The Best Is Yet to Come (49)

Sometime well after midnight, when she was half asleep, her phone rang. She had it charging on her nightstand and blindly reached for it.

Glancing at the ID, she saw that it was Cade. She had half a mind to let it go to voice mail. It was what he deserved for the way he’d ruined her night. It was his fault she hadn’t been able to sleep.

She answered, though. As much as she wanted to frustrate him the way he had her, she couldn’t make herself do it.

Picking up on the fourth ring, she said, “Hello?”

“Did I wake you?” The voice didn’t belong to Cade. Earsplitting discordant music played in the background, making it difficult to hear.

“Who is this?” she asked, thinking it might be a prank. Only the number was Cade’s, and the voice was vaguely familiar.

“It’s Silas.”

“Silas?” she repeated. Her mind screamed to a halt. Her concern was instant, and she needed to know why Cade’s friend would have his phone.

Before she could ask, he said, “We met last Sunday, remember.”

“Of course I remember. Where’s Cade? Is he all right?”

He hesitated. “Ah…not really.”

“What’s wrong with him?” She sat up in bed now, fully awake, worried. Silas wouldn’t reach out unless it was serious.

Cade’s friend hesitated. “Did you two have a falling-out, a disagreement or something?”

She noticed he didn’t answer her question.

“Not exactly.” Cade hadn’t given her a chance to argue her point. He’d abruptly ended their text conversation long before she had a chance to talk to him.

“Well, something’s happened,” Silas told her, “and my guess is it involves you.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, more insistent this time. She pressed the phone closer to her ear, the background noise making it nearly impossible to hear him clearly.

“Cade called me a couple hours ago from this bar. He wanted me to join him, said he was having the time of his life.”

That wasn’t what Hope needed to hear. While she’d been fretting and stewing, Cade was out on the town. The perfect ending to a miserable day.

“Where is he?” she asked. None too pleased.

“Aberdeen,” Silas told her, and mentioned the name of the bar. Hope wasn’t familiar with the area. However, from the background noise it appeared to be a hopping establishment.

Aberdeen was a good thirty-to forty-minute drive from Oceanside, depending on the traffic, which she had to assume would be light at this time of night.

“He’s been drinking,” Silas told her.

She’d already guessed as much. “I suppose he’s drunk.” Her irritation grew with every bit of information Silas gave her.

“He might have had a couple beers, but I don’t think he’s completely soused.”

“Why call me?”

Silas didn’t hesitate. “Because he needs you, and the sooner you arrive, the better.”

“You mean right now?”

“Yes. I’ll do my best to keep him from making an idiot of himself until you get here.”

“I need to know what I’m walking into, Silas.”

Silas must have gone outside, because the noise level dropped significantly. “I don’t know what happened between you two,” Silas said, with an edge to his voice. “All I can tell you is that when Cade first joined the group, he was in bad shape mentally. Everything changed for the better when he started seeing you.”

While hearing that was gratifying, it didn’t answer her question.

“Tonight, when he called, he might have claimed he was having a good time, but I knew he wasn’t. I could hear it in his voice. When I asked him if something had happened, he refused to answer. When I pressed, he hung up on me.”

Hope placed her hand over her heart, which had started to beat erratically.

“I don’t have the insight Harry does,” Silas continued. “But I’m smart enough to know something is off.”

“Harry?” she asked.

“He’s our counselor. Like I said, I might not be a professional, but I know a cry for help when I hear it.”

“What did you find when you got there?” she asked, needing to know.

“Cade in a corner with a…”

“A woman,” she finished for him.

“Yeah. A woman. I asked about you and got a look that would curdle milk.”

She felt obliged to explain. “Cade has issues with his family, deep-rooted ones that go all the way back into his childhood. His mother sought me out, and Cade saw the two of us together.”

“That explains it.”

Hope wasn’t sure that it did. Several other factors seemed to be in play.

“Will you come and talk some sense into him?” Silas pleaded. “You need to resolve whatever is between you before he self-destructs.”

Hope bit into her bottom lip, and her throat clogged as she debated the best course for her to follow. “I don’t think my showing up will help,” she said, speaking through the tightness in her throat. “Especially when Cade has apparently already found comfort from someone else.”

“Hope, have a heart. The guy’s in a bad state.”