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Lyric answered her call. “Good morning.”
“Hi, Lyric. This is Sydney. Is Cooper around?”
“He’s outside playing in the snow with the boys. I’ll get him for you.”
“Thank you.”
She waited a couple of minutes before Cooper came on the line, sounding slightly out of breath. “Hello, Sydney. What can I do for you?”
“Um… I’m trying to get a hold of Gage. I tried Paxton first, but he’s not answering.”
“He wouldn’t. Elaina had the baby last night. A boy.”
“Oh, my gosh. That’s great. Everything went well, I hope.”
“Yeah. They’re all doing fine. Gage’s truck is still out front. He parked it here last night and walked to his house.”
“So, he made it home?”
“Yeah. It’s just a mile. Not much could’ve happened to him.”
“Did he drink last night?”
“Not really. We were so busy, there was no time. And after we closed, we just wanted to get home. He was completely sober. I didn’t really think about how late it was. It’s weird he hasn’t left for work. The paper comes out today, right?”
“Yes. Which is why I’m calling you. He told Dale to meet him here at ten. And it’s almost eleven.”
“I’ll take a walk to his place and get his ass out of bed. We have power here, but maybe he lost his. It’s happened before. He might’ve overslept.”
“That doesn’t really sound like Gage, with or without power.”
“Okay, now I’m worried. I’ll go see what he’s doing.”
“Thank you. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
Sydney set her phone on the desk and turned to Dale. “It seems Gage is going to be late. The papers are all printed. They just need to be folded and boxed.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll stay and help you until he gets here.”
Dale nodded and went to the stack of newspapers. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you quit? I thought you liked it here.”
“I did like it here, Dale. There were just some things that… I needed a change. That’s all.”
“Hmm. Okay. Gage isn’t really doing that great with you gone.”
Sydney shook her head. “I feel bad about that.”
“Then you should come back.”
