Last First Kiss (26 page)

“Are you going to marry her?”

“Oh Soph
,
that’s the last thing I want to do
. I’m going to marry you
. I’ll just support the baby
,
and he
or she will
need to
be part of our lives.”

“Wad
e, I don’t think I can do deal with this right now.”

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry that this had to happen.”

“I think it’s an omen that we were never meant to be together. First me and Travis and now yo
u and Cathy, an unwanted pregnancy
always gets in our way.
”

Sophie couldn’t sit there a moment longer
. The room c
losed in on her
,
and she could
hardly breathe.

She stood
. “Wade, I think I’d like to get some fresh air to clear my head.”

“You want me to come with you?”

Sophie shook her head. “Nope, just need some
time by myself
,
and then I’ll be right back.”

He kissed h
er lips before she turned
toward the door. When she got outside she took a deep breath. It was already dark
,
so she’d just go to the end of the road and back.
She hoped
by that time this would have all
sunk
in and she could go back to Wade
,
offer him some support
,
and they could deal with this new development as a couple. But right now she just need
ed
five or ten minutes to process it.

****

Wade paced up and down in his living room.  Had Sophie changed her mind
about coming back to his house?
She didn’t have a car to go any place because he’d driven her here. She’d told him she was only going out for a short walk
,
but that was over thirty minutes ago. Maybe she’
d used that as an excuse to simply
walk
out of him. Perhaps she’d gone
all the way back to her grandmother’s house.

Wade
pulled his cell phone down from one of the shelves
on the bookcase
and dialed Emily’s number.

“Hello, Emily Richardson.”

“Emily, it’s Wade
. Is
Sophie there?”

“No, she’s with you isn’t she?”

“I had some bad news to tell her
,
and she went out for a walk and hasn’t come back.”

“Do you think I should come over or go look for her?”
“No, no, I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for why she’s been gone so long. I’ll just get in my car and drive around a bit and le
ave a note on the door for her.”
“Wade, you’ll let me know either way.”

“Of course.”

He pressed the end call button and nibbled on his bottom lip.

Fuck, if anything had happened to her, he’d kill himself.

He dug into the
back pocket of his jeans and pulled
out the keys to his SUV. He
wrote a quick note tellin
g Sophie that
he was out looking for her and should she return to the house, to stay put and wait for him.

He pinned
it on the door and then got into his SUV. He turned the ignition,
silenced the radio and backed out of his driveway. As he headed down the road he turned up his headlights
to full beam
and scanned every nook and cranny hoping to see her someplace. He drove by the park, checked all the benches to see if maybe she’d gone there to think. Nope, as he expected this time of the night
,
not one single soul out and about.

By the time he’d made two full trips around
Greenville
, he got the awful feeling something wasn’t right. Something had happened to Sophie. Even when they were kids he knew when she wasn’t feeling good or had fallen and skinned her knees. Wade shivered. He’d never felt quite like this before.

He sat in the SUV and pulled out his cell phone again. He didn’t want to call Emily again because she had enough to worry about. Finding Sophie was his and only his concern now. He’d call the hospital
,
and heaven forbid
,
Sophie might have been in some accident and taken there.

“Hello
,
Greenville
Community
Hospital
.”

“Hi, I’m wondering if I could check if anyone’s been brought into the ER in the last couple of hours. A woman, with blond hair maybe.”

“I’ll just go and inquire for you sir.”

“That would be great.”

Wade leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling. Damn, why did Cathy have to get pregnant? Everything was going along so perfectly for him and Soph.

“Hello, sir?”

“Yes, yes, I’m still here,” said Wade jumping up.  He wouldn’t mind hearing she was there. Not that he wanted her to be hurt or anything
,
but at least he’d know where she was.

“The only person who’s come through the ER since noon was a man in his eighties.”

“Okay, well, thank you for your time.”

“You’re welcome.”

Wade pressed the end call button again and put his head down on the steering wheel.

He couldn’t deal with all
this
by himself because he was on the brink of tears. If he ever lost Sophie his heart would break into a million pieces.

His hand shook as he called his dad’s number.

“Bob Linley speaking.”

“Pops
, you doing anything right now?”

“Nothing besides watching another rerun of my favorite cop show.”

“You want to meet me ov
er at Emily Richardson’s place?”

“Sure, i
s this a social get together
celebrat
ing you and Sophie’s engagement? If so, I’ve
been keeping a bo
ttle of champagne hidden
just for the
very
occasion.”

Wade
,
despite feeling shitty right now, had to smile. Pops had never given up on the idea of Sophie being his daughter-in-law.

“No, we have to figure out how to find Sophie.”

His bottom lip quivered now. Damn, he was going to cry.

“Son,
you okay
?
And
what about Sophie?”

“She’s gone missing.

“Gone missing, what the hell…”

“Cathy Moran is pregnant, pregnant with my baby
,
and I had to break the news to Soph.”

“Shit, Wade, that’s the worst timing for something like this to happen.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Wade’s nose was running
,
and he wiped it and a tear away.

“I
f anything’s happened to her.”
He broke down completely.

“Hey, you are not driving anywhere in this state of mind. You stay put. I’
ll come and get you
,
and I’ll dri
ve you to Emily’s okay
?”

“Sure
. Thanks, Pop
.”

Chapter Thirteen

Although she was a country girl at heart, Sophie had also become a city girl while spending the last eight years in
Seattle
. Part of
which meant she was alert at all times to any danger
or anything that didn’t seem right
around her. However, tonight through her tears and blurry mind she h
adn’t been paying attention. She hadn’t realized that a
van had been following her for two blocks.
She’d hidden in an alleyway for a
while and only come back out when she thought the danger, real or imagined, had past.

She knew all the streets of
Greenville
like the back of her hand and
had
doubled
back five blocks from Wade’s house
hoping she’d lose
whoever was trying to scare her by stalking her in the van.
Why they were doing it was beyond her.
Greenville
was one of the last places on
earth where someone could walk around
safely
. A
few folks probably still
left their front doors unlocked
,
too.
And sure some kids often pulled pranks
,
but if this was one of them, it wasn’t f
unny and yes, they’d scared her so it was
time to move on.  She turned the corner confident that she’d finally lost the van. She went cold from h
ead to toe when she
saw
it
again
,
and this time it was heading straight for her. There
was just enough light for her to see it had
Colorado
plates.

It wasn’t stopping
,
and she guessed they were going to run her down. Sophie turned to run. Even though she wasn’t a kid any more she was still pretty quick of her fee
t. She couldn’t hear its engine rumbling behind her any more.

Yeah, maybe it had been kids, kids
from
out of town who just wanted to scare people. Nothing better to do. She
’d
better get a move on and run back to Wade’s house before he started panicking wondering where she was.
She got a couple of feet down the street when she felt someone grab her from behind and then a hand covering her mouth before she could scream. She kicked backwards with her heel
,
but unfortunately she was wearing running shoes and
not pumps. She struggled some
more, tried her best to scream even though a large palm covered most of her mouth. She guessed it was a man by the size of the hand and the grip he had on her.

She was out of ideas about wh
at to do
. The
next thing
she knew
a
wad of cotton that ha
d a similar smell to a hospital was placed over her nose and mouth. She tried not to breath
e
in its
odor
,
but it was either that or be
come
oxygen deprived. Taking one de
ep breath was the last thing Sophie
remembered.

****

Wade and his dad had first driven off to Emily’s to check if Sophie had returned. She hadn’t
,
and now Wade
,
although an ex
-
lawman and usually calm
,
had all
sorts of terrible thoughts running
through his mind. They’d promised Sophie’s grandmother they’d keep her up to date on anything they found out. The poor woman was sick with worry herself. They
’d
driven back to Wade’s dad place where he’d suggested he call the police to see if they could help.

“Wade’s worried sick about his fiancé
e
,” said Bob. “How about sending a police car j
ust to take a look around town?”

He winked at Wade.

“I know you can’t do any favors because it would look bad, but the boy’s going crazy here. She just heard some bad news
,
and we’re worried she’s not thinking straight.”

Wade couldn’t hear the response.

“Nope, we’re not saying we think she’s harmed herself.”

Wade shook his head. “
Sophie
wouldn’t do that
,
but I’m
thinking she might have slipped down someplace. A couple of ranchers have seen bears
and cougars close to town
,
too.”

His dad held up his hand as he lis
tened to the police officer respond
.

“That would be great.
I know my boy will appreciate you doing that. And we’ll be at my house should you find her or any information about her whereabouts.”

Bob put the phone down.

“He said
he’ll drive around town
,
but if he doesn’t find anything
we can’t do anything else unti
l she’s been missing at least twenty-four
hours.”

Wade nodded. In twenty four hours if they hadn’t found Soph, he’d be tearing
the town apart piece by piece himself.