"Or ... if she agreed to move in with you, it's possible she's just taking things at her own pace. She didn't say good-bye. She just said no."

"If she says no again, I'm pretty sure it's going to mean good-bye."

"Sometimes, good-bye is a second chance. Clears your head. Anyway ... missing someone makes you remember why you loved that person in the first place."

I choked and then tried to clear the emotion from my voice. I couldn't imagine walking away from America.

I wasn't just in love with her. It was like taking my first breath, then the second, and then every breath after that. America had come into my life, and then she was the reason for it.

"She's special, you know? She's a daddy's girl, but she'll tell you where to stick it if she doesn't like what you have to say. She'll slap a giant to protect the honor of her best friend. She hates good-byes. She wears this little gold cross around her neck and cusses like a sailor. She's my happily ever after."

"She sounds like a firecracker. Maybe she said no to make sure you're not going to leave at the slightest sign of rocky sh.o.r.es. I'm surrounded by girls, and I'll tell ya ... sometimes, they take shots at you to see if you'll run."

"I was fooling myself." My voice broke.

Chief got quiet. "I wouldn't say-"

"When I find her, I'm going to ask her. I'll ask her as many times as it takes, but just being with her is enough. I had to literally be ripped away from her to understand that."

Chief chuckled. "You wouldn't be the first man to need a knock on the noggin."

"I have to find her."

"You will."

"She's okay. Right?"

Chief looked over at me. I could see he didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep, so he simply nodded, the wrinkles around his light eyes deepening.

"You'd better find a garden hose first, or she won't recognize you. You look like you lost a fight with a pottery wheel."

I laughed once. I tried to resist the urge to rub the dried mud from my face, not wanting to make a bigger mess in Chief's truck than I already had.

"You'll find her," Chief said. "And you'll marry her."

I offered an appreciative smile and then nodded once before turning to look out the window, searching the faces of everyone we pa.s.sed on the way to the hospital.

America Reyes was tending to a grandmother and her teenage grandson who'd crawled out of the wreckage of their double-wide trailer home. Reyes had been patrolling up and down the highways and byways within a two-mile radius of where he'd picked me up, but we hadn't come across Shepley or anyone who had seen him. I was p.i.s.sed that I didn't even have a picture of him. They were all on my phone, and my phone was drowning somewhere in the river. The battery had been in the single digits when I checked the weather, so it was probably dead.

Explaining what Shepley looked like was difficult. Short brown hair, hazel eyes, tall, good-looking, athletically built, six foot with no distinguishing marks made my description of him fairly vague even though he was anything but. For the first time, I wished he were a tattooed giant like Travis.

Travis. I bet he and Abby were so worried.

I returned to the cruiser and sat in the pa.s.senger seat.

"Any luck?" Reyes said.

I shook my head.

"Mrs. Tipton hasn't seen Shepley either."

"Thanks for asking. Are they okay?"

"A little banged up, but they'll live. Mrs. Tipton is missing her terrier, Boss Man." His words were hollow, but he wrote everything down on his clipboard.

"That's awful."

Reyes nodded, continuing his notes.

"All this going on, and you're going to help her find her dog?" I asked.

Reyes looked at me. "Her grandsons visit twice a year. That dog is the only thing between her and lonely. So, yeah, I'm going to help her. I can't do much, but I'll do what I can."

"That's nice of you."

"It's my job," he said, continuing his scribbling.

"Highway patrol helps with missing animals?"

He glared at me. "Today, I do."

I raised my chin, refusing to let his size and intimidating expression get to me. "Are you sure there's no way to get a call out?"

"I can take you back to headquarters."

I scanned the disaster that had been left of the trailer park. "After dark. We have to keep looking."

Reyes nodded, turning off his lights and pulling the gear into drive. "Yes, ma'am."

We pulled back onto the turnpike, and for the second time, Reyes drove toward the overpa.s.s to check with the emergency crew on the scene to see if they'd seen Shepley.

"Thank you again. For everything."

"How's your arm?" he asked, peeking over at my bandage.

"Sore."

"I can imagine."

"Do you have family here?" I asked.

"Yes, I do." His chiseled jaw danced under his skin, uncomfortable with the personal question.

He didn't seem to want to elaborate, so of course, I couldn't stop there.

"Are they okay?"

After a second of hesitation, he spoke, "Just missed them. Wife was a little shaken up."

"Them?"

"New little girl at home."

"How new?"

"Three weeks."

"I bet you were worried."

"Terrified," he said, staring forward. "I checked on them. A little roof damage. Hail damage on the new minivan."

"Oh, no. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't new. Just new to us. But nothing important."

"Good," I said. "I'm glad." I looked at the radio clock, feeling my eyebrows pulling in. "It's been two hours." I closed my eyes. "This trip was supposed to be the trip. I've been dropping hints left and right."

"For what?"

"For him to ask me ... to propose."

"Oh." He frowned. "How long have you been together?"

"Almost three years."

He puffed. "I asked Alexandra after three months."

"Did she say yes?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't," I said, picking dried mud off my hands. "He's asked me before."

"Ouch."

"Twice."

Reyes's entire face compressed. "Brutal."

"His cousin and my best friend are married. They eloped after a horrible accident at the college, and I-"

"The fire?"

"Yeah ... you've heard about it?"

"My brother's alma mater, remember?"

"Right."

"So, they got married? And it turned out bad?"

"No."

"But it was a deterrent to marry the guy you love?"

"Well, when you put it that way ..."

"How would you put it?"

"His roommate, Travis, got married. So, at first, he sort of proposed as an afterthought, hoping our parents would let us move in together. My parents weren't going for it ... at all. But I didn't want to get married just to manipulate a situation, like Travis and Abby. Travis is also his cousin, and Abby is my best friend." I glanced over at Reyes to see his expression. "I know. It's convoluted."

"Just a little."

"Then he asked me three months later, and I felt like he was just asking because Travis and Abby were married. Shep looks up to Travis. I just wasn't ready."

"Fair enough."

"Now," I let out a long sigh, "I'm ready, but he won't ask. He's talking about being a football scout."

"So?"

"So, he'll be gone for a good chunk of the year." I shook my head, picking at my dirty nails. "I'm afraid we'll grow apart."

"Scout, huh? Interesting." He shifted in his seat, preparing for what he would say next. "What's in the bag?"

I shrugged, looking down at the backpack in my lap. "His stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know. A toothbrush and a weekend's worth of clothes. We were going to visit my parents."

"You wanted him to propose at your parents' house?" Once again, his eyebrow arched.

I shot him a look. "So? This is starting to feel like less of a conversation and more of an interrogation."

"I'm curious why that bag is so important. It was the only thing besides you two to leave the car. He handed it to you before he was blown from the overpa.s.s. That's one important bag."

"What are you getting at?"

"I just want to make sure I'm not transporting drugs in my cruiser."

My mouth fell open and then snapped shut.

"Have I offended you?" Reyes asked although he was clearly unaffected by my reaction.

"Shepley doesn't do drugs. He barely drinks. He buys one beer and babysits it all night."

"What about you?"