Zoey closed her eyes, remembering the conversation with Linc. What if Amelia had overheard them, gotten upset?
No. She was being paranoid.
She strode back toward the bed, pausing to pick up the creased book from the floor. Shut it, dropped it on the messy covers.
And stared at the empty spot on the rumpled pillow case.
Frederick, the ratty unicorn Amelia had brought back from her apartment, was missing.
* * *
Stars twinkled overhead as Linc let his boat drift across the bay. He hadn’t dropped the anchor, just allowed the pontoon to go where it wanted.
Free.
Aimless.
Alone.
He propped his foot and leaned back in the captain’s chair, looking at the sky. He shouldn’t have come out here. Shouldn’t have left Zoey like that. Linc closed his eyes, groaned. If Noah or Cade had acted like he had, he’d have told them in no uncertain terms what idiots they were. Hadn’t he done exactly that when Cade almost screwed everything up with Rosalyn a few months ago?
Problem was, Linc didn’t have anyone to tell him this kind of stuff, because he didn’t let anyone close enough to find out.
He opened his eyes, picked out a constellation. He’d started opening up to Noah a little, but the man was on his honeymoon now—hardly the right time to confess Linc’s idiocy. It’d have to wait until he got back. But he needed to changesomething, or he was going to mess it all up.
Those two women in his life deserved more.
He shifted in the chair. There had to be a way to make things right with Zoey without having to dive into the gritty parts of his past, the parts that no one knew—save for a social worker he’d heard passed away a few years ago.
Linc’s cell chimed from his pocket, and he briefly thought about letting it ring. If it was Zoey, they really needed to talk in person, and he hadn’t yet figured out what to say. But he couldn’t ignore her, either.
He answered the call.
Zoey’s voice immediately filled his ear, panicked. “Amelia’s gone.”
“What?” He rocked upright, feet landing on the boat floor with a thump. “What do you mean?”
“I went to her room, and she’s gone.”
“Maybe she’s in the shower.” Dumb. He knew it the second the words left his mouth. Of course Zoey would have checked other rooms before calling him in a panic.
“She’s not in the house. I’ve looked everywhere, even out by the pond. And your boat is still pulled up on shore.”
“Did she leave a note?” He grabbed the wheel, started aiming the pontoon back toward the dock. Where would she have gone? And why? She had no idea about Ms. Bridges’ visit. No one else in the church knew, either, except Pastor Todd, and he wouldn’t have said anything to her.
Unless…
Zoey’s voice pitched. “There’s nothing. And Linc…” She inhaled. “Her backpack and her unicorn are gone too.”
A word he hadn’t used since getting back in church filled his mind. He pressed his lips together.
“I think she overheard us.”
“Impossible. We would have heard her in the hallway too.” His heart hammered. Water sprayed as he gunned it for the slip.
“She’s ateenager. They’re practically born with ninja skills.”
“Say she did, then.” He thought back over the conversation. “What did we say that she could have?—”
