Page 76 of Suddenly Yours

He answered on the second ring. “Hey, sis, we were just enjoying these cookies⁠—”

“Cade’s not home,” I blurted out, the words tumbling from my lips too fast. “He’s not answering my texts or calls. I checked the cameras and he left the job site almost an hour ago.”

There was a pause on the other end, not long, but long enough to terrify me.

“Hey,” Max said calmly. Too calmly. “It’s probably nothing. I’ll head out and check things out, all right?”

“I’m worried,” I admitted.

“I know. I’ve got this. Sit tight.”

I hung up and immediately started pacing from the kitchen to the living room. Back again. My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t quite get a full breath.

I sent Cade another text message.

Please call me.

Nothing.

Minutes dragged by like hours.

I leaned against the counter, pressing my palm to the cool surface, and my thoughts betrayed me, slipping backward instead of staying where they belonged.

All the moments in our past.

All the times he’d looked at me like I was the best thing in his world and he’d said I love you, like it was so easy. Like it didn’t scare him at all.

And me? All I’d done was smile or kiss him to avoid saying it back.

I hadn’t said it back.

Not because it wasn’t true.

Because it was.

I’d loved him for years. Quietly. Safely. I’d kept those words tucked away where they couldn’t hurt me if things went wrong. Saying it out loud felt like crossing a line I couldn’t uncross. Like tempting fate somehow.

What if something happened before I said it?

My phone rang, startling me so badly I nearly dropped it.

“Max?”

“I checked the job site,” he said. His voice was still calm, but now there was something under it. “No one’s there.”

My stomach dropped. I already knew that. I had been staring at the video for a few moments, hoping, praying...

“I’m going to drive the route he usually takes home,” he continued. “The back road by the cove, right?”

“Yes,” I answered eagerly.

“Don’t worry yet.”

Don’t worry. Yet?

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me, then sank down onto the edge of the couch, my leg bouncing uncontrollably. I stared at the door like Cade might walk through it any second, annoyed that I’d worked myself up over nothing.

I sent another text.