track. The black-painted trailer bore the words “Delaney Transportation” in bold red letters across its side. A timely reminder of the real reason why I’m here. Perhaps I should complain to Cameron about the carelessness of the driver? She pulled away again, watching the truck in her rearview mirror as it disappeared along the track. Away to her right, a hill shaped like an inverted funnel caught her eye, standing out stark and unusual against the surrounding flat landscape.
Laurie’s mother had talked to her about the openness of Wyoming. The vast tracts of unoccupied country through which you could drive and drive without seeing another vehicle. Towns with their population only just creeping into double figures, spread so far apart it took forever to get from one to the other. Scenery so beautiful it hurt your heart to look at it. Traditional ranches stretching beyond the horizon in every direction. Maybe her mother had instilled a love of this land into Laurie with her stories, but it pulled at her. It was a raw, powerful, unexpected feeling, unlike anything she had experienced for any other place.
On her arrival in Stillwater, Laurie stopped for groceries. Pulling up in front of the general store, Milligan’s, she tried to recall where she had heard the name mentioned. With her finely tuned memory for detail she recalled Dino saying something about a girl called Milligan running off with an unsuitable boyfriend. Small-town life.
Laurie supposed it was like having an extended family. It was a complete contrast to her own life. She had grown up without a father and was only discovering now that she had a cousin. Who knew how many other family members she had that she was unaware of? For her whole life, it had just been her and her mom. Because she hadn’t known any differently, she had accepted their lack of family and close friends as normal. She knew, of course, that her fierce independence and determination not to rely on others stemmed from that isolation. Now, for the first time, she thought it must be kind of comforting to think everyone knew your name and watched out for you.
Laurie was the only customer, and she selected her few purchases, making her way to the single checkout. The woman behind the counter put aside the magazine she had been reading and greeted her with a listless gaze. Laurie’s eyes were drawn to the poster at the side of the checkout. It was a photograph of a pretty, smiling girl with blue eyes and long dark hair. Emblazoned across the top in bold font were the words “Have you seen this girl?” Below, in smaller lettering, were details of when and where Deanna Milligan was last seen, a plea for her to contact her mom and a cell phone number. Laurie had glimpsed a few similar posters around town, but this was the first time she had seen one up close.
An icy little worm wound its way up Laurie’s spine as she studied the picture. Although Deanna Milligan was much younger than Carla, they both had the same coloring and there were some similarities about their delicate features.
“I’m so sorry.” She nodded to the poster while the woman continued to scan her purchases. There was enough of a resemblance between this woman and the girl in the picture for Laurie to make the assumption that this was Deanna’s mom. What had Dino said her name was? Sarah Milligan, that was it.
Sarah’s eyes instantly filled with tears. “It’s the not knowing that’s so hard, you know? If she’d just get in touch, tell me where she is. I don’t understand why it had to be like this.” She withdrew a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose into it. “I mean, I didn’t like the guy she was seeing—thought he was too old for her—but running away with him? We could have worked it out.”
“So you met her boyfriend?” That didn’t fit the same secret-admirer approach as Carla. Maybe Laurie was seeing connections where none existed. Lots of girls had blue eyes and dark hair. She did herself. Things are complicated enough. Don’t go trying to make them worse.
“Once or twice. As I said, I didn’t like him. He wasn’t from around here. His name was Xavier.” Sarah spat the name out as though it was an insult. “Xavier-Quentin Fontaine. He made a big deal of making sure he used his full name. Sounds kinda French, doesn’t it? He was a charmer. All that blond hair and those baby blue eyes. Flashing his big, charming smile at every woman who came his way. Deanna was smitten. She even started lying to me. Told me she wasn’t seeing him anymore, that he’d left town. But I knew it wasn’t true. Why, he was still sending her those flowers, even though she tried to tell me they were from a secret admirer—”
“Flowers?” Laurie couldn’t help herself. She interrupted the other woman’s flow, her voice a staccato exclamation.
“Every week. Right up until the day she left home.” Laurie’s heart gave a sickening thud as she anticipated Sarah’s next words. “Fancy dark red roses in the shape of a heart.”
* * *
“Laurie!” Cameron caught up to her as she reached her car at the front of the store. “You were lost in your own world. I’ve called your name twice already.”
She turned her head, a half smile piercing her distracted expression. “Pardon?”
“Hey, are you okay?” He scanned her face, amazed at how he could have become so attuned to this woman’s moods in such a short space of time. The slight crease between those glorious blue eyes told him something was bothering her. He wanted to reach out a fingertip and smooth it away.
He had spent the previous night tossing and turning and lecturing himself on the foolishness of getting too close too fast. Getting close at all, never mind the timescales. His brain had given his body a lecture. It was choosing the familiar. Latching on to Laurie because it was easy. If he’d passed her in the street, she’d have turned his head. The fact she’d fallen unconscious into his arms had thrust her remarkable similarity to Carla right under his nose. Fate had given his sex drive a wake-up call. Her presence had acted like an injection of a performance-enhancing drug directly into his previously dormant sexual urges. It was all wrong. You want her because of how she looks, not for who she is. No woman deserves that. That was how his speech to himself had gone last night. Now she was before him again in person, and every sensible, reasonable word flew out of his head again. His body took over, shutting his brain down.
Laurie attempted a smile in response to his question. On anyone else it might have worked. Because, in the short time he’d known her, Cameron had become an expert on her expressions; he wasn’t fooled.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just talking to the store owner—” she waved a hand toward Milligan’s “—and she told me about her daughter. I guess I felt bad for her.”
He still wasn’t convinced by her reply, but he let it pass. He’d known Laurie Carter for twenty-four hours. It didn’t exactly give him the right to worry about her. Hard on the heels of that thought came a question. Does that mean I want to worry about her? Last night he hadn’t thought beyond the physical wanting. Maybe he should just put any thinking about Laurie aside for another time. Along with the urgent desire he had to draw her into his arms and kiss away that worried look.
“It was a bad business. Sarah was widowed when Deanna was a baby. She devoted her life to her daughter, but they struggled. Making ends meet was always hard, and Deanna had a few problems as she was growing up. She went off the rails when she was in her teens. Now Deanna is gone, Sarah has no one. Loneliness and stress have taken its toll on her well-being.”
“That’s obvious from the way she talks.”
Laurie opened the trunk of her car and shifted a large artist’s portfolio case to one side so she could place her groceries inside. As he helped her with the groceries, Cameron eyed the portfolio in surprise. “I thought you were on vacation.”
“You should try telling my agent about that.” She rolled her eyes. “To be fair, I decided on this vacation
