Grace Valley 01 - Deep in the Valley by Robyn Carr

Author:Robyn Carr
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-01-29T06:03:54.088964+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

For just a while, until medical tests were completed and until Birdie’s constant headache disappeared, the quilting circle was suspended. The women still dropped by her house, of course, bringing things like casseroles and flowers, teas and even newly collected fabric scraps, to be stored for next time.

June looked in on her daily.

“There’s something different about you,” Birdie said.

“Yes, there is. I almost lost you. I’m completely changed. Forever.”

“You won’t be rid of me for a while yet, but that’s not it.”

“There isn’t anything else,” June said.

Birdie cocked her head, taking June in in a sidelong glance. “It’s not like you to lie,” she said matter-of-factly.

June couldn’t lie to Birdie because she was too busy lying to herself. When she stretched her neck to look down her long drive toward the road at dawn or at dusk, she would firmly tell herself she wasn’t looking for him. When she drove extra slowly on her way home, it was only to enjoy the scenery, not to catch a glimpse of a red-and-black plaid shirt. And when she stayed at her clinic a little late, door unlocked, it was not in hopes that someone might have shot one of his friends. God, no.

At Fuller’s Café, where she took morning courage and carbs, she asked Tom, not once, not twice, but three times total, “Have you heard anything about raids or busts or anything in the Alps?”

“Those things can drag out forever, June.”

“But you would hear?”

“I have made it a point to be informed.”

“And would you tell me?”

He frowned. A Cherokee can look particularly serious when frowning. “June, it has crossed my mind that maybe you should look through some mug shots.”

“Whatever for?”

“To see if you can identify the men who came by your clinic that night. To see if either of them is a known criminal.”

“Have they asked me to? The DEA?”

“No. But maybe for your own good…”

It wasn’t until that exact moment that she realized she’d been hounding him for information. And that he was probably onto her.

Didn’t anyone understand what it was like to be her? To be thirty-seven and have your best friends be a married cop and your seventy-year-old father, your most exciting evening out be the quilting circle? To not even own a “little black dress”?

She was dying to look through pictures! To ask Tom what he could find out about this ghostly figure called Jim. It had been just over a week. Nine days, to be exact. And she wasn’t yet angry that, after all that sweet talk and the best kiss she’d had since high school, he hadn’t come back.

He’s out there in the woods, saving the world, she told herself. Bringing justice to the forest.

Surely.

She sat in her clinic with Sadie, her new and constant companion, sorting patient files, making notes and setting up her patient roster for the next day—all things that could wait for morning or be done some afternoon during a lull in the schedule. Waiting. Foolishly hoping.

“June?”

She jumped and Sadie came to attention.

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