What if he messed up Cody even further?
Max shoved away from his desk, the chair squeaking against the floor, and moved to turn off his office light. He couldn’t dwell on that right now, not when he’d have to see Cody soon and be forced to keep up Emma’s charade a bit longer. He had to focus on business for the time being. People depended on him—like Tonya. Her parents would be there by the end of the day, so he needed to tell her to get her things ready.
He tucked the folded slip of paper recommending professional counseling into his shirt pocket and made a mental note to hand it over to her family when they arrived. Hopefully she’d find the right path and stay on it. He could sort of commiserate now with Emma’s misplaced guilt over the girl. Tonya had such potential—but she’d been keeping a secret, too. He couldn’t help what he wasn’t aware of.
Which begged the question—what else didn’t he know about his campers?
It was enough to make a man paranoid.
He started for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, then ducked back out at the sound of Mama Jeanie’s singing. She always sang when she cooked, and he didn’t want to listen to the hymns right now, nor did he want another lecture full of cryptic wisdom. Just couldn’t stomach it today.
He turned up the stairs to his master bedroom, thinking to grab some water from the dorm fridge he kept by his bed instead, and paused at what sounded suspiciously like footsteps—on the second floor, where no campers were allowed. He frowned, quickening his step and pushing open the door to his room with authority.
No one was there.
Probably just the floorboards creaking. The house wasn’t exactly new.
He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and twisted open the lid. He took a long sip, then replaced the cap as a sinking sensation spread through his gut. Something was different. He turned a slow circle in the center of the room, trying to place it. The rug on the wood floor by the dresser lay flat and straight. The dark green bedspread still hung crooked like he’d left it—as usual, since the only reason he made his bed in the first place was because he enforced that rule with the campers. The rustic clock of a cowboy knelt before a cross ticked a steady rhythm, the only sound breaking the quiet. He shrugged. All was right.
Except he hadn’t left his top dresser drawer open an inch.
He tossed the bottle down and pulled the drawer open. Should be socks. Boxers. And...he fished underneath the rolls of wadded socks. It wasn’t there.
Oh, no.
He slammed the drawer shut just as an angry voice sounded from behind.
Cody, red-faced and steely-eyed, stood framed in the doorway, holding the picture of Max and Emma. “You’re a liar.”
* * *
Emma woke with a remnant of the peace she’d found the night before but not all of it. She went through the motions of the day, trying to focus on the girls and their activities, realizing her remaining time with Tonya was short, but she couldn’t shake the memory of Max’s face when she’d confessed.
Finally, she couldn’t take it any longer. She had to see Max, had to know how he was processing this, or she’d explode with the what-ifs. She left the girls with Faith in the barn, saddling up for a trail ride under Luke’s direction, and headed for the main house.
Mama Jeanie intercepted her outside the kitchen before the door even shut behind her. “Don’t go upstairs.” Her tone, always brisk and authoritative, seemed even firmer than usual.