Page 76 of Tracking Wolfe

I supposed it did. Juni Mezzo was almost Scarlett Johansson big. And she was married to Nick Caron, the lead actor of the Final Meridian action movies. The two of them were the current Hollywood “it” couple.

“Fuck, JJ. How can you turn that down?”

“I can’t. And they have little kids, which makes it even harder to say no to her request for my personal involvement.”

“Might be the change of scenery you need.”

“Also something I considered.”

“You gonna do it?” I asked again.

He let out a breath. “Yeah, probably. But they split their time between both coasts. It’ll be hard to run the company.”

“Talk to your dad. Maybe he can take some of the responsibility back temporarily.”

We talked through it a little longer until JJ was called away to take a meeting. Then I dove into my own work after scarfing down an egg sandwich and fruit salad, along with my second cup of coffee.

After a while, I paid and left, relocating to a small park with picnic tables. The weather was perfect—deep blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds. The kind of sunny day Colorado was known for.

I tried not to obsess about what was happening with Wolfe and Jake, but it wasn’t easy. When I thought about it, jealousy flared like molten lava in my stomach, bringing out parts of me I hadn’t realized I had.

In an effort to distract myself, I called Robyn at SERA to check in.

“Shit, Trace,” she said. “I was trying not to involve you, but since you called…”

She proceeded to tell me about a regulation change that required SERA to update several of our certification programs. It meant revamping the syllabus for several courses, but also meant our instructors would need to recertify their own credentials.

We spent the next few hours banging out details while I kept an eye on my phone in case Wolfe texted. But by the time 2:00 p.m. rolled around, I still hadn’t heard from him.

I left the park and found a place to grab a salad for lunch, wishing like hell I had his number. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I drove back to the campground. His van was there, but when I knocked, it was empty.

There was no sign of him.

His friend Brennan waved me over to his site. “Will went out with Jake from the bar. I think they were going hiking.”

My stomach dropped. He’d actually gone on their hike? I’d sort of expected Wolfe to have a conversation with Jake and let him down easy, then spend the afternoon with me. Had I misread the situation?

Even so, “I thought he’d be back by now. Do you know when they left?”

His eyebrows dipped as he tried to remember. Val poked his head out of Brennan’s van. “Early. Like at eight? I was up making coffee.”

“Maybe it was a long hike?” Brennan suggested. “I think Jake mentioned something about an overlook?”

“Nah, a waterfall,” Val corrected. “I meant to ask Jake which one.”

It had been seven hours since they left. That was a hell of a hike.

“Okay,” I said, trying to be casual about it. “Maybe they stopped to grab a sandwich or something. If you see Will when he gets back, let him know I was looking for him?”

As if I wouldn’t be spending the rest of the afternoon with eagle eyes on the campground entrance until he returned.

“Totally,” Brennan said.

Val nodded.

I made my way back to my own site and set up my laptop at the picnic table to continue working until a sudden rainstorm forced me to move into my rental car. When four o’clock arrived and he still wasn’t back, I lost my cool and called his cousin Gabe.

“Hey, man, what’s up?”