“Sadie,” he called through the house, hoping she was upstairs, cleaning one of the rooms.
“Rory,” his grandfather called back from the office off the living room.
“Yeah, Granddad, it’s me.” Rory made his way out of the kitchen and through the living room, which had been touched by Sadie, too. Not a single speck of dust or fingerprint marred any surface. The pillows were neatly tucked into the corners of the couch. A cream-colored blanket draped over the brown leather sofa.
In the five nights since his first date with Sadie and the incident with her brother and his friends and the cops showing up, he’d barely seen Sadie outside this house. She came each and every day, did her work, and left to be with her father. He didn’t know how she did it. He’d lost his parents in a cruel and unusual way, but at least he hadn’t had to sit there and watch them die before his eyes.
“She’s not here,” his grandfather said.
“I see that. Where is she?”
“Don’t know. Maybe you should call and check on her. It’s not like her to be late, let alone not show up.”
Granddad’s concern infused with Rory’s. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and hit the speed dial for Sadie. She didn’t answer. Voice mail picked up, and although he loved hearing her sweet voice, a sense of dread came over him.
“Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. Where are you? Call me as soon as you get this.”
“You really are sweet on her.”
Rory tucked his phone back in his pocket. “Don’t start, Granddad.”
“I’m not starting. I’m happy. Can’t I be happy for my grandson, especially you?”
Rory narrowed his gaze, not understanding his grandfather’s meaning. “Why especially me?”
“Don’t get me wrong, your brothers deserve every happiness, but they aren’t like you.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You’re so serious all the time. You work hard, but you don’t take time for yourself.”
“I haven’t exactly been living as a monk these last years.”
“Might as well have been. There’s no wife sleeping in your bed. No kids running around this place.”
“Granddad, enough with all this talk about babies.”
“Hasn’t this thing with Sadie’s father taught you anything? Time is precious and passes far too fast. He’s more than twenty years younger than me, and I will outlive him. Is it so much to ask that before I die I get to see my boys happily married and raising families?”
“Who says I even want to get married?”
“Now you’re just lying or fooling yourself. I saw the way you looked around the house. She’s made her mark here and in your life. You miss her when she’s gone.”
“She’s not gone. She’s just not here.”
“And how much does that bother you? How much do you want her here?”
Too much to admit outright to his grandfather, who’d be calling the preacher and buying a cradle before the day was out.
“Love is one of those things you just know, like the sun will rise again tomorrow.”
“We’ve had one date that ended in a raid by the cops. She cooks and cleans here because her brother stole our cattle.”
“What does any of that have to do with how you feel about her?”
Nothing. Everything. The date might have ended badly, but he’d enjoyed every second he spent with her. He admired her strength and resiliency. The way she cared for her father and tried to help her brother told him how important family was to her. The same way it was important to him.
“Don’t make things harder than they have to be.” His grandfather had been saying that since he was a kid.
“I’m not making them hard. Things are complicated right now. I’ve barely seen her these last few days.”
“And you miss her. Tell her that. She’ll like it. Send her some flowers. Better yet, pick her some and take them to her. Tell her in person how you feel.”
“She knows I like being with her. She even called me her boyfriend.”
When she called him her boyfriend, he had to admit his heart leaped in his chest. He’d liked the idea that she belonged to him and he belonged to her. He liked the connection they shared, the way she made him feel, and the way she’d gotten him out of his tired routine. He really did look forward to seeing her smiling face when he came in from work.
And she wasn’t here today and the disappointment still lingered in his mind and heart.
Damn, he really did like her, but did he love her?
Maybe. When he saw that guy with a gun to her head, his heart stopped. The thought of her dead . . . The rest of his lonely life spread out ahead of him; it seemed so bleak.