Wanted A Real Family(52)

“I can’t stay here, Jase. I have to look for her.”

He could understand her panic and her need to do something. However—

“What if Amy comes back and you’re not there? Then what? Stay put, Sara. Check all around the cottage again, but stay around your place. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Minutes later, Jase’s own heart was racing after he made the phone calls. Some winery staff were still working late. Liam had said he’d passed the cleaning crew headed for the reception hall and wine tasting room. He’d round them up.

On his electronic tablet, Jase quickly brought up a map of the winery, divided it into grids and had a plan by the time he arrived at the cottage.

Everyone who was going to help in the search gathered around. Jase saw Liam go to Sara and give her elbow a quick squeeze in reassurance. Maybe the two of them were closer than he thought, but she’d never mentioned it.

Jase quickly divided the search volunteers into groups and told them how to spread out. Then he said to Sara, “I’m taking the Merlot vineyard. Stay here and wait. Everyone has your cell phone number. As soon as one of us finds her, we’ll call you.”

“But, Jase, what if—”

The sun was descending lower on the horizon and he knew her fears. “If we don’t find her in half an hour, I’ll call the sheriff. I promise.”

Then, instead of giving her arm a squeeze, he pulled her into a tight hug. “She can’t have gone that far,” he said again, and kissed the top of Sara’s head.

She looked around and spotted his father watching. Jase really didn’t care. No time for pretense here.

After giving further instructions to everyone, Jase walked away from Sara but couldn’t help looking back over his shoulder. He hadn’t seen that pain on her face the night of the fire when she’d appeared on the nightly news. This was her daughter who was lost, not a photo album, not material possessions. His own stomach roiled and his chest was tight. Amy meant a lot to him, too.

Ethan strode toward the Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard behind the cottage, according to Jase’s strategy, while Jase headed west and spotted Liam to the south, others heading north. He’d told them to watch for a flash of red—the color of the T-shirt Amy was wearing. He’d also instructed them to look low to the ground in case she’d be in a crouch, peering at a rock or an interesting bug. Amy wasn’t afraid of bugs. She was curious about everything.

The trellises, the vines, the rows were all impediments to seeing a small child in an expansive area. Jase listened for laughter. He listened for crying. All he heard was evening birdsong.

He walked. He searched. He thought about calling the sheriff. The weight on his chest made breathing tough. He could only imagine what Sara was feeling. Jase’s phone was in his hand and when it rang, he froze. He saw Liam’s number.

“Did you find her?”

“Jase, there’s nothing out here. We don’t know what we’re looking for. You need to call the authorities.”

“You’re looking for red. You’re looking for reddish-brown hair. You’re looking for a child who could not have gone that far.”

“Maybe you want to be the hero here, but you’ve got to be practical.”

Did he want to be Sara’s hero? Sure, why not. After all, he was getting in deeper. But more than anything else, he just wanted to find a little girl who’d crawled into his heart.

“Ten more minutes, Liam, then I’ll call. Search low and search behind.”

As each second ticked by, Jase’s optimism fled. What did he know about searching? What did he know about relationships? What did he know about finding one lost little girl?

The next time Jase’s phone buzzed, his father’s number flashed on the screen. He suspected Ethan was going to give him the same advice as Liam had. Instead, however, Ethan’s voice was jubilant.

“I found her! Something about she saw a cat and she chased after it.”

There were a couple of cats at the winery. Liam had taken them to the vet now and then, and he kept a stash of cat food in the storage cupboard.

“Did you call Sara?” Jase asked.

“I thought you’d like to do that. Meet you at her place.”

Jase could hear Amy in the background, and the gentleness in his father’s voice when Ethan said to her, “I’ll take you home to your mommy. Come on, now.” Then he clicked off.

Jase wondered about that gentleness...wondered how his father would be with a grandchild.

Grandchild? What was he thinking of?

He jogged back to Sara’s cottage, on the phone the whole way, alerting Sara her daughter had been found, alerting the searchers they could come home.