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The waitress arrived at the table and glanced at her.
“I’ll do the pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon plate.” She tickled Eliza in her lap. “What do you want?”
“Smiley-face pancake and eggs.” Eliza’s enthusiasm was infectious.
“Scrambled eggs,” Shelby clarified for the waitress, then placed her order, along with all the guys at the table.
Max leaned in and caught Hunt’s attention. “When do you think you’ll have time to spend at the ranch? We could use your help.”
“Everyone’s busy with the searches, so I’m covering patrol and emergency calls. But I hope soon. I miss working the ranch in the morning. I’d like to take Cyn riding again when she feels up to it.”
Max looked at her. “Any word from your sister?”
She appreciated that he asked like her sister could still be out there. “Hunt spoke to Rad’s father the other day. He said Rad told them Angela called from a friend’s place in Idaho and said she wasn’t coming back, but Rad could have visitation with Lana.”
Max looked at Hunt. “Do you believe that?”
Hunt shook his head. “No. It doesn’t make sense at all when you account for her car in the river, her cell phone being off for so long and that she never contacted Cyn, who is her go-to person for everything, especially when it came to Lana.”
Cyn hugged Eliza, needing her sweet spirit to bolster her own. “I think he told his parents that because he has Lana somewhere and wants to bring her home.”
Shelby sighed. “You think someone is watching her and this is his way of saying Angela let him have his visitation time, so it makes sense that he has her?”
“Yes. And then he’ll come up with some story that Angela is sick and can’t take her back right now, or she’s found a job and needs time, or simply that she doesn’t want Lana back so he’s keeping her. Whatever he comes up with, I won’t believe, because Angela loved that baby. She wanted a whole bunch of little ones. And if she’d had a good guy, one who loved her and took care of her the way she deserved, she could have had the family and life she desperately wanted and tried so hard to make a reality with Rad. I hate thinking about how she twisted herself up to make him happy, hoping it would all magically be the way she saw it in her head. I hate she never got the chance to live that dream.”
Eliza sat up in her lap, turned to her and wiped her tears. “Don’t cry, Aunt Cyn.”
“You make me smile, sweetheart.” Cyn gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek and handed her off to Shelby when their food arrived.
The guys settled into a discussion about hockey. She didn’t know Hunt liked hockey and found it fascinating to listen to him talk about the game and players with his brothers. Mr. Wilde talked to Eliza about her favorite horse on the ranch. She begged him to let her ride it alone. Chase, Max, Hunt and Mr. Wilde all told her no. Not until she was bigger.
She and Shelby talked about Cyn going back to work today and made plans to meet for their weekly lunch on Wednesday to talk about Shelby and Chase’s wedding plans.
Hunt held her hand practically the whole time they sat together. She bet he sensed how being with his family like this meant so much to her. She’d never had this growing up. Her mom was . . . her mom. The men she’d dated and married were never much interested in Cyn and Angela. She didn’t have a relationship with her own father; he’d left and never come back. But she and Angela were always close despite how different they were from each other.
She would have loved to create this kind of tradition with Angela and Lana. It broke her heart, because she believed, deep down, that they’d never find Angela alive.
Hunt leaned in and kissed her on the head. “Eat your bacon, sweetheart. You need the salt.”
She’d already eaten all her pancakes because they were her favorite, especially when smothered in butter. She took a piece of bacon and bit into the salty yumminess of it, smiling at Hunt. “Better?”
“Yeah. This is really good.” He didn’t mean the food. He meant having her here with him.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Because she loved being with him.
But something sad came over him when he read an incoming text on his phone, then looked at her.
She immediately started shaking her head, trying to deny whatever put that look on his face.
He hooked his hand at the back of her neck. “There’s nothing for sure,” he assured her.
“What is it?” She didn’t really want to know.
He pressed his lips tight, sighed, then spit it out. “They found the body of a woman. She’s not been identified,” he quickly added.
“Only a woman’s body?” She couldn’t seem to ask if they’d found a baby’s body out loud.
“Yes. Only one person.”
