Hotel Ladd Read online

  Her expression fell. “Gone?”

  Annie nodded and tears pushed behind her eyes, a rush of angst peppering her chest. “I think she ran away.”

  Concern swamped Fran’s eyes with a doe-like distress. “Oh, darlin’ no.”

  She nodded again, but this time there were no words. Standing near the breakfast counter, Annie slumped to a seat. Casey had run away. It was a smack in the face to her mother, her aunt, and everything that spelled home. Casey wanted none of it. She had rejected those who cared about her most and did so without the first scribble of a note. Annie only wished she knew where Casey went. Where did she have to go, anyway?

  “Oh, sugar.” Fran eased heavily to a stool beside her, instantly ejecting the needs of her restaurant in favor of her family. “Are you sure?”

  More sure than she cared to admit. Annie took a deep breath and calmed herself as best she could. “I found a suitcase missing, her drawers were empty, her car gone.” The last observation hit home in Fran’s gaze. She had purchased the used car for Casey to encourage her independence—not enable her escape.

  Fran wiped a hand across her forehead, a common tension pulling between the women. Underlying the initial shock of a teenager’s rebellion, both understood the consequences could have ramifications Casey might not have considered. “Have you called around? Are you certain?”

  “I’m certain. But I don’t know where to go from here. Where do I begin to search for a girl who’s up and left without a note? I have nothing to go on.” And it was killing her. Not only had her child left her, Annie didn’t know of any friends to reach out to. Other than Jimmy, Annie came up empty. She felt helpless. A heap of failure.

  Hot tears sprang to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Fran kicked into “fix-it” mode, rubbing a hand up and down Annie’s back. “Don’t you fret, Annie Grace. We’ll find her. She couldn’t have gone far in that tin can I bought her.” But the wise crack fell flat. Annie knew Fran was just as worried as she beneath her façade of bravado. In reality, Fran didn’t know any more than Annie did about how to find Casey, but she wouldn’t let it show. She had a restaurant to run, customers waiting. It was the same determination she showed when her husband Deacon died. One day he was here, next day he was gone, third day Fran buried him and returned to work. That was her way. “Let me get you some coffee, sugar, and we’ll put our minds to it. We’ll get to the bottom of this black well, in no time.” With that, Fran up and made a bee line for the kitchen leaving Annie to herself.

  Not a good idea. Surrounded by townspeople she knew, who knew her, Annie felt isolated. Tears streaming down her face would beg questions, set fire to gossip. Annie wiped her cheeks and cleared her throat. She had to pull herself together. She had to think, reason. If she were Casey, “where would she go?”

  That’s as far as she made it until an hour later when her sister Lacy strolled into the restaurant in search of food. Four months pregnant, the woman had turned into an eating machine, though she didn’t show the first pound. Of course she was wearing a coat, but the hot pink jacket was cinched snug, forming an hour glass to her round hips and thin legs, currently clad in black leggings and black boots. Despite the cold and her pregnancy, Lacy opted for a mini skirt. Add her stylish black-haired pixie-cut and artfully applied makeup and her sister could pass for a fashion model.

  “Annie!” Lacy waved gaily and hurried over.

  One look at the radiance in her sister’s face and Annie couldn’t help but smile. Her happiness was contagious, if fleetingly so. “Hi, Lacy.”

  Lacy bent down and pecked her cheek. “What are you doing up so early?” She swept down to the stool beside Annie, her blues eye bright, eyes that felt eerily similar to her own. The Owens girls had many differences but the resemblance in coloring was incredible—not only their fair skin and inky black hair, but their blue eyes, both color and shape. Once Annie allowed herself to be compared to her sister, she accepted the facts. A stranger would not mistake the relationship between the women. It was uncanny. “I thought Saturdays were your lazy days,” she said, loosening her sash.

  They usually were. “I’m not having a great day.”

  The comment caught Lacy like a hooked fish, her mouth agape. “Why? What’s wrong?” And then scrutinizing Annie’s face as though seeing her for the first time, Lacy asked, “Something’s happened?”

  “I think Casey has run away.”

  “Oh, no!” Lacy clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Annie nodded and shoved the empty coffee cup aside, the mere sight of the stale brown liquid rubbing her stomach raw. “And I don’t know what to do about it.” It’s why she’d been stapled to this stool since seven-thirty. She had no place to go. No idea where to begin. Jimmy didn’t know anything. Fran didn’t know anything. No one had a clue. “I’m worried about her.”

  “Well, of course you are!” Lacy exclaimed. Now that Lacy was with child, Annie had noticed a brand new layer of sensitivity to her sister. Before, Lacy didn’t have the first inkling as to what Annie had been through on account of Casey. Now, she was beginning to understand or, at the very least, think about the subject. Lacy skimmed the restaurant, an uncomfortable air hovering about her. Her gaze returned to Annie, but she didn’t say a word.

  “Lacy?” She honed in on the new energy circling about her sister. “Do you know something?”

  She made an evasive dodge before venturing hesitantly, “Have you called Troy?”

  “Troy? Why would I call him?”

  Lacy clamped her shiny pink lips closed.

  “Lacy?” Annie studied her sister’s features, zeroing in on her eyes. Well accustomed to Lacy’s tendency to fib and cross her fingers, Annie would have none of it. “What do you know?”

  Her sister slashed her gaze about the diner and asked, “Where’s Aunt Frannie?”

  “Don’t ‘Aunt Frannie’ me—what’s this about Troy? Is Casey with him? Do you know something?”

  “I don’t know,” Lacy stumbled over what obviously was a “yes” response. “But I think they were seeing each other for a while and maybe he might know where she went.”

  Troy and Casey were seeing each other?

  When did this happen? For how long? And how come she didn’t know about it and Lacy did? A fresh pour of determination filled Annie’s spine. “Spill it, Lacy. I want to know everything.”

  Lacy did as she was told and divulged everything she knew—from Felicity’s revelation at the diner six months ago to Travis’ information on his brother’s whereabouts after he left town. Troy had moved to Murfreesboro. He had decided to quit college before he ever started and, instead, work with a horse trainer friend of his father’s. Lacy wasn’t sure, but according to Delaney who heard it from Felicity, Troy had been keeping in touch with Casey.

  “If he convinced my daughter to leave home and move in with him, I’ll ring his neck quicker than a Thanksgiving turkey.”

  Lacy blinked. “But Thanksgiving is weeks away, yet, Annie. You’re not going to wait, are you?”

  Annie growled under her breath. “It’s not meant to be literal.”

  “Oh.”

  Annie felt a quick stab of regret. She didn’t mean to come off so harsh. Lacy never finished high school and took most things literally. But that was her world. She lived in “literal” land and occasionally missed the subtle underlying meaning of things. It was neither here nor there. Annie had bigger fish to fry. “How can I get in touch with Troy?”

  Lacy perked up at the opportunity to help. “I could call Delaney. I bet she could find out with one phone call.”

  Annie didn’t care to involve Delaney Wilkins in her personal business. She’d already been poking around, wedging herself into Casey’s life at the diner, trying to make friends. She claimed they were family and needed to start acting as such, which sounded good but Annie didn’t trust Delaney. She’d been no friend of the Owens family in the past and they didn’t need her friendship now. She was probably trying to keep a hand on the Lad
d Springs property to ensure that Casey did her future bidding. Resentment curled Annie’s toes. She’d always been the controlling sort. But if Delaney was the only way to locate Casey, then so be it. “Can you do it? Will you call her right now?”

  “Sure!” Joy glittered in Lacy’s eyes. Pulling a cell phone from her purse, she dialed and waited. In seconds, she clipped, “Delaney, its Lacy. Can you call Felicity and get me Troy’s phone number?” She paused, probably waiting through the predictable “what for” from a woman who didn’t do anything without knowing all the details beforehand. “Casey has run away and I think she might be with Troy.”

  Lacy winked and gave Annie the thumbs up. Apparently Delaney didn’t need any more convincing. Maybe Cal was right. She’s a mother, same as you. It was the first time Annie had thought of Cal since discovering her child had run off, but now that she had, his image stuck. She would have to call him. He would want to know.

  “Thanks, Delaney! Toodles!” Lacy set her phone on the counter and announced proudly, “She’s going to call Felicity this instant.”

  Annie expelled her breath, the first release of pressure since the ordeal had started. “Thank you.”

  “No problem! And don’t worry, Annie. I’m sure she’s all right. She’s just a girl trying to find her way.”

  Like you once tried, Annie mused. The similarity between Casey and Lacy drew a tight string around Annie’s heart. Is this what their mother went through when Lacy ran off? Did she worry and fret and feel all was lost?

  A sober reality dribbled in. Their mother couldn’t have felt the way Annie was feeling. Annie was distraught, anxious. She was beside herself with worry. Not Momma. Her response had been to up and move. The memory gouged a fresh hole in Annie’s heart. She simply accepted the fact that Lacy had run off and decided the girl could fend for herself. Came to the same conclusion with Annie. She was eighteen, of legal age, which meant she could take care of herself. A few days later, Momma up and left, abandoning the homestead right after Lacy.

  Lacy’s phone rang and she snatched it up. “Hey, Delaney.” She nodded. “Okay, thanks.” Pulling the phone from her ear, she peered at the tiny screen. “She’s going to text me his contact info.” Bling. “There it is!” She handed the phone over to Annie. “Do you want to call him?”

  “Is there an address?”

  Lacy pressed a button on her phone. “Yep, there sure is!”

  Annie tensed. “I’d rather do it in person.”

  “Good idea,” Lacy said. “That way they can’t ignore you.”

  Lacy was right on the mark with that one. Casey had ignored her all night long. But phone calls were easy to mute. A live, hot-blooded mother with an aim to drag her daughter home was another story. While their Momma didn’t chase after Lacy, Annie was darn well going to chase after Casey. Her daughter might not be happy to see her, but eventually she’d understand and be grateful for the fact. Abandonment was an emotion that never left a person. It branded the heart forever. Annie felt a rush of nerves. Casey was eighteen. Her life at home was no kite flight in the park. Would she come back with her?

  Chapter Five

  Cal watched as Annie placed her cosmetic bag over top of the clothes in an overnight bag. It felt odd, being in the personal space of her bedroom. He liked it though. It was a nice mix of feminine and sensible, nothing too frilly or expensive, nothing silly and unnecessary. Clean, organized…it smelled of her perfume. He stole a fleeting glance at her open bathroom door, the shower stall partially visible. To date, they hadn’t crossed the line into intimacy, but desire was always with him. Particularly in the privacy of her bedroom.

  But at the moment, Annie had more urgent matters on her mind and he was going to respect them—though it wasn’t sufficient enough to prevent him from reacting to her female presence. Dressed in jeans and ivory cable sweater, Annie didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Her figure was trim and fit, her face a beautiful combination of porcelain beauty lined with pure country determination. She stopped her hands mid-motion and closed the lid of her overnight bag. “You don’t have to go with me, Cal.”

  “What if I want to, Annie? You might need help convincing Casey to come home. Let me give that to you.”

  “I appreciate the offer, Cal, but I don’t think there’s anything you can do. This is between me and Casey and it could get ugly.”

  Cal chuckled. “Oh, believe me, darlin’. I’ve seen ugly before and it doesn’t scare me.”

  “Not with a rebellious teenage daughter. They’re a whole different kind of ugly,” she said, adding a smile to lighten the brunt force of her rejection.

  While he didn’t think Annie meant to be patronizing, that’s how her smile felt to him. She was pushing him away because she believed he didn’t understand the crisis at hand. She wrote him off as an unmarried man with no experience. However, Cal was a whole lot more familiar with “ugly” than Annie could possibly know, much to his shame. But she didn’t know about his “ugly” because he hadn’t yet revealed it to her. But one day, one day he’d share it all. It was inevitable. She’d have to know his scars if he expected to have a future with her. Doing so when she was knee deep in hers wasn’t going to happen. He was here as support, and that’s all Annie would hear from him for the foreseeable future.

  Cal strolled over to her and stood by as she zipped her case closed. He reached down and took it from her hands. “I’ll take that,” he said, firming his grip on the handle in case she resisted.

  “I can carry my bag, Cal.”

  “I know you can, but I’d feel better if I carried it for you.” Annie surrendered with a thank-you and walked out to the living room to retrieve her purse. Cal followed, turning out the light behind him, a last tamp to his desire. “Have you considered it may get hostile?”

  “Hostile?”

  “Yes, hostile. Casey is a runaway. They’re not known for their amenable attitudes.”

  “Believe me, that I understand. But I don’t think it will get any more hostile than harsh words.” She paused, the calculations whirring behind her eyes. “Do you?”

  He shrugged. “It might. From what Lacy said, it sounds like the boy has a chip on his shoulder.” A chip the size of Texas, to hear Macolm tell it. Troy had a twin brother, an identical twin in looks but nothing else. Travis Parker was the twin who won the girl, made the grades, pleased his parents by going to college, criticizing Troy at every turn. Add the fact that Troy had allowed his libido to get the better of him, sleeping with Jeremiah Ladd’s girlfriend and the whole town had come down on him pretty hard, Casey included.

  According to Malcolm, Troy Parker was a bull in a china shop where every customer wore bright red clothing. He rammed full speed ahead, took heads off when they poked into his business... Cal understood a young man prone to temper. He’d spent his childhood living with three of them. Beau, Clint and Jack never met a brawl they didn’t like, biting back harder than necessary and in most cases drawing first blood. Like Troy, seemed the fight was bred into them. “Things could escalate.”

  “Escalate? What are you saying, Cal? That I should fear for my safety?”

  “Now don’t go puttin’ words into my mouth. But it’s like I told you before, you’re entering an unfriendly situation at a disadvantage. Troy will be on his turf and Casey will be covered under his umbrella. If they want to fight you on this, what are your alternatives?”

  “My alternative is to say, no. Casey is coming home with me, and that’s the end of it.”

  “Now I don’t know about you, but demanding others do it my way by the force of a bat never did work too well. I say you try a softer appeal. This has to be about her, not you.”

  Annie eyed him with a wariness that looked to be born from epiphany. Was she catching on? Did she realize he might know what he was talking about?

  Cal sure hoped so. It would save her pounds of heartache down the road.

  Annie slumped and dropped to the arm of her sofa. “This is about her.”

&nb
sp; “I know it is, “Cal said, setting her overnight bag on the side table. “And you know it is. But I think Casey is going to need some convincing. Some convincing that might take time.”

  “What do you mean, time?”

  “What I mean is...” Cal lowered to the cushion beside her, but not too close. He didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage of the situation. He and Annie had been inching closer over the last several weeks, and if she needed time to let him in, he was going to give it to her. No longer a man of push and shove, Cal had learned a tender touch was a tougher approach, but one with the biggest payoff. “Casey might hear what you have to say, but she might not act immediately. She might have to let it sit and stew for a while before it makes good sense.”

  Black lashes shuttered as Annie looked away. “You’re saying I might have to leave her there…with Troy.”

  Cal hated that Annie’s voice was strained. She sounded broken, beat, and it was the last thing he wanted for her. Annie was a strong woman with personal courage and determination. A woman who went after what she wanted, even when she feared it might not go her way. But this time she had everything riding on the outcome. It was an investment he understood all too well. When the one person in the world with the power to crush drops the hammer, life can feel like it ain’t worth living. “I’m suggesting patience might be the best route. Give Casey the room to make her own decision. Let her know you’re there for her, but be clear it’s her decision from there.”

  “What if she decides not to come home?”

  Cal hated to say it but she needed to hear it. “Then you have to accept that.”

  Tears swam into her eyes and she turned from him. Cal gently took her chin in his hand and drew her back to face him. His instinct was to brush her tears free, kiss her pain away, make love to her until she understood she was not alone in this world but he couldn’t do any of it. Annie wasn’t ready. Like her daughter Casey, Annie needed time.

  “Maybe you should come with me.” She smiled through bleary eyes. “If I break down like this, she surely won’t respect me enough to come home.”