I assume they’re headed to their rooms to text with their friends and watch videos on their tablets or whatever it is teenagers do. What I’m going to do is track down Gentry and try to get her to hear me out.
She’s not in our room, and neither is any of her stuff. She’s not in the kitchen or in her sisters’ rooms. She’s not in the den or the dining room. Neither is Josephine anywhere to be found. Did they go out?
The last place I check is the reindeer barn, but neither Gentry nor Josephine is there either.
My heart bucks with fear that Gentry never made it back here or that something happened to her, but then I remember that her stuff is gone. Did she get an earlier flight out?
No, she wouldn’t leave her sisters to fly alone. We’re on different returning flights, so she couldn’t have expected me to take care of the kids.
I hurry back into the farmhouse and knock on the only other door in the house that’s reserved for guests and is now closed. The answer has to be that Gentry moved to this room.
No one answers my knock, and I slowly open the door. My heart settles back into its natural rhythm when I see Gentry’s suitcase next to the bed.
Her purse is gone, which means she really did go out. Unless she called Josephine to move her stuff, and never made it back here.
The last thing I want to do is have my only chance to change Gentry’s mind about me happen over a phone call, but I need to know she’s okay.
I send her a text asking if she’s safe.
She answers with a curt ‘yes’ a few minutes later.
It’s not enough.
Chances are a kidnapper would’ve gotten rid of the phone to avoid being tracked, but I’m not taking any chances.
I need a sign this is really you, I text.
Jumping dots appear on my screen and disappear, then appear again. Finally, a message comes through.I’m still furious with you, Levi, and pretending to care about my well-being isn’t going to change that.
I sink onto the couch in the front parlor with a sigh of relief and text back,I’m never going to stop caring, Gentry. And I’m never going to stop working to make it up to you.
She doesn’t answer, but I don’t expect her to.
I settle onto the couch within sight of the front door and find something interesting on my phone to pass the time. I’m not going to bed without making sure Gentry gets back here safely.
I must doze off, because I’m startled awake by a huge crash and a laugh.
Popping up from the couch so fast my head spins, I see Gentry leaning against the wall, laughing, and the umbrella caddy on the floor next to her, three umbrellas spilled across the floor.
“Why does she need so many umbrellas in a town that gets mostly snow?” Gentry asks. She bends to pick up an umbrella and falls backward, which makes her laugh harder.
I hurry over and help her up. “Why don’t you sit down and let me clean up?”
She lets me lead her to the couch. “You’re so nice, Levi. You keep secrets, but I really like you a lot. Like a really, huge, gigantic a lot.”
“I like you too.” I leave her just long enough to pick up the umbrellas and put them in their stand before joining her on the couch.
She scoots to the end, as far from me as possible. “I’m too drunk. If I sit close to you, I’ll probably kiss you, and I can’t kiss you, because I’m still mad at you. I danced all night with Cherry and Peach and Blue, and I had so much fun I almost forgot why I’m mad at you. But I remember now.”
“You danced with pie?” I ask entirely confused.
“What?” She narrows her eyes like she’s having a hard time focusing on me. “Why would I dance with pie?”
“You said you danced with fruit. It sounds like a pie.”
She laughs so hard she tips forward. “Not pie. People. Cherry, Peach, and Blue are my new friends. They’re soooo pretty, and they’re really nice. Cherry’s husband owns a candy store. Can you imagine anything better than being married to candy?”
I can’t help but smile at her silliness. “I met him. Her husband is very nice too.”
