Till Death(60)

“Not sure, but we’re checking all avenues until something turns up.”

Reading between the lines told me that all the avenues they’ve searched so far had turned up zilch. Unsettled, I took a sip of my coffee. “How can someone disappear without a trace?”

“Happens more than people realize,” he remarked, eyes meeting mine. “I think you know that.”

“True,” I murmured, lowering my cup. “I do know that. Probably more than anyone, but sometimes I forget.”

“That’s human nature.” A few seconds of silence stretched out and then he shocked the hell out of me. “I went to the academy with Cole.”

“E-Excuse me?”

“Wasn’t in law enforcement around here. I was up in Morgantown when everything was going down. Didn’t realize you and him had a thing back then until I transferred down here and took a city position. That was about a year after the Groom business.”

“Oh,” I murmured, lifting my mug. “I . . . I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t think you did. He talked a lot about you back in the day. Told him more than once to track your ass down.” Detective Conrad flashed a quick, very charming grin. “Even told him that marrying Irene was a mistake. His heart wasn’t there, no matter how badly he wanted it to be.”

My lips parted as I jerked my hand back, splashing coffee on my hand. I didn’t even feel the warm liquid. What did he just say?

“Think he got respecting you confused with giving you space, but it all worked out again. Funny how life does that.” He straightened, completely oblivious to the fact my jaw was on the floor. “Anyway, I’m going to call—”

“What did you say about Cole being . . . being married?” I asked, knowing—just knowing—I heard him wrong, because if Cole had been married, he would’ve said something. He had to have said something.

Detective Conrad’s nostrils widened slightly as the skin between his brows creased. “Aw shit,” he muttered.

I stared at him.

“Cole was married.”





Chapter 18




Cole was married?

Those three words were on a vicious cycle despite the more pressing things going on—say, like the highly attractive detective currently calling a forensic specialist to come dust for prints.

My heart was thundering in my chest as Mom roamed into the kitchen. I numbly introduced her to the detective and then excused myself. I needed a few moments alone to really process what I’d just learned.

I walked through the dining room, rubbing my palm against my sternum. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. We hadn’t seen each other for ten years, and I had been with other people. It wasn’t like I had thought Cole was celibate and saintly, waiting patiently for my return. I figured he had been in relationships, and for the longest time I believed he was married, living out the happily ever after I’d wanted so badly to be a part of. But he hadn’t said anything to give the impression that he’d been married.

How could Cole not mention that? Being married seemed like a super important detail when you were talking to someone about second chances and breaking down Teflon walls.

Then again, we’d only been back in each other’s lives for a week.

Only a week.

Plopping down in the chair behind the front desk, I realized that we were moving way too fast—I was moving way too fast. Obviously, there hadn’t been a lot of time for Cole and me to have multiple in-depth conversations, but being married was something major. Something I thought someone would bring up pretty quickly.

I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, the ache in my temple slowly receding. Mom’s laugh carried from the kitchen, and I had no idea what the detective could be saying while investigating possible evidence related to a missing person that would make someone laugh. Otherwise, the inn was quiet. The guests were out, and in those moments, I realized what I was feeling wasn’t so much disbelief.

It was hurt, and it was stupid, because I didn’t think I had the right to be hurt over the fact that Cole had indeed moved on to the point that he got married. I’d left this town. I’d left him, and just because I hadn’t moved on, I hadn’t expected the same from Cole.

It hit me then, much like it had the night before when I woke up and saw Cole sitting there, that I didn’t just love him, I never stopped loving him. He’d burrowed his way in, digging deep and carving out a piece of my heart just for him, all those years ago, and he was still in there.

That’s why discovering that he was married from a virtual stranger hurt. That’s why I was questioning what the hell I was doing when it came to him.

Screw the being-alone-and-sorting-things-out part. I needed to call Miranda and tell her what I’d learned.

Opening the desk drawer where I stashed my cell, I reached for it. Her phone rang and then went to voicemail. Knowing she hated voicemails, I hung up without leaving one.

Rising, I shoved my cell into the back pocket of my jeans as the door to the inn opened. I looked over, and my heart stuttered as Cole walked in.

It had started snowing, and sprinkles of the white stuff dusted his shoulders and hair. Grinning, he thrust his fingers through his hair, brushing the snow off as he said, “Hey, babe.”

“Hey,” I whispered, and the damnedest image formed in my mind. Cole in a tux standing at an altar as some faceless but most likely beautiful woman in white slowly approached him.