The House on Main Street Page 25

  “Just tonight? I was thinking we could repeat this. Many, many times in the future.”

  She wasn’t sure if he meant it. Didn’t know if anything said under snowflakes and Christmas lights could last, but maybe she wasn’t as much of an idiot as Gertrude said, because Tess just slid her hands beneath Cade’s jacket, rested her head on his chest, and picked right up where they’d left off.

  And, man, it felt good.

  They danced until the snow fell in earnest and Tess was shivering so hard her teeth chattered, and she still didn’t want it to end. Not then. Not tomorrow. Not even after fifty years.

  “You’re cold. We need to go back in.” Cade clasped her hand and started walking back, and she thought that if she missed this opportunity there might never be another one.

  “I can think of other ways to warm up,” she responded.

  Cade stopped short, his handed tightening. “I’m not a one-night-stand kind of guy, Tess. Not with you. So if that’s what you want, let’s skip it.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be the woman’s line?” Her throat was dry and tight, her heart racing, because she wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl, but she’d have made an exception with Cade. She wanted to tell him that, but he released her hand, his expression hard.

  “That’s a sexist thing to say. I thought you were better than that,” he growled, and she could see in his eyes that she’d hurt him, realized just a little too late that this wasn’t a game Cade was playing, a split-second thought that he’d had. All the things he’d said about choosing the wrong sister and being an idiot, he’d meant them.

  He disappeared into the house, apparently as disgusted with Tess as she was with herself. Was she so much of a chicken that she couldn’t at least try to have the things she wanted?

  Even fickle, flighty Emily had done that. Despite all her faults, she’d loved Dave, and she’d stayed in love with him for ten years. Never wavering from it. Even when the two went through tough times.

  Funny . . . or not . . . that Tess had had her life together, her career worked out, her finances in order. She’d had her house in the city, her car, everything that anyone standing on the outside and looking in would probably say made her successful.

  But she was letting a man she’d loved forever walk away.

  Idiot....

  She could almost hear Gertrude’s voice, hear Emily’s laughter floating in the snowy air.

  Tess had never been a fool.

  Now wasn’t the time to start.

  She picked up the long, heavy layers of her skirts and hurried across the snow-dusted yard.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Boobs and Botox purred against Cade’s chest, and it was all he could do not to politely disengage her arms and tell her the dance was over.

  He was at the party. He was going to enjoy himself. With or without Tess. Just thinking about her idiotic comment boiled his blood. He wanted forever. Not a roll in the hay or a couple of nights’ fun. If she didn’t want the same—

  “What do you think, Sheriff?” Botox sighed. “Shall we do this again? Or shall we dance our way out the door and over to my place?”

  “Look, B—” He stopped the word just in time. What was her name? Betty? Cathy? She was a transplant to the town, worked in the bank and loved men in uniform. That’s all Cade knew about her, because it was all he’d wanted to know. “I’m not interested.”

  “How do you know unless you give it a try? As a matter of fact, you take me home, and I think we can find out just exactly how interested you might be,” she murmured.

  Okay. Enough. One dance, because he was pissed off and wanted to make sure Tess knew he wasn’t standing around thinking about her. But having an overripe and overeager woman pressing herself against him . . .

  Nope.

  Done.

  He extracted himself from her grasping hands. “Thanks for the dance.”

  “But the song hasn’t even ended,” she said, pouting and reaching for him again.

  “Can I cut in?” Tess stepped between them, her violet eyes dark, her hair and coat dusted with snow. She was trembling, her teeth chattering, near frozen, and all his anger melted away. He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders, and somehow Botox was gone, and Tess was in his arms again.

  “Thanks,” he murmured against hair that smelled of winter snow and Tess. God, she smelled good.

  “Consider it my way of apologizing.”

  “Apology accepted.” He pulled her closer, his hands resting on her back. “So, what happened? Did you decide it was too cold to hide outside?”

  “I wasn’t hiding. I was taking some time to think.”

  “And?”

  “I thought I was an idiot. So I came inside to claim my prize for getting the answer correct. You’re it.” Her palms settled on his chest, and she smiled a Cheshire-cat smile that made Cade’s gut tighten.

  “I’ve never been someone’s prize before.” He spun her around, waltzing her toward the hallway, because there was no way he planned to spend the rest of the night whirling around town hall with Tess. He had more interesting things in mind. “But I like it,” he murmured, brushing his lips over hers.

  It wasn’t enough. Not even close. “How about we get out of here? Go get some dinner?”

  “Dressed like this?” She plucked her velvety skirts.

  “I was thinking we could go to my place. I cook.”

  “Food that’s edible?”

  “Does it matter?”

  She studied him for a moment, then squeezed his hand. “You know what? I don’t think it does.”

  “So, let’s—”

  The door flew open, crashing into the wall with a bang that was loud enough to silence everyone except the pianist.

  Zim ran into the foyer. No coat. His hair standing up around his head.

  “He’s gone!” he shouted, his eyes wide with fear.

  He spotted Cade and Tess, knocked into three blue-haired ladies in his haste to get to them. “Now the old battle-ax is hopping up and down the street on her crutches screaming his name. They’re both going to die in this weather! We’ve got to—”

  “Slow down, Zim.” Ida stepped through the crowd. “No one can understand when you’re sputtering like that.”

  “The boy is gone! Walked right out of the house while Gertrude and I were playing canasta. Could have been gone more than a half hour before we realized he was missing.”

  A murmur of concern echoed through the foyer, people pressing in close to hear.

  “Did you call it in?” Cade asked, pulling out his cell phone, dialing the office as Zim babbled about a police officer working too slow and Gertrude still out in the snow without a coat.

  “I need to go find him.” Tess darted for the door, but Cade snagged her arm, holding tight when she tried to pull away.

  “Wait,” he mouthed as Emma filled him in on what she knew. Max and Jackson were at the scene. So was Doug Fairweather, a nearly retired deputy who’d entered law enforcement before Cade was born. “Tell them I’m on my way, and ask Max to get Gertrude back inside. Forcefully if he has to.”

  “Will do. You want me to call in anyone else?” Emily asked.

  “No.” Cade glanced around the crowded foyer. “I think we’ll have the manpower we need.” He ended the call, finally giving in to Tess’s relentless tug.

  He didn’t know how she managed, but she ran to his car. No worries about snow or heels or long skirts, she sprinted like a woman set to win the hundred-meter dash. He sprinted beside her, pumped up on adrenaline and fear. The temperature had already dipped below freezing, snow falling so thick and heavy visibility was reduced to nearly zero. The wiper on the Ford could barely keep up with the mess.

  Idiotic choice for a ride.

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Tessa asked as they got under way, leaning so far forward her head was touching the front window.

  “It could, but I don’t think that getting into an accident is going to help Al
ex.”

  “Sorry.” She wiped her palm along her skirts, and Cade grabbed her hand, holding tight as he eased down Main Street. No sign of Alex. Damn it. And the weather was getting worse.

  There were three police cars parked in front of the Riley house and several people were standing in the yard when Cade pulled up to the curb. Neighbors, from the look of things. Doug waved Cade over, his bald head gleaming in the street light.

  “Glad you’re here, Sheriff. Maxwell is heading east on Main. Jackson is going west. So far, no sign of the boy. Fortunately, we have some volunteers who are willing to help.” He gestured to the half dozen people huddled nearby. “We need to find Alex ASAP. The weather is only going to get worse.”

  “Where’s Gertrude?” Tess whirled one way and another, her body so tense and tightly wound that Cade thought she might break.

  “Looking for your nephew. I tried to get her to go inside and wait, but she wanted none of it. She didn’t even have a coat on.”

  “I need to find them.” Tess raced into the house.

  Following her wouldn’t help Alex, but damn if Cade didn’t want to.

  “Did you find tracks?” he asked. That would make things a lot easier. Though, with the rate of snowfall, any footprints would be covered quickly.

  “None. Makes me think the boy left before the snow started falling.”

  “We’re talking forty-five minutes or more.”

  “Yes.”

  “Shit,” Cade muttered. “That’s a long time. Did Gertrude have any idea where he might have gone?”

  “She wasn’t here when we arrived. I spoke to Zim. He said that the boy might have gone looking for that angel. He was talking about it all night, asking Gertrude if they could go see it. She finally got fed up and told him to watch some PBS piano concert. No wonder the poor kid ran away.”

  That was about no help at all, but it was all Cade had. He grabbed his heavy coat and the emergency kit he kept in the backseat of the Ford. Boots. Gloves. Thick socks. Food. Blankets. The kind of thing any Northwesterner packed during the winter.

  Took about two minutes to chuck the fancy dress shoes and get into warmer gear. Each minute felt like a lifetime. He walked across Tessa’s yard, snow swirling. No wind. Thank God. That might keep Alex alive for a little longer.

  “Sheriff?” Matthew Jones called, breaking away from the group still standing in the Rileys’ yard. A teacher at the elementary school, he lived a few houses down and had a young son of his own. “My old coon hound, Bailey, might be able to track the boy. Want me to give it a try?”

  “It can’t hurt. I’m going to start searching. Doug, you organize everything from this end. Radio in if he turns up. I’ll do the same.”

  A wild shriek filled the air, and Cade swung toward the street. A shadowy figure was moving through the snow. Maybe two hundred yards out. No details visible, but Cade recognized the enraged scream.

  Gertrude.

  Had to be. No other woman could nearly break the sound barrier with her voice.

  “Put me down, you bullheaded son of a—”

  “Don’t insult my mother, or I’ll toss your scrawny behind right back into the snow!” Max responded, and from the tone of his voice, Cade would say the guy had lost every bit of patience he had. Cade grabbed a flashlight from the kit.

  He didn’t have time to deal with Gertrude and Max.

  Time was ticking, the temperature was dropping, and Alex’s chances of survival were diminishing.

  “Let me go, you bastard! I have to find my nephew before the curse takes him from me!”

  “What the hell are you talking about, lady?”

  “Just put me down and let me do what I have to!”

  “On crutches? With a broken leg? Without a coat? Curse or no curse, you have more sense than that, Gertrude.” Max’s tone had gentled, but Gertrude wasn’t placated.

  She shouted a string of profanity that would have made a sailor blush.

  Cade moved toward the pair, finally seeing them clearly as he drew nearer. Max moved along at a slow jog, Gertrude hanging like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder.

  “All you’re doing is wasting my time, old lady. If I hadn’t had to drag your butt back here, I could be looking for the kid instead of hauling ass back to your place. Hey, boss.” He nodded in Cade’s direction but didn’t stop.

  Good.

  Gertrude was safe.

  Now . . . Alex.

  If Zim was right, he’d gone to find the angel, but no one knew where the angel was. So where would a kid like Alex think an angel would be? Where would any kid think an angel would be?

  Church?

  Alex liked to spend time there. Cade knew that for sure. It was a starting point. He turned toward the town center, sounds fading as he hurried up Main Street. A line of cars crept along the icy road, lights splashing on the snow-coated pavement. Looked like most of the town was heading toward him.

  The lead car slowed, the driver’s window opening. “Any sign of him?” Larry Murphy called.

  “Not yet.”

  “You want us to check in with someone or just split up to search?”

  “Doug is at the Riley place. Check in there. He’s organizing the search efforts,” Cade responded, not slowing his pace. Snow crunched beneath his feet and stuck to the trees and bushes. A heavy, wet snow. Great for building snowmen or for burying a hypothermic child. He kicked at a few piles of snow, uncovering rocks and piles of dirt, but no little boy.

  He could see his breath in the air, feel the cold seeping through his thick coat and tuxedo jacket, and he hoped that Alex had bundled up well like he had the last time he’d gone searching for the angel.

  “Cade!” Tessa panted up beside him, her head covered by a black knit hat. No hood, and her coat didn’t look heavy enough for the weather. She wore gloves at least. And boots. But Cade thought she’d be shivering within thirty minutes.

  “You need to go back home, Tess.” He kept moving forward, his pace slow enough to search the underbrush and yards. Painfully slow, but there was no other way to be but methodical.

  “Not until we find Alex.” She wiped her face, and he knew she was crying. Wanted to stop and pull her into his arms, tell her that everything would be okay, but they were short on time, the temperature dropping, and every second counted.

  “Go back home, okay? Gertrude needs you with her.”

  “Gertrude is in Zim’s truck, heading toward the edge of town.” She swiped at her face again, inhaling a deep, shuddering breath. “God, I hope he didn’t head that way. The houses are so far apart, and the Miller farm is there. A hundred acres of nothing before he even gets to the old farmhouse. He could fall and—”

  “Don’t.”

  “How can I not?”

  “Because you have more important things to do.” He kicked snow from a heap near the edge of someone’s driveway. A pile of frozen leaves emerged.

  “Can we move any faster?” Tess tugged his arm, trying to draw him away from the next pile of snow.

  “Not unless we want to miss something important.”

  “Miss him, you mean? Do you think he’s already . . . ?” Her voice trailed off. “Gertrude said that he was geared up for the weather when he went to Zim’s house. He took all the gear with him when he left. I’m sure he’s bundled up. Just like he was last time. He’s a smart kid.”

  Smart wouldn’t keep him warm.

  Cade didn’t say that. No sense in upsetting Tess more than she already was. Besides, she knew. The best cold gear in the world couldn’t keep a person warm forever.

  Her palm slid from his arm to his hand, her gloved fingers weaving through his. “We have to find him soon, Cade. He’s just a little boy, and—”

  “We will. If we don’t, someone else will. Most of the town is out looking. That’s a lot of people.”

  “But Alex doesn’t like strangers. You know that. What if he sees people looking and hides? What if he’s afraid to come home because he thinks Gertrude will
take away his piano privileges again? What if—”

  “Call his name, Tess. He’ll answer you if he’s nearby,” he suggested, because she was going to make herself crazy with conjecture, and because Alex would come if he heard Tess call.

  “Alex!” she shouted, his name swallowed up by the snow and the darkness. She called again and again and again as they made their way toward the town center. Behind them, other people were calling Alex’s name, the muted sounds echoing Tessa’s frantic cries. Her voice grew hoarse, but she kept calling as they reached Riley Park.

  “You don’t think he went to the pond, do you?” Tess asked, her voice brittle with fear.

  “He’s never shown any interest in it before. The only thing he’s ever seemed to be really excited about—”

  “The piano!” Tess shouted and took off running.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tessa raced across the park, the church lights beckoning through the heavy snowfall.

  Please, please, please.

  Her desperate thoughts matched the pounding of her heart and the slap of her feet on snow-covered grass.

  Let him be there.

  Just let him.

  She stumbled up the steep hill that led to the church, sliding onto her knees in frozen muck. Not realizing Cade was behind her until he grabbed her shoulder, stopping her downward momentum.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine. But I wish we’d taken the car,” she said, panting. She righted herself and headed back up the hill again.

  “I was afraid we’d miss him if we were driving. I figured if he was on his way to the church, we’d meet up with him before he made it there.”

  If.

  Such a little word, but it packed a hell of a lot of power. If he was there. Good. If he wasn’t . . .

  Where would they look next?

  She crested the hill, nearly slipping again as she ran to the church doors. She heard the piano music before she opened the door, and her heart skipped a beat as she rushed into the vestibule.

  It could have been anyone playing, but she knew before she saw Alex’s red-gold hair and narrow shoulders that it was him.

  “Alex!” she called, tumbling all over herself in her hurry to get to him. She didn’t care that Cade was behind her or that Alex didn’t really like to be hugged. She didn’t even care that she was cold and tired and half-near infuriated because Alex had scared a dozen or more years off her life. All she cared about was getting to him, grabbing him up off the piano bench and dragging him into her arms. “You scared me to death!”