inched forward. Dream Catcher lowered his head slightly and for a second, Clay wondered if the gelding was about to charge. Reaching for the lariat hanging on the barn wall, Clay hoped he had enough clearance to throw it before the horse turned and bolted.
Dream Catcher snorted and stomped his hoof, then nonchalantly walked into his stall.
“Are you kidding me?” Clay quickly latched the door. “What was that—a test? I’ve had enough of those today, thank you.”
Tests he was apparently failing. Why had he opened his big mouth and asked the pint-size blonde out to dinner?
Because he lacked enough good sense to keep his distance.
He lived a quiet, uncomplicated life, and that’s how he wanted to keep it. The last thing he needed was Abby Winchester and her problems...only the fact that no one else knew of a sister didn’t sit right with him. Locate cases rarely resulted in a neatly wrapped gift box full of answers. Instead, they had a tendency to take on a life of their own with the subject of the search usually secreted for a reason. Clay’s gut told him Abby’s life was about to unravel. And that bothered him much more than it should have.
* * *
ABBY HAD PASSED New China earlier in the day and knew the dress she had bought at Margarita’s Ragpatch would be overkill for the tiny, ultracasual restaurant. It was definitely a low-key type of place. She slipped into her favorite curve-hugging distressed jeans and topped them off with a cotton and lace empire-waist sleeveless shirt under a soft peach linen cropped jacket. As she rolled up her sleeves and slid some wooden bangles onto her wrists, she decided on a pair of platform chocolate-leather ankle booties.
Her mother’s words whenever they went shopping echoed through Abby’s head. Neutral pieces will carry you everywhere. You can always accessorize. Her mother, queen of the cruise lines, knew how to dress to impress. Her parents were perpetually off to some exciting locale. They were on second honeymoon number one thousand at this point. Wyatt and Abby never joined them, not even when they had been kids. Their grandparents had taken care of them while Maeve and Steve sailed off into the sunset.
Abby admired their relationship. They were one of those perfectly in sync couples who finished each other’s sentences, and she was willing to bet they were as much in love today as they were when they met. Maybe more. Abby dreamed of the day she’d find her soul mate. She’d been planning her wedding ever since she was a little girl. But a wedding would never happen unless she cleared her schedule a bit and actually took the time to meet someone.
Downstairs, she told Mazie she was going out for the evening. Mazie said she’d look in on Duffy and take him for a walk if Abby was gone for more than a few hours. Mazie’s devotion to her pet guests more than justified the higher cost of staying at the Bed & Biscuit, in Abby’s opinion. Many hotels didn’t take pets and fewer offered dog-walking services.
Abby decided to wait for Clay on the Victorian’s expansive wraparound porch. White antique rocking chairs invited guests to relax among the fall flowers in various sized pots and hanging baskets decorating the porch’s perimeter. Serenity and intoxicating florals welcomed you to the Hill Country region of Texas the second you stepped out the door.
“You look very pretty, dear.”
Abby jumped at the sound of a woman’s voice. “You scared me.” Abby hadn’t noticed Janie Anderson, one of the inn’s employees, standing in the corner of the porch with a watering can in her hand. “And thank you.”
“I’m sorry.” The older woman continued to water the plants while she spoke. “You can get lost in Mazie’s jungle of flowers out here. I hear you have a date with our Mr. Tanner this evening.”
Well that didn’t take long to spread around. “I wouldn’t call it a date. We’re meeting over dinner to discuss my mysterious sister.”
“Yes, I’ve heard. Sounds exciting. I’m sorry I don’t remember your parents from back then. I even looked through some of my old photos last night. My husband, Alfred, is an avid hobby photographer and I swear we have stacks of photos from every parade and festival Ramblewood’s ever seen. Of course, I don’t know what I’m looking for, either, but you are more than welcome to look through whatever we have.”
“Really?” Maybe she’d find a photo of her parents, or one of her father and another child. “That’s very generous of you.”
“Any time you want to come over, you let me know. I can’t say my Alfred is the most organized man, but the photos are in some semblance of order.”
Abby couldn’t wait to tell Clay the exciting news. Maybe the newspaper archives would have something about her father, too, but she was certain Clay would look into that on his own. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to mention it.
A week ago, Ramblewood, Texas, hadn’t been a blip on her radar. She’d arrived in town so quickly she had a hard time distinguishing one day from the next. Now that she was here, thoughts she hadn’t considered complicated the situation.
Did her sister have a relationship with Walter? Did they see each other often? Maybe Abby wasn’t the only one he sent notes to. And maybe his yearly scavenger hunts weren’t just for her.
“Are you all right?” Janie motioned for Abby to sit in one of the rockers.
“I’m sorry.” She needed to escape her own head for a bit. She sat and Janie joined her. “I guess the reality of the situation is finally hitting me. To be honest, I thought it already had. I mean, the first big step was coming here, right? Then when I hired Clay, I thought that was the big step. In actuality, they’re all little steps to finding the truth. The idea of having a sister that I never knew of is very surreal.”
“If it’s any consolation, I think you’re handling yourself beautifully,” Janie said.
“Thank you. When I first considered hiring an investigator I had my doubts anything would come of this. It was more wishful thinking, but when I was sitting in the Bark Park and then walking around town, I got this feeling—an indescribable draw that was telling me this is where I’m supposed to be.” Abby looked up to see Janie listening intently. “I must sound crazy, but in my heart, I know it’s only a matter of time before Clay finds the answers and then what? How do you make up for all that lost time?”
“You take it day by day, dear.” Janie rested her hand on Abby’s knee. “Don’t worry about what happens next. Concentrate on what you do know so you can find her.”
“I don’t mean to sound pitiful. I haven’t allowed myself to think about the end result, and it’s kind of hitting me all at once.”
“That’s normal,” Janie said. “I would say it’s part of the grieving process over your father, too. Allow yourself to feel, but don’t cross the line into dwelling on it.”
Abby knew Janie was right. Seeing patients with disabilities and traumatic injuries every day, she had learned to appreciate everything she had. One of her old professors used to say, “As long as you’re aboveground, there’s always a bright side.” Abby lived by those words. They were why she never allowed her patients to give up, even when they suffered a setback.
But one question had plagued Abby since she had received Walter’s note. Why would anyone keep her sister’s existence a secret?
* * *
CLAY
