Steele Ridge Christmas Caper Box Set 2 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steele Ridge Publishing

7

Tessa and Jonah picked their way through the multitude of cars parked behind the Triple B. Jonah pointed at three almonds that were scattered behind a Dodge pickup truck. “Let's see how far Kyra's trail goes. If it ends, we'll call Maggie immediately. But right now we’re probably closer to Kyra than anyone.”

Jonah pulled out his phone and clicked on the flashlight. They studied the almonds and Tessa scanned for any other evidence of the direction Kyra had taken. “There,” she said, pointing toward Main. “I see some pretzels leading around to the front of the restaurant.”

Jonah squeezed her hand. “Good eye.”

They hurried around the building and to the sidewalk running along Main Street. Tessa swung her head right and left, praying to spot another tiny piece of edible evidence. “Look,” she said. A pretzel in the shape of a tiny star lay in the middle of the sidewalk, but it wasn't in the direction of the parade. Instead, it led toward the eastern edge of town. “Where do you think she could be going? Or someone could be taking her?” Although Tessa was warm and snug in her coat, her insides were becoming colder and colder.

“Let's just follow the trail,” Jonah said. After a few steps, he shook his head. “I don't know if I can do this.”

“What do you mean?” Tessa asked as they continued to pick their way down the sidewalk with Jonah shining his phone's flashlight across the cement.

“This parenting thing,” he said. “I don't know how my mom did it with six kids. We had to have scared the hell out of her on a regular basis.”

A different kind of chill invaded Tessa's chest. Was he saying that he didn't want children? It wasn't something they had talked about much, but she just always assumed he would, having come from such a large family. “You don't want children?”

“That's not what I said. It's just scary as hell. Stuff like this happens. Kids get sick. Hell, kids even die,” he said. “How do parents live through that?”

Tessa wanted to pause and look into his eyes, but they didn't have the time. So she just plowed on down the sidewalk and said, “I didn’t die, but how do you think my parents felt?”

“God, Tessa.” Jonah tried to pull her to a stop, but she kept walking.

“We don't have time to stop.”

“Tessa, I didn't mean—”

“I know.” she said. “And you're right, becoming a parent and watching your kids go through all kinds of pain must be terrible. But is that worse than never having children at all?”

“Well, people keep having kids, so I guess there must be something to it. I just don't know if I have what it takes. I would be losing my mind right now if Kyra were our daughter.”

Tessa couldn't help but smile at that. “You are losing your mind, and Kyra is not our daughter. Jonah, you simply care about people. And yes, you would care about your children more than any other

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