conveyor brought the woman’s groceries to me, so I started scanning them. I wanted to force thoughts of Juniper to the far corners of my mind, where I shoved a lot of things, but no matter how much I triednotto think about her, it wasn’t working.
She was all I could think about.
I don’t know if it was my anxiety about Juniper or my growing ability to run the register, but I finished scanning the woman’s items, bagged them, and walked around the register to load them into her cart in record time.
I loaded her groceries while she used the pin pad to pay. The register clocked the payment and spit out the receipt, which I tore off and handed to her. She took it and thanked me before she pushed her cart through the sliding doors.
Now alone, I stared at the register as I tried to ignore the newest text message that had just come through. Kevin was nothing if not persistent.
And where the hell was Juniper? She’d left forty minutes ago. Actually, she’d told me she was going to go eat lunch forty minutes ago. I had no idea when she actually left the store.
My stomach twisted at that thought. How was I supposed to protect her if she didn’t tell me things? And why did she feel like she needed to lie? I wasn’t here to stop her—I wasn’t going to do that. But I would make sure she was safe. She had to know that.
Or maybe I just misread everything that had transpired between us over the last week. Maybe I was the only one who hoped our time together meant something more. And Juniper was just trying to figure out how she was going to get back with Kevin.
I was going to be the idiot left holding my heart after she tore it from my chest.
I cursed as I pushed my hand through my hair and tipped my face toward the ceiling. If that was true, then why did I want to grab my keys, get into my truck, and drive to find her just to make sure she was okay?
Even if I found her in the arms of Kevin—I needed to make sure she was safe.
I was an idiot.
I grabbed my key and locked the register. I slipped Juniper’s phone into my back pocket as I headed toward the bakery. I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate until I knew Juniper was safe. Even if it meant breaking my heart, I was going to find her.
