Page 7 of Forever Finds Us
It didn’t matter. I’d get over it. I’d feel jealous and wistful for a few days, but then my daydreams would fade away and I’d resign myself to being alone again, like I always did. Maybe Dan’s default-hookup pact had some merit.
For a while there, I’d gone on dates with every single man I could find in the tri-state area, but all that had gotten me was a lot of creepy first-date stories—one where I’d strongly considered using my Taser—no second-date stories, and many blocked cell phone numbers. When that got old and severely disappointing, I just tried to settle down. I spent time with my friends and focused on my job. I’d taken up crocheting and had gotten surprisingly good at it.
Ughhh. Now all I needed was ten cats, and I’d be set for life. Even my four-year-old nieces were sick of the crocheted bunnies and unicorns I kept sending them.
“Yeah,” I answered Tabitha. “I’ve been here a couple years. Before I came to Wisper, I worked Yellowstone, but I’m from the Oklahoma City area. Born and raised, actually. Where are you comin’ from?”
“Joplin, Missouri. Do you know it?”
I shook my head. “Sounds familiar though.”
“It’s near the northeast corner of Oklahoma. Anyway, I’ve been in Sheridan now for about two years and at Lee Construction for almost a year. When Brand announced he was selling his contracts up north, he asked if I wanted to make the move down here to help him set up shop in his hometown. I love the mountains and the small-town feel, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said as my phone rang again. “Sure do. S’cuse me for a sec.”
Grabbing my purse from the table behind me, I yanked my phone out. Oh yeah, I thought, I just love the small town, where there’s a sum total of one eligible guy, and this Tabitha, with her tiny hips and plump lips, is probably sleeping with him. Seriously, without some kind of liquid rubber filler injected into them, how did any woman have lips so perfect? Had she been born with those luscious sex pillows?
“Yeah?” I clipped at Dan at the end of the line when I answered his annoying and repeated calls.
“All hands on deck,” he said. “Lost hiker.”
Aw, shit. “You call the boss? She didn’t say anything.”
“She didn’t answer,” Dan said. “You still at the party?”
“Yeah, I’ll let her know.”
“10–4.”
I hung up and slipped my phone back in my purse, searching over the tops of the wedding goers’ heads for Abey.
“Everything okay?” Tabitha asked.
“Uh, no, actually. I’ve gotta go. Do you see Abey anywhere?”
Tabitha pivoted on her feet, still in her cute, champagne-colored ballet flats, and I noticed her rack when she faced away from me. Dammit. Her double Ds made me officially hate her.
“There she is,” she said, pointing across the party to where Abey stood talking to Tabitha’s boss and, I realized, the hottest guy I’d probably ever laid eyes on. Brand stared back at us as Abey held Stuey, laughing as she tickled his ribs.
“Nice to meet you,” I called over my shoulder as I rushed to Abey.
“Nice to meet you too. Maybe we’ll see each other around…”
When I was standing in front of her and had startled her, Abey arched an eyebrow.
“Dan called. He says they just got a report of a missin’ hiker. He tried to call you, but you didn’t answer.”
“Ah, dammit. Here.” She pushed her nephew into Brand’s hands, and Brand’s eyebrows rose, too, but he was still staring at me. “Stay here,” she said to me. “Let me go tell Bax and Bea I’m leavin’.”
“Sure.”
“Is the hiker injured?” Brand asked after Abey raced away, and Stuey tried to bite the side of his face.
“Dunno,” I replied. “My partner didn’t give any details, but a lost hiker is a priority around here. There’s just too much wild to hope they’ll find their way down the mountain on their own.”
“Right.” Brand pulled Stuey’s mouth away from his face, where the kid had left a slobbery red mark. “Anything I can do to help?”
Besides give me orgasms? “Nah. If it gets to that point, we’ll call for the public to help with search parties, but we don’t have enough information yet.”
