She put out a hand to brace herself against the back of the sofa, all but staggering in relief. There was still time.
“A box?” he asked again.
“Sure.” She picked up a flattened box from a pile beside her feet and handed it over. She met his gaze. “And, if we find Reed?”
His jaw tensed. “Seriously, Mandy. I’m not having that conversation all over again.”
She swallowed against her dry throat. “But, if we did find him. Like, right away. Would you be willing-”
He smacked the box on the coffee table in the middle of the room, startling her. The thread of anger in his voice was crystal clear. “What is
His tone set her back. “But-”
“No.” He jabbed his finger in her direction. “No, Mandy. I am packing. I am selling. I am going to Brazil and then back to Chicago. And I’m not changing my mind. You won’t change it. Seth won’t change it. And neither will Travis.”
So much for gentle. So much for reasonable. “You’re a stubborn fool.”
“You’re not the first one to notice.”
She came around the end of the pile of boxes, staring straight into his eyes, lowering her voice. “You step over this cliff, Caleb, and we can’t come back.”
He went still for a very long moment, staring levelly back. “We, as in you and me?”
“As in your brother, your family, your heritage.”
“I can live with that.” It was obvious he was serious, completely serious. There was no way she’d get him to Helena.
Though she told herself it was a much less significant matter, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from asking. “What about me and you?”
His expression didn’t change. He leaned in and gave her a fleeting kiss. It wasn’t exactly a cold kiss, but it didn’t invite anything further. “Me and you are still going to Rio.”
She tried not to let his words hurt her, but they did. So her voice was laced with sarcasm when she answered. “Is that an ‘I’ll call you sometime, babe’?”
“That’s not what I said.”
She bit her tongue. He was right. He’d been up front and honest all along the way. All he’d ever offered was Rio and New York City. If it wasn’t enough for her, she should have spoken up a long time ago.
She knew she couldn’t change Caleb. But she could still help Reed. Pretending everything was fine, she stretched up and kissed Caleb on the cheek. “Rio sounds good. I gotta go. The vet’s working with the horses today, and he’s, well, they’ll need me down there.”
“Sure,” Caleb agreed, flipping the box over to reinforce the bottom with a strip of tape. “See you later.”
“Later,” she echoed, turning to leave.
Caleb worked for about an hour, reassuring himself he was doing exactly the right thing. He couldn’t stay here. He growing frighteningly attached to Mandy, and it got worse every day.
But every time he turned around in this house, there was another picture, another memento, another annoying memory trigger, like the woodsy scent of the throw blanket his mother had knit for the back of the sofa.
It had taken a long time for Chicago to feel like home, and he wasn’t about to lose that. Not for the sake of his family’s land, and not to be near Mandy for a few more days.
Mandy. He blew out a breath. He hadn’t wanted to fight with her. But she had to understand. There was no hope that he’d erase his childhood, nor would he ever come to terms with it. The best he could hope for was to leave it far, far behind. So he didn’t have to think about it every day of his life.
Still, he shouldn’t have taken it out on her.
She was entitled to her opinion. And she held that particular opinion only because she was a compassionate, generous, caring person. She couldn’t stand to see anyone hurt or upset, and that included Reed. And what did she get from Caleb for her trouble? Anger and the cold shoulder.
He needed to apologize.
Silently acknowledging he’d been a jerk, he deserted the packing job and headed for his SUV. He rammed it into Drive and peeled out.
Down the ranch roadway, he took the corners fast, his back tires breaking loose on the gravel ranch road. Then he sped along the main valley road to the arched gateway to the Jacobses’ ranch. It was five minutes up the driveway, and then he was pulling up front of the house.
He knocked once, then let himself in to find Travis and Seth at the table, digging into steaks.
He glanced around. “Is Mandy upstairs?”
Seth shook his head. “You didn’t talk to her before she left?”
“Left?”
Mandy sure hadn’t said anything to Caleb about leaving.
“For Helena,” said Travis. “I thought you must have gone with her, taken your jet.”
Caleb walked farther into the room, his hands going to his hips. “She didn’t say anything to me.”
Seth glanced at his watch. “She said she’d call us when she landed at the airport. You hungry?”
No, Caleb wasn’t hungry.
Mandy was gone. She’d left after their fight. What did that mean? Was she going to pull the same stunt as Reed and disappear when things didn’t go her way?
What the hell was the matter with her?
He struggled to keep the anger from his voice. “Did she say where she was going in Helena?”
“Nope,” said Travis, obviously unconcerned. Sure,
“Do you have any business interests there, suppliers?” Caleb pressed.
“Nothing,” said Seth.
“She did have a college friend who was from there,” Travis offered. “I don’t know her name or anything.”
“But it was a woman?”
Seth gave him a confused look.
Travis scoffed out an amused laugh.
Caleb headed for the door. “If you hear anything, send me a text.”
“Will do,” said Travis.
“Where you going?” Seth called out behind him.
“Helena,” Caleb answered. “Let me know if you hear from Mandy.”
“What on earth is going-” Seth’s voice abruptly disappeared as Caleb shut the front door.
Caleb stomped his way back to the SUV. It seemed impossible that Mandy had a sudden desire to visit an old friend. Unless the old friend was in trouble. But, if that was the case, she should have told him. He could have lent her his jet to get to Helena.
Unless it was Mandy going to see her old friend for solace. Could she be that angry with him? She’d said yes to Rio. That was a good sign, right?
He started the vehicle and pulled it into gear, wheeling through the roundabout and back out the driveway. He reached for his phone and dialed her cell with his thumb.
He got voice mail, and didn’t really care to leave a message.
By the time he hit the main road, his confusion had turned to anger. No matter what her reason for leaving, the least she could have done was call him, or send him a text if she was too mad for a civil conversation. She’d let her brothers know where she was headed. Well, at least the rudimentary details. A motel name would have been nice.
Coming up on the highway, he dialed the pilot. It would be late before he got to Lyndon, but the airport was equipped for after-dark takeoffs, and they could land in Helena on instruments.
Having managed to get a flight from Lyndon to Denver last night, then a flight into Helena this morning, Mandy had camped out in the restaurant of the Bearberry Inn for over two hours. It was three in the afternoon, but there
