Until this moment, she’d been able to talk herself into believing that he would show up again any day.
Now, her heart did a sad little somersault at the final evidence that Josh was not only gone, but that he’d wasted no time in closing this chapter in his life. Worse, he hadn’t even thought their relationship was worth a courteous goodbye.
“I’m such a fool,” she whispered to herself as she drove slowly back into town to pick up Eli at his grandparents’ place. “Such a big fool.”
When she stopped to pick up Eli, her dad was just inside the front door waiting for her.
“I was going down the highway this morning and saw that your wonderful friend up and left town.” The note of smug satisfaction in her father’s voice was unmistakable. “I suppose he figured he wouldn’t be welcome around here any longer.”
“He was one of my therapy clients, Dad. A good friend. And he did nothing wrong.”
“A ‘friend’ you took quite a fancy to. I’ve had people asking me about who your new fella was, after they’d seen you with him in town.”
“Seen me in town? Doing what? Dating a client wouldn’t be professional, and I would never do that.”
“So all of those folks lied?”
“Like I said, we were just friends. At least, I thought we were. I helped Josh when he fell in the grocery store. He was going to be alone over the Forth of July, so he came to the picnic at Gramps’s place—and yes, Eli and I spent some time with him, and the two of them worked together on Josh’s Harley. I talked it over with Grace to make sure she didn’t feel I was crossing any client-provider lines.”
“Sounds like dating to me,” Dean snapped.
Sophie bit back a sharp reply. They’d already gone over this once before, and she certainly didn’t want to descend into another argument in front of her son.
“Well?”
“As much as you want to believe otherwise, I did nothing wrong.” She fought to keep her voice even. “He’s not a client anymore, though. And since I just saw him for physical therapy, not any sort of counseling, seeing each other now wouldn’t be an issue.”
“See here—”
“But he obviously doesn’t care about me at all, because he left town without a word. So it’s over, and you should be very happy.”
Margie, who had apparently made her peace with Dean despite his cruel words at the hospital, appeared at the doorway into the kitchen wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. “Can you two stay for supper?”
“Another time, but thanks. I promised Eli pizza if he did his chores this week.” Grateful for her honest excuse, Sophie waved and hurried out the door to catch up to Eli.
It had been a tough day, what with finding that Josh’s place was already up for rent, another difficult appointment with her resentful teenage client Beau, and now this latest encounter with her dad. Doing battle with him during a meal just didn’t have much appeal.
Sophie rapped on Gramps’s back door the next morning, called his name, then sighed as she let herself inside.
No matter how many times she’d encouraged him to start locking his doors at night, he still maintained that anyone who wanted in could easily kick in a door or break a window anyway, so what was the point?
A quick inspection of the house and yard revealed no sign of him, and his car wasn’t in the drive.
“Maybe he went to see Alberta for breakfast,” Eli piped up when Sophie went back into the house. “Do you think they’ll ever get married?”
“Not any time soon. Sometimes it’s easier to just stay friends when you get older and set in your ways.”
She flew through the house, stripping his bed and gathering laundry, started a load, and got to work on his kitchen.
By noon he still wasn’t back.
Sophie called Alberta’s house, and the feed mill on the edge of town, where Gramps and his cronies had gathered to drink coffee and argue about local politics for as long as anyone could remember.
After trying a dozen other possibilities, she dialed her dad’s number. He answered on the second ring.
“I can’t find Gramps anywhere. He wasn’t here when I arrived at nine, and now it’s been three hours. I’ve called his friends and all of the old haunts of his that I can remember.”
“Maybe he just took a drive.”
“For three hours or more?”
Dean made an impatient noise in his throat. “This is why I don’t think he should live alone, Sophie. He’s a disaster just waiting to happen.”
“If he has actually wandered, this will be the first time. But I agree—at the point he isn’t safe at home we’ll need to revaluate.” She rattled off the list of places she’d called. “Can you think of any other place he might be? Or, can you help me look for him? I was thinking about just driving through town, up and down the streets to look for his car.”
“He’ll probably turn up. Margie and I have a two o’clock tee time at the golf course.” Sophie could hear Margie’s voice in the background, then Dean came back on the phone. “She and I can both drive around town. With the three of us, how long can it take to find one old man in a ’59 Chevy?”
It was apparently going to take longer to find Gramps than anyone first suspected. An hour later, Sophie notified the sheriff’s department and the high way patrol, and a state wide bulletin was issued for Gramps’s vehicle and license plate number.
At seven o’clock, Margie, Dad and Sophie converged at the sheriff’s department, where a tall, slim deputy led them to a quiet conference room in the back.
Even her dad was worried. “He’s never gone off like this, out of the blue. Until now, he’s done pretty well on his own with Sophie’s help.”
Jack Reece, one of the newer deputies in the department, nodded. “It wouldn’t be the first time this sort of thing happened. An older feller has been doing all right—then the first sign of significant trouble is that they take off in a car and end up two states away with no money, no plan and no recollection of how they got there.”
Margie twisted the straps of her purse in her hand. “There’s only a couple hours of daylight left, and it’s going to be a cool night.”
“And he’s on heart medications,” Sophie added, worry clenching her stomach into a painful knot. “He left everything at home—even his nitroglycerin tablets.”
The deputy looked at the clipboard in his hand. “Do you have any idea at all of where he might go—someone he might want to see?”
Margie and Sophie exchanged glances. “He has a sister down in Atlanta. He hasn’t see her in years,” Sophie said slowly. “She’s in the Hawthorne Hills Retirement Village there—I don’t remember the whole address right now, but it’s on Eighty-third Street.”
“Good. We can get the address on the internet and alert the highway patrol that he might be headed in that direction.”
“And maybe he might think of heading for Minneapolis or Madison…though I can’t fathom why,” Margie added. “That poor man. He’s been awfully reclusive these last few years.”
The deputy angled a comforting smile at each of them. “We’ve got a lot of officers aware of the situation, between the highway patrol and us. I’ll make sure that the statewide bulletin is extended.”
“I’ll keep looking myself,” Sophie said. “I couldn’t bear to just sit home and wait. Beth is watching Eli, so I’ll let her know.”
Margie rested a hand on Sophie’s sleeve. “Let me go get him, dear. He and I can stay at your grandfather’s house in case Walt shows up. Your dad can stay at our house in case he goes there.”
Over the years, there’d been a layer of reserve in Margie’s demeanor, and Sophie had never been completely comfortable with her.
But now, at Margie’s obvious distress over the welfare of the father-in-law who had never accepted her, either, Sophie felt her heart starting to soften.
“Thank you,” she whispered, resting her own hand on top of Margie’s.
Margie smiled. “Don’t worry. He h
as to show up, sooner or later. Just how far could an old fella get?”
Josh wandered through the white Victorian house he still owned in Stillwater, feeling oddly restless and out of place even though it had been his childhood home.
When their grandparents passed away, his sister had inherited the sprawling log home up on the shore of Lake Superior, while he had been left this house.
But Julia had preferred their own high-rise condo overlooking Saint Paul, and had refused to even consider living in a quaint, scenic town on the Saint Croix river.
And so this house had sat empty for several years, with blankets tossed over the furniture and the ornate woodwork gathering dust. Was it time to sell it? Or move in?
That had been his first thought while driving back to Minnesota, knowing that staying in Aspen Creek, where he would encounter Sophie for years to come, would be too uncomfortable to bear. He’d called the Realtor who had handled the cabin and told her that he would pay whatever penalties there were, in order to end his yearly lease early.
Months ago, he’d signed up for the two-day board exams required every ten years for his licensure in emergency medicine, unsure if he’d actually take the exams, much less practice again. But taking Eli to the hospital had jolted him out of his apathy and unsettled him in more ways than one.
He’d made it back to the Twin Cities just in time for the exams. And last night, he’d started to reevaluate his future.
Holing up in that dark, depressing rental cabin hadn’t done him much good, even if it had afforded uninterrupted time to focus on the foundation in his late wife’s name. Getting that project off the ground and perhaps continuing to manage it for years to come had seemed like enough. Appropriate penance, as it were.
But then Sophie Alexander had breezed into his life and turned it upside down, and nothing had been the same ever since. Sophie.
Leaving Aspen Creek had been the right thing to do. Hadn’t it? He paced through his grandparents’ home one more time, debating his next step. Then he locked the place up. Got in his car.
And started the long drive back, in search of his heart.
Chapter Fourteen
The worries she’d dealt with since graduating from college and needing a job here in Aspen Creek paled in comparison to what she was facing now.
Gramps—the most consistent, loving person in her life—could be at the bottom of a ravine right now, praying for help. He could’ve driven off the road into any number of lakes and streams. Perhaps he’d had a heart attack or stroke, or had become confused, and was now at the mercy of strangers who would have no idea of just how special and wonderful he was, under that crotchety exterior.
Please, God, help us find him—and please, keep him safe in the meantime. She whispered her prayer in a continuing litany as she cruised around town one more time, then stopped by her house for another check. Would he go there? Unlikely. But what had been normal about this day at any rate?
At home, she stowed fruit, crackers and peanut butter in a backpack, grabbed some blankets, her lightweight backpacking tent, flashlights and a case of bottled water, and rushed out the front door toward her car.
“Hold on a minute, Sophie. Can we talk?”
At the deep, familiar voice, she whirled around and saw Josh getting out of his car.
What was he doing here? Conflicting emotions clogged her throat. Hurt. Anger. That extra little thump of her heart whenever she saw him. But he’d already shown how little he valued her, and any attraction she’d felt for him had obviously been one-sided.
“Maybe another time,” she said coldly as she stowed the supplies in the backseat of her car. “Right now, I’m in a hurry.”
“I know. I heard on the radio.”
“What?” She slammed the back door, then moved to the front door and climbed in. She rolled down her window.
“Your grandfather. I heard a missing persons bulletin on the radio while I was driving into town.”
She turned the key in the ignition. “That’s right.”
“Where are you going?”
She gave an impatient wave of her hand. “What do you care? I’m looking for him. I’ve been looking for him all day, and I’m worried. So if you don’t mind—”
“Let me come along.”
“Where I’m going, you won’t be able to follow. Just stay here. Do whatever you planned to do in the first place. You have no obligation to help.” She shifted the car into Drive. “None at all.”
He rounded the front bumper of her car and jumped in the front seat. “If you find him, maybe I can be useful.” He flipped up the front visor and looked at the horizon. “I’d say you have just an hour of daylight left, at most, anyway. How will you be able to find him in the dark?”
She shot a glare at him, then stepped on the accelerator. “Just fasten your seat belt.”
Twenty miles out of town, he angled a bemused look at her. “Can I ask now?”
“Ask what?” she snapped.
“Where we’re going.”
She exhaled, letting some of her anger go. It hadn’t been Josh’s fault if he didn’t care about her. Whatever she might have fabricated in her mind, he’d certainly never led her on. “Tinnikanik State Forest. It never crossed my mind that he’d go there, until one of the deputies called to say that someone reported a bright red and white ‘59 Chevy in that vicinity. One lucky thing about Gramps’s car—it’s distinctive.”
“Why would he go there?”
“We always did, when I was growing up. We camped there every summer, and again in the fall. He loved going, but we haven’t done it in years.”
“You think he went camping?”
“I don’t know what he’s doing. I checked his garage, and none of his old camping equipment seems to be missing.” She bit her lower lip, still struggling with the fact that maybe her dad had been right all along. “Maybe…he’s confused.”
“Is he on many meds?”
“For his heart, and he hasn’t had them since this morning. On top of that, his jacket was still hanging in the closet, so if he’s outside, he’ll be at risk for exposure. We’re supposed to have light rain and temps in the fifties tonight.”
The light mist starting to form on her windshield was an ominous warning of the elements that could give Gramps a bad case of pneumonia, or worse.
She drove the last ten miles in silence, praying to herself. At the turnoff for the park, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally.”
“How big is this place?”
“Vast. With just one fire road through the center, as far as I know, and a road on the perimeter. There’s a network of trails leading through the timber.”
The old Taurus jolted and squeaked as she drove down the bumpy gravel road. Dusk had turned everything to shades of gray, making it harder to see the road. She flipped on her headlights.
“Do you know where you’re going in here?”
“Not exactly. It’s been a long time, but we always found campsites down by the river.”
As she maneuvered around a bend in the road, the headlights swept past something that reflected a dull gleam. She slammed on the brakes, then backed up a few yards.
Sure enough, it was the Chevy, nosed into thick underbrush, its right side flattened against the rough bark of a pine. And there was no doubt as to its ownership—she could read Gramps’s Wisconsin license plate on the rear bumper.
She jerked open her car door but Josh gently grabbed her arm. “Let me check,” he said quietly. “Just stay here for now.”
He grabbed a flashlight and went outside. After searching the interior of the car, he swept the beam of light across the area. When he returned, he shook his head. “No sign of him. No evidence that he was hurt, either—at least, there’s no blood on those white leather seats and the windshield shows no sign of impact.”
“Thanks, Josh.” She met his gaze and saw the concern in his eyes, the compassion. “I’m so glad you came along. This would’ve been so much harder a
lone.”
After a quick call to the sheriff’s department back in Aspen Creek, she pulled in behind Gramps’s car and turned off the engine. “He can’t have gotten very far.”
She got out, pulled a couple of oversize rain ponchos from the backseat and handed Josh one, donned the smaller one, and piled some water bottles into her backpack.
She started to shoulder into it, but Josh took it instead. “There are trails everywhere through here. Now, the question is to decide which one he might’ve taken…or if he even took one at all.”
By ten o’clock, the light drizzle had turned to a soft, steady rain. The pine needle strewn paths were slippery, and the forest was pitch-black.
If they went much farther, they’d be lost, as well.
A gurgle of water ahead made Sophie pull to a halt. “I hear the stream. We always used the campsites along the bank…maybe he found his way down here while it was still light?”
Josh swept the beam of his flashlight through the heavy timber. “I hope he’s close. He’s got to be chilled and wet by now. With his health, that won’t be good.”
“Gramps!” Sophie continued to call for him, her throat raw after two hours of trying.
“Here.”
His voice was weak, thready, distant. But—thank you, Lord—he was able to answer. Josh led the way, following the sound of his voice.
They found him huddled against the trunk of a tree, his face bluish pale, his breathing labored. Sophie felt his bone-deep shudders when she knelt at his side and hugged him. “Oh, Gramps—we’re so glad to see you.”
“J-just went for a d-drive.” He broke into a wheezy series of coughs. “W-wanted to c-come back out here once again. Got l-lost.”
She angled her flashlight and swept the surrounding trees. Near the water’s edge, a white wooden sign with #45 on it reflected in the beam. “You found it, though—the campsite we used to come to.”
He managed a weak smile. “A lot of good memories here, from back when your grandma was still alive. We all came here together.”
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