Page 7 of Honey Bee Library
The house was quiet by the time I was dressed and headed to the kitchen. I noticed that Willow and Jasper’s shoes were no longer by the front door when I walked past the foyer. When I peeked into the master bedroom, the bed was made and all of their belongings were gone. I’d never experienced a woman leaving my house so quickly.
I walked through the rooms on the first level, just to make sure that she wasn’t hiding out in one of them. I blew out my breath when I came up empty-handed. They had really left.
Needing something to do to dispel my nervous energy, I whipped up some pancakes and eggs. Once I plated some of the food for myself, I packaged up the rest to bring to the diner. I figured Willow and Jasper would be hungry. I quickly ate before I headed out to the garage.
I was in my car and backing down the driveway when my phone rang. It was a call from Maddie. I answered through my car speakers.
“Hey, Mads,” I said as I kept my gaze focused on the rearview camera.
“How’s North Carolina?”
I paused at the end of my driveway and sighed. “It’s…uneventful.”
“No signs of…” She hesitated, and I knew why.
I didn’t like talking about my mom, and I appreciated her discretion when it came to sensitive topics. “Nope. Nothing.”
“I’m sure she’ll turn up. You just need to have patience.”
I closed my eyes as my hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Yeah,” I finally murmured.
“I’m calling you because Liam has been looking for you. He’s stopped by the club twice since you left. I think he’s in some kind of trouble.”
I chuckled. I would be surprised if he wasn’t running from something. Liam was one of my best friends. He also happened to be a world-famous rock star. I met him a few years ago at my club, before he was an international sensation. Now, he was constantly coming to me to bail him out of the messes he’d put himself in.
“Give him my address here in Harmony. Maybe he needs a place to hide out while things cool down.”
“Will do. Anything else you need from me?”
I glanced back at my rental. It really wasn’t kid-friendly, and I wanted to fix that. But was it delusional to think that Willow would actually come back? If there was a chance, I wanted this place to be more homey for her and Jasper. She seemed to be under a lot of stress right now, and for some reason I wanted to help relieve some of it for her. But if she refused to come back, I also didn’t want a constant reminder that she’d left.
I shook my head. It was better to be prepared than not. “Think you could fly here for a day? I have something you need to do.”
“Of course, Boss. Do you want me on a flight today?”
“Yeah. Get here as soon as you can.”
“Will do.”
We said our goodbyes and I hung up. It took me a moment to get my thoughts together before I finally took a left and headed out of the gated community. I was about ten minutes down the road when I slowed. Willow’s car was parked on the shoulder. The hood was smoking, and she was standing in the grass with her phone out and her hand pushed through her hair.
I pulled in behind her and got out.
“It’s smoking. I don’t know what to do,” she said into her phone. Her voice was desperate, and there was a hint of defeatism in it. “Okay.” She paused and nodded. “I’ll be here.”
Her gaze landed on me as she pulled her phone from her cheek. She checked the screen before she slipped it into her back pocket. Her expression was unreadable, and I hated that. There was so much about this woman that was a mystery to me.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I glanced back at her car.
“Yeah…no.” She sighed as she scrubbed her face with her hands before tipping it toward the sky and closing her eyes. “It just started smoking,” she said as she dropped her hands to her sides before returning her gaze to mine. “I don’t need this,” she whispered.
“Was that a tow truck you were talking to?”
She nodded. “But he can’t get out here for a few hours. Apparently he’s got a pickup in another town.”
I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my pants. “It’s a good thing we’re going in the same direction.” I shrugged.
She studied me before she glanced back at her car. “Yeah…”
