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“I just got off the phone in the office with my mum,” he said, his eyes rimmed in red. “Her and dad are booked to come on the next flight to Pearson airport. They will be here in the morning.”
“Ben, buddy,” Mark came forward, “We don’t know where she is. She could be...” he stopped talking when the front door burst open and behind a flurry of dogs in walked Kim and Dean.
“Where the hell is Abbi?” she demanded to know.
Ben looked at her. “No one knows. She isn’t answering her phone, and it seems the last person to see her was Destiny.”
Desi could feel everyone’s eyes on her as she poured water into the coffee maker. If she didn’t feel like an outsider before, she certainly did now.
“Exactly what did she say to you Desi?” Kim asked.
Desi gulped pressing the power button on the coffee machine. “Abbi said hi to me and then said that hill was something.” She glanced at Ben and her heart went out to him. He was hanging on her every word. “She was out of breath because we met at the top by the inn,” she explained.
“That doesn’t seem right, does it?” Mark asked. “I mean that hill isn’t that big—”
“Shh!” Ava said. “Go on Desi, what else did she say?”
“She asked me how my day was going, and I told her I’d just left the spa to gather my things at the inn. She seemed confused, I found that kind of odd though.”
“Why?” Dean asked.
Desi shrugged. “Well, because she was there last night when Ava offered for me to stay there, and she didn’t remember.”
“She does have a lot on her mind,” Ben murmured, in a daze.
Kim sat down on a stool. “Was that it?”
“No, ah...” Desi wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to say this, but they wanted to know everything verbatim it seemed. “Ah... She said she was sorry for dumping Lane on me. I told her it was fine, and she wanted to know if Lane knew I was staying there. I told her Ava told him.”
Lane came over to her then and opened the cupboard door behind her. Taking out mug after mug, he sat them on the counter and went to the fridge and got the cream, then returned to her side. With a spoon poised over the sugar bowl, he looked at Desi with raised brows. “Two please,” she said. She was momentarily in awe as to how he could ask a question without even saying a word. She had to shake her head when she realized she was staring at him... again.
Taking a deep breath, she continued telling them about Abbi.
“Then she asked if I was okay with the dogs being there, and I told her yes that I prefer the company of animals over people.”
“Ouch,” Mark laughed, looking at Lane. “You might want to, ooof—”
Ava jabbed him in the ribs and gave him a warning look before saying, “Go on Desi.”
“She then said that she better get going as she had a six mile walk ahead of her. Then she gave me a hug, headed towards the middle of the village, and told me if I needed anything to give her a holler. That was it.”
Dean looked at Lane, “That isn’t much to go on but it’s all we got. I’ll give Tim a call and see when he’s planning on coming up for the...” He caught the look on Ben’s face, and said, “Er, sooner. Excuse me,” he said, as he left the room.
Desi started filling cup after cup with the strong brew. “Ben, do you want a cup of coffee?” At his nod, she slid a cup in front of him.
Ava took a mug, then asked her brother, “Shouldn’t we be calling the police?”
“Don’t you have to wait like 24 hours, or something to report an adult missing?” Kim asked, looking at Lane.
“No, that’s a myth, in Canada you can report them right away,” he said. “And I already called them, it’s going to take a while, there’s an accident out on the highway and both officers are tending to that.”
“Oh,” Ava sipped her coffee as she took a seat at the table.
“What if she doesn’t want to be found?” Ben finally broke off his daze and silence.
“That’s crazy,” Kim scoffed.
“Is it?” Ben asked. “If you haven’t noticed, she’s been under a lot of stress lately. Especially since I came into her life.”
