Lost and Found in Cedar Cove (2 page)

Jo Marie checked her watch. “Okay.”

Despite the rain, she took off, her steps filled with purpose. Rover had never done anything like this before, and she couldn’t imagine what had possessed him to leave. If the sun was shining and he’d been chasing butterflies, she might have understood it. But in the middle of a wretched March rainstorm? It didn’t make the least bit of sense.

Twenty minutes later, Jo Marie returned to the house with her feet drenched. She should have changed her shoes, but, filled with a sense of urgency, she hadn’t wanted to take the time.

Mark stood alone on the porch, his hands buried deep inside his jean pockets.

“Did you see him?” Jo Marie called out as she hurried toward the inn. Despite the evidence, she had to ask.

Mark shook his head. “No sign of him anywhere. You?”

Jo Marie shook her head. The knot in the pit of her stomach tightened.

Mark frowned at her and then growled, “You’re soaked to the skin.”

“I’m fine.”

“Get inside. Rover’s been a stray. He’s used to being free to go where he pleases. He’s smart enough to know what to do to stay safe and dry. Eventually he’ll find his way back. Like I said, he knows where his food bowl is filled.”

“I’m not giving up until I find Rover.” If this was Mark’s idea of reassurance, then she’d rather he left right now.

“Rover knows his way around town.”

“He knows the route I walk him and little else. He’s probably lost and confused.” Part of her realized that the way she connected Rover with Paul made losing him feel as if she were losing Paul all over again. It sounded crazy, something a psychologist would want to analyze in great depth, but she couldn’t help it. Despite her best efforts, her voice trembled.

“You need to get warm.” Mark practically dragged her inside the inn and went directly into the kitchen and poured her some coffee.

Trembling now with cold and dread, she willingly accepted the mug. He didn’t take one for himself. Instead, he paced her kitchen as if unsure what to do next.

Neither of them spoke.

Jo Marie sniffled in an effort to hold back the emotion that threatened to spill over at any moment. She started to shake, but not from any chill.

“I can’t lose Rover,” she whispered, utterly miserable. “I simply can’t.”

“Give it time,” Mark insisted. “It’s only been less than an hour.”

“I told you before, Rover is more than a pet.” Her voice wobbled like a drunk attempting to walk a straight line. “He’s gone, I feel it in my gut …” She refused to accept that, refused to believe she would lose him, too.

“Maybe his time with you is over and he’s ready to move on,” Mark offered. “I’ve found it’s better not to get too attached.”

At any other time his words would have struck her as tremendously revealing, but all she could think about was Rover lost in the storm.

“Don’t say anything more, please; you’re not helping.”

Mark shuffled his feet a couple of times, and then, as if he didn’t have anything more to add, he walked out the door.

Not knowing what else to do, Jo Marie went to the front window and watched Mark drive away. She shouldn’t have expected anything more of him. The moment she fell apart emotionally, he was at a complete loss. His sole thought was to escape.

To expect Mark to be her friend was asking too much of him. All at once she was angry with him … angry with the world. She’d lost so much already, and to lose Rover was more than she could take.

Never one to give in easily to bouts of weeping, Jo Marie no longer had the internal fortitude to hold them back. With tears raining down her cheeks, she went into her bedroom, stripped out of her wet clothes, turned on the shower, and stepped inside. Once under the hot spray, she let the sobs come, choking on what she was convinced was another hit, another loss she would be forced to face and absorb. She wasn’t going to stop looking. She couldn’t and wouldn’t until she found him.

Chapter Two

Unable to sit still and do nothing, Jo Marie dressed and drove into town, parking at the library. Grace Harding, the head librarian, glanced up from where she stood at the front desk.

She must have immediately sensed something was drastically wrong because she asked, “Jo Marie, what’s happened? You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”

“I have,” Jo Marie choked out. “It’s Rover. He’s missing.” She extended her hands to her friend, needing advice and comfort and something to hold on to, someone to hold her together.

Gripping both of Jo Marie’s hands, Grace asked, “When did you last see him?”

“The thing is, I don’t know. Rover followed Mark and me outside. We went out to select an area to plant the rose garden. You know how he barely leaves my side. Rover was with me then, but a few minutes after we were inside, talking details, I noticed he wasn’t in the house. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of to look and he’s … gone. Vanished. I can’t imagine where he went or why.” Again, her voice did that wobbling thing as if she were on the verge of having an emotional breakdown. Which, as a matter of fact, she was.

Grace was instantly all business. “You had the microchip put in, right?”

Jo Marie nodded.

“Then any shelter that finds him will have your contact information.”

Jo Marie had forgotten about that, but it did little to assuage her fears.

“I’ll call Olivia, too.”

The family court judge? “What can she do?” Jo Marie asked.

“Well, for one thing, she knows Hank Hampton over at Animal Control personally. I do, too, but she has more sway with him than I do. If he finds Rover, she’ll have him get in touch with you directly and sidestep the shelter.”

“She’d be able to do that?”

“Olivia can ask. She knows how attached you are to Rover.”

“Would you mind asking?” The thought of Rover being chased by a dogcatcher wasn’t a comforting one.

“I wouldn’t mind in the least. Anything else I can do, other than talk to Olivia and the animal shelter?”

“I … I don’t know.” Jo Marie’s brain felt as if it was about to explode. She couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing, though; that was driving her nuts. She pressed her fingertips against her lips. “Mark says I’m overreacting.”

“You aren’t. You and I both know Rover is a special dog and that the two of you are meant to be together,” Grace assured her. “We all love our pets; they’re like family.”

That was the bottom line, she realized. To Jo Marie, Rover was family. Her family. “Thank you,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

“We’ll find him, Jo Marie, don’t worry. Rover will be back before you know it.”

Because she so desperately wanted to believe that, Jo Marie didn’t argue, although it felt as if Rover was completely gone from her life. What Mark said echoed in her mind … maybe she was supposed to have him for only these few months while she grieved for Paul. Perhaps it was time for him to move on to someone else who was badly in need of comfort. She didn’t want to think that was the case, but she couldn’t come up with another logical explanation.

Rover had left of his own accord.

He’d gone outside with her and Mark, and he hadn’t returned. Nothing had prevented him from following her back into the house. Maybe he’d moved on to someone else. Another hurting soul in need.

Amanda Palmer found Travis Kilroy sitting at the farthest, darkest corner table in Java Joint. He’d slouched down in the chair so far he was in danger of sliding onto the floor. His neck rested on the back of the chair and he held his cell phone and was either texting or playing games. Either way, his fingers moved over the keys with practiced ease.

“Hello, Travis,” she said, doing her best to sound like she was eager to be his math tutor.

He glanced up and reluctantly straightened. “Hi.” The greeting was flat and devoid of any welcome or appreciation.

Amanda pulled out the chair next to him and set her backpack on the floor. One point in his favor, Travis was on time, although he looked as if he’d rather be just about anyplace else than with her.

“Mr. Wilcox asked if I’d be willing to meet with you and—”

He stopped her. “Okay, I get it. I’m not good with numbers.”

“Which is the reason Mr. Wilcox asked me to tutor you. He wants to see you graduate and asked if I’d be willing to work with you.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Mr. Wilcox says you’re failing.”

“Like I said, I’m no good with numbers.”

“And like I said, that’s the reason I’m here.”

Travis snorted. “Why did Wilcox ask you?”

“Because I love math.”

“Why’d you agree?”

That was the same question Amanda had been asking herself from the moment she’d walked in the door. “Would you rather someone else tutor you?” That was fine by her.

“Wilcox would probably just send some other brainy geek, so do what you want.”

If he wanted to dish out insults, she had a few of her own. “A brainy geek is ten times better than an empty-headed jock who isn’t smart enough to get into a lifeboat when a ship is ready to sink.”

“Very funny.”

Amanda stood and held up her hand. She didn’t need this, no matter how popular Travis was. All she’d been looking to do was offer a helping hand. If graduating from high school and playing college football wasn’t incentive enough, then nothing she said or did was going to change his mind.

“Children, children.” Connor Leesburg came toward them with his hands on his hips and shaking his head. “There’s no need to trade insults, is there?”

Staring at Travis, Amanda defensively crossed her arms.

Travis held her look with the same dark intensity.

“Lighten up, Travis,” Connor said. “Otherwise, you’ll end up like me, working in a coffeehouse for a pittance while you’re saving up enough cash for a few college classes or trade school.”

“So?”

“So you’ve got the talent to make it playing college football. If nothing else, think of all the chicks who’ll want to be with you.”

Amanda snickered.

“As for you,” Connor said, turning his attention to her, “chuck the attitude.”

“He started it.” She wasn’t sure what she’d expected from Travis, but it wasn’t this.

“Let the guy have some pride,” Connor interjected. “It isn’t easy admitting he needs help. I heard you’re going to be named valedictorian, right?”

She nodded.

“Congratulations, but loosen up a bit, will you?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

“It means exactly what I said. Travis doesn’t want anyone to know he needs a math tutor. It’s bad for his image. Why do you think he asked to meet you here rather than at school or the library?”

As much as Amanda didn’t want to admit it, what Connor said made sense.

“Travis has athletic ability in spades. If you were on the football field and he was on the line protecting you, trust me, you’d feel differently. And if he had to teach you to throw a perfect spiral, think how you’d be feeling! It’s nice of you to help him, but let go of the attitude.”

“Do I have an attitude?” She directed the question to Travis.

He shrugged. “A little.”

She wasn’t the cheerleader type, nor had she been a member of the drill team. But no one could attend Cedar Cove High School and not know who Travis Kilroy was, and to be fair, she wasn’t immune. Travis was popular and easy on the eyes. It went without saying that she’d never have a chance with him, and frankly, she wasn’t sure she’d want one. No use fretting about it; Travis saw her as a geek. From the moment she walked into Java Joint, he’d made it plain that he viewed her as nothing more than a brain.

“This is much better,” Connor said as he rubbed his palms together. “How about a latte on the house?”

“Sure,” Travis agreed.

“Sure,” Amanda echoed.

“Coming right up.”

Before Connor even got back behind the counter, a tall, lanky man in a wet coat and jeans walked into Java Joint. “You kids happen to see a dog recently?” he asked.

“I’ve seen lots of dogs,” Travis said.

“What kind of dog?” Amanda asked.

The man described Rover.

“Doesn’t sound familiar, but I’ll keep an eye out,” Connor said.

“Take my name and phone number, and call me if you do,” the man said. He walked over to Connor and handed him a card. “This is an important dog. He belongs to a friend of mine.”

Connor looked down at the card. “I’ll call if one shows up.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

And then he was gone. With that distraction over, Amanda turned back to Travis. “You ready to crack the code to the quadratic formula?” she asked, pulling out a chair and taking a seat.

Travis sighed. “I guess, but it’s a waste of time as far as I’m concerned.”

“Really?”

“Think about it, Amanda. How am I going to use the quadratic formula in my life?”

“That’s an easy question. You’re going to use it to pass algebra, graduate from high school, and get a scholarship to college. Is that answer enough?” she asked.

He smiled at her. He actually smiled. For a moment, it was all Amanda could do to look away. Thankfully, she caught herself in time and was instantly all business. “In that case, let’s
get started.”