Every time she’d come to town, she’d felt right at home.
And now, today, with her life wide-open in front of her, Cami saw Justice Creek for what it was: a perfect jewel nestled in its own small valley, surrounded by spectacular mountains. The kind of place where a person like her might be happy to settle down.
They passed the turn to Oldfield Avenue. She glanced out her side window and saw the white walls and red tile roof of the world-famous Haltersham Hotel. It was perched on a rocky promontory with gray, craggy peaks looming above it.
Right then, with the magnificent old hotel in her sights, Cami experienced a moment of great clarity.
No wonder she’d ended up with Garrett and Munchy on Moosejaw Mountain. Her subconscious had been leading her right here to Justice Creek the whole time.
This town...
Oh, definitely. This was the town for her.
It was all so simple, so perfect and clear. The question of where she would live the rest of her life was already answered, had been answered long ago. The truth had only been waiting for her to be ready to see it.
Justice Creek would be her new home.
A curving pebbled driveway led up to Garrett’s house on Mountainview Avenue in Haltersham Heights not far from the hotel. The exterior was weathered cedar and shingles and silver-gray stone, with lots of big windows.
Inside, those windows let in plenty of light. The modern kitchen and dining room opened onto the living area. Two sets of glass doors led out to a low deck and a patio, complete with a fire pit.
“What a beautiful house.” Cami set a box from the cabin on the gorgeous granite counter. It had a swirling pattern of cream, brown and silver. “Kind of modern and rustic, both at once.” The vaulted wood ceilings had log accent beams.
Garrett opened the glass door by the table to let Munch out. “I had it built it a few years ago, when Bravo Construction really started making money.”
She watched Munch bound off the deck and into the yard. “He won’t run off?”
“There’s a fence. He’s fine.”
Together, they brought in all the food. Garrett said he didn’t mind her looking in his cabinets to see where things went, so she got to work putting the food away while he unloaded his clothes and a bunch of random camping equipment.
“I’m just going to get a load of laundry started,” he said and vanished down the hallway off the kitchen.
Cami put boxes of crackers and cold cereal in an upper cabinet and then made herself march to the end of the counter where she’d dropped her Birkin bag on the first trip in from the garage. With a grimace of dread, she took out her phone. She’d fully charged it at the cabin and turned it off when they left.
As soon as she turned it on, there would be a flood of frantic calls, texts and messages to deal with. Up on the mountain, it had been so easy to tune out the real world. Not anymore. The time had come to deal with everyone she’d been trying not to think about. They were going to be very upset with her when they found out that she had purposely avoided dealing with them since Saturday afternoon.
She was still standing there with the powered-off phone in her hand when Garrett emerged from the laundry room.
“That is not a happy face.” He put his arm around her.
She leaned into his solid strength, breathed in his woodsy scent and made herself smile up at him. “I think I’ll just go out and sit on that back deck while I make a few calls.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
Take me back up the mountain. We’ll stay there forever, just you and me and Munchy. “Thanks, but I think this is something I need to deal with myself.”
* * *
Garrett got busy putting his gear away in the garage.
When he returned to the kitchen, she was still outside, pacing back and forth across the wide patio tiles, the phone to her ear. Munch, panting anxiously, trailed along behind her. Garrett stood at the glass door admiring the shine to her thick gold hair. How could she be so pretty even in his ill-fitting old jeans and faded shirt?
When she glanced over and saw him watching her, she gave him a quick wave and went back to her pacing. It looked like the phone calls were going to take a while.
He finished putting the kitchen stuff away and made them some sandwiches. When she finally came inside, she went straight to the end of the counter and stuck her phone back in her giant purse.
“You made lunch,” she said, her eyes worried, her smile way too bright.
“Come on.” He pulled out one of the high padded chairs at the kitchen island. “Everything will look better after you eat.”
She got up on the stool. “Yum. I’m so hungry.”
He let her polish off half of her turkey on rye before he asked, “So. Want to talk about it?”
She gave a tiny shrug. “My parents are furious. They demanded I return to Denver immediately. I told them I’m not coming back except to close up my condo and pick up my stuff.”
He touched her arm in reassurance. “I’m sorry, Cami.”
“Yeah.” She forced another sad little smile. “Me, too.”
“How was it with Charles?”
“Not much better—scratch that. Worse. He said he had to see me immediately, that we had to talk.”
“Don’t let the guy bully you.”
“I’m not. I told him I needed to think about the whole face-to-face idea. I made it clear that I wasn’t coming back, so there really was no point in us meeting. He was calling me bad names when I hung up.”
“What an ass.”
“Well, I did leave the guy at that altar, after all.”
“And now he wants to talk about that? What’s the point?”
Now she was the one putting her hand on his arm. It felt really good there. “I don’t know, Garrett. I mean, I love that you’re on my side, but I do feel guilty about running away. It had to be pretty awful for him.”
“Talking about it with him isn’t going to fix anything.”
“I know you’re right. But as I said, I haven’t decided whether to talk to him or not.”
“If you do decide to see him, meet him here.”
“Why?”
“I should be close by, just in case.”
She patted his arm and then picked up the other half of her sandwich. “At least my maid of honor was understanding. She promised she’d call my other bridesmaids and tell them I’m okay. It’s so weird.” She stared thoughtfully down at the triangle of sandwich in her hands. “I like my maid of honor, but I never felt all that close to her. It’s as if, in Denver, I was just going through the motions, acting out living a life that wasn’t really mine—oh, and, apparently, I’m a missing person, so I guess I need to go see the police and explain how I’m not so missing, after all.”
“That, I can definitely help you with.”
“No way. You’ve done enough.”
No, he hadn’t. Not if she still needed him. And clearly, she did. “My brother-in-law, Seth Yancy, is the county sheriff. I’ll take you to the justice center.”
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