Page 103 of Love Wells Kept

Beryl’s next to her, refilling the sugar canister from a bag that seems extraordinarily large for her spindly arms to manage, shooing my younger brother away when he tries to help. Denny rolls his eyes at her, squeezing past to grab a scone from the counter, and notices me.

“Morning, sunshine,” Denny says, chomping down on the scone and quickly sliding his free hand under his chin to try and catch stray crumbs.

I yawn. “Mornin’.”

Kate looks over at me then, and her smile’s a little sleepy. I want to feel that curve of her lips against mine, so I close the short distance between us and kiss her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“You’re up early,” she says once I’ve had my fill of her—rather, once I’ve had an appropriate amount of her, given the family members and ranch hands loitering in our kitchen.

“You think Red would let me live it down if I slept in?”

Red walks up and grips my shoulder in his massive palm. “Nope, I wouldn’t. You ready?”

Kate tilts her head. “You should have some breakfast first.”

“Nah, I’m okay.” I shake my head. “Is Odessa up yet? I was gonna see if she wants to come with us.”

Just as Kate starts to say she’ll go upstairs to wake her up, Beryl cuts in with an insistence that I eat something before I go out with Red. The two women’s sentences merge and somehow both of them end up giving me hell for skipping breakfast, so I make a show of grabbing one of the scones and taking a bite. Appeasing Kate enough that she heads off in search of Odessa, I lean against the counter to enjoy my breakfast.

Today’s a jalapeño cheddar scone, which is a pleasant surprise. I’d say the upside to getting up early is securing one of Beryl’s breakfast treats, since they always go so fast, but she’s been secretly tucking one away for me every day for weeks. I could sleep until noon and still get one.

Kate’s footsteps are slow and light as she saunters away.

A few minutes pass.

And her footsteps are fast and sharp when she comes back.

I straighten before she even speaks.

“She’s not in her room.”

Jackson

Kate’s voice is strung so tight, it’s liable to snap, turn into a scream. “Has anybody seen her?”

A collective murmur of no vibrates through the kitchen, and Beryl calmly suggests, “Maybe she got up early and went to feed the barn cats?”

I think Kate and I are the only ones who know Odessa’s been mostly avoiding the barn. She’s willing to go down and see the barn cats in the middle of the day, when there are cowboys milling about, but it’s pretty unlikely she’d be there by herself so early in the morning.

Even still, I say, “I’ll walk down there and look.”

Kate’s eyes lock on mine, and she hastily works down a swallow. “Her bed doesn’t even look slept in, and she’s not in Rhett’s room.”

Austin pushes back from his spot at the table and tosses open the back door. “I’ll head over to my place and see if she’s there.”

Kate nods, but her eyes are wide, glassy. There’s a steady tick in her jaw as she glances around, clearly trying to think of where an eight-year-old might’ve gone.

“She’s probably causing some trouble outside. We’ve got enough of us…. We’ll find her quickly,” Denny says, tossing back the rest of the coffee in his cup. His voice is casual, but there’s an edge under it. I feel the same sharp squeeze in my own chest—something’s off and none of us want to say it out loud.

“It rained last night—could be she’s looking for tadpoles again,” Beryl says.

“Yeah. I’ll walk down to the cattle guard.” Kate clings to that, wrapping her arms around herself, and looks at the other men in the room. “Can you guys…I don’t know…”

“We’ll scour the place,” Red says, gesturing for the ranch hands to follow him outside.

Denny plunks his mug into the sink and gives Kate’s shoulder a firm squeeze. “Five bucks says she’s outside digging in your flower beds or some shit.”

“Yeah, she’ll be so grounded, if that’s the case.” Kate’s voice breaks a little at the end, and it cracks something in my chest.