Page 27 of Deserving Cora
“I don’t know how you always seem to know when Robert’s made a new batch of cookies,” Henley mumbled between bites.
“Right? I mean, we were here andstilldidn’t know,” Reese agreed.
Ryan took a large bite of cookie and pantomimed zipping her lips closed.
Everyone chuckled.
Cora could feel Alaska staring at her, but she refused to look at the woman. Suddenly, once again, she felt like an outsider. It wasn’t until she could sense Alaska approaching that she turned. Her chin came up and she refused to cower. She’d done nothing wrong.
“Are you okay?” Alaska asked gently.
Cora hid her surprise. She’d been ready to defend her actions, to explain why she’d asked Pipe for help. She hadn’t expected Alaska to sound concerned.
“I’m fine,” she said.
Henley stepped forward. “We don’t know what’s going on. Tonka just said that Pipe wanted to talk to them about helping you and your friend. Can we do anything for you?”
“How long are you going to be here? Do you want a tour of the place?”
For some reason, their…niceness…was almost too much to take at the moment. “I don’t know. Not long, I hope. Not because I don’t want to get to know you guys or see The Refuge, but I’m worried about my friend and want to get to her as soon as I can.”
She wasn’t planning on saying much more than that, but Alaska reached for her hand, gripped it tightly, then towed her toward a small table off to the side of the kitchen. “Sit,” she invited as she pulled out a chair. The other women—and surprisingly, Robert too—all joined them. It was crowded with everyone huddled around the small table, but it also felt comfortable.
“I’m sorry about our behavior out there,” Alaska started. “We didn’t mean to seem standoffish, we just didn’t know what was going on, and we didn’t want to force you to sit with us if you didn’t want to. And Pipe doesn’t…he’s not…he…Shoot,” she sighed. “He’s not the kind of guy to bring women here. We weren’t sure what the nature of your relationship was…beyond your friend’s situation…so we were just trying to respect your privacy. But when Ryan brought you in here, and we heard you guys laughing, we couldn’t stay away,” Alaska said with a sheepish smile.
“I’m not herewithPipe,” Cora said. “Not in the way you think. I did try to buy a date with him at that auction, just for a chance to talk, but an old high school nemesis outbid me. Afterward, Pipe heard her talking to me, took exception to what she said. Then I talked to him, then to him and Owl together, and the next thing I know, we’re on our way here and he said he’d help me find my friend.”
She was talking too fast, telling these strangers way too much, but truthfully, they didn’t really seem like strangers. Not after all the info she’d dug up about them. And she kind of felt the need to fill any silence.
Taking a deep breath, Cora turned to Reese first. “I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d been in your situation. Probably freaked out. I can’t swim at all, so actually I’d probably be dead. And, Henley, I can’t imagine what you went through when your daughter was missing. I don’t have any kids, but if I did, I’m sure I would’ve been a basket case. And Alaska…God. You’re so brave. You’ve been to so many places, seen so many things, there’s no way I could’ve done what you did, exploring other countries all by yourself.
“I admire all of you so much. I just want you to know that. And I’m not here to put anyone in danger. I need the expertise of Pipe and his friends, but I honestly think as soon as Ridge Michaels sees that I’m not going to stop, that I now have help in my quest to figure out what’s going on with my friend, that he’ll give her back without much trouble.”
“Holy crap,” Alaska said, sitting back in her chair with an astonished look on her face.
Henley’s mouth opened and closed, as if she was trying to think of something to say.
Reese simply blinked at her.
It was Ryan who actually spoke first. She had a huge smile on her face as she said, “I knew you’d fit right in the second I saw you. Small-town Refuge gossip doesn’t have anything on you, apparently.”
Cora felt herself blushing. Shoot, she shouldn’t have been quite so gung-ho about making these women understand she wasn’t there to cause trouble. She always seemed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Social niceties weren’t exactly her thing. Lara was way better at that than she was, and it was why she usually left the introductions and small talk to her friend.
“I swear I’m not a stalker,” Cora blurted. “I mean, Pipe jokingly accused me of being one, but I had to know for certain that selling my stuff would be worth hiring him and his friends to kidnap Lara back. And I just did lots of Internet searches. There are tons of articles about the men who started this place. And after all the stuff that happened to you guys, there were even more articles. I didn’t hack into any databases or anything, I wouldn’t even know how to do that. I just used Google to search.”
She turned to Robert and Ryan. “I’m sorry, I didn’t find any information about you guys. But, Robert, if everything else you make is half as good as your cookies, I might never leave. I might move into the barn with Melba and sneak over here in the middle of the night to gorge myself. Maybe I could clean the dishes like some kind of dish fairy and earn my keep. And, Ryan…” Cora shrugged. “Well…I don’t know you at all. Sorry again.”
“Wait, wait, wait—I feel as if we’re missing a huge chunk of info here,” Henley protested. “Selling your stuff?”
“You hired our guys?” Alaska asked.
“Kidnapyour friend back?” Reese threw in.
“I can’t believe you three haven’t heard from your men about Cora and her friend,” Ryan said with a shake of her head.
“Andyou’rein the know?” Alaska countered.
Ryan sobered. “Her lifelong friend Lara was dating a guy named Ridge Michaels, and is now in Arizona with him. They left abruptly, and they’re not talking to Cora anymore, which has Cora freaked out. She heard about Pipe being in that auction and researched all she could about him and The Refuge. As she said, she didn’t win, but Pipe was intrigued enough to track her down, talk to her. Now here she is, and Pipe and the others are out there talking about their next steps, how to go about figuring out once and for all if Lara’s okay, or if she’s being held against her will.”
