told me I could watch his TV as long as I kept quiet and promised not to wake you.”
“He knew I was asleep?” Jami asked, feeling a strange combination of embarrassment and resentment.
“Yeah. Grant came to talk to you, but when he saw you taking your nap,” Toby explained, not taking his eyes off the cartoon, “He said we had to be real careful not to disturb your beauty sleep and sent me in here.”
“Great,” Jami muttered, raking both her hands through her hair, feeling it peak into twin horns poking up over her ears before smoothing it again. “It’s nearly time for you to help Becca, so please turn off the TV and get ready.”
Toby pointed at the old-fashioned clock. “Because I have to report for KP duty at three o’clock, right? That’s in ten minutes,” he proudly added.
“How do you know?” Jami asked in surprise. “There aren’t any numbers on that clock face.”
“Grant taught me where the numbers belong and how to read them in my head.” Her son beamed at her, his freckled face split with a wide grin.
“Great,” Jami muttered again, pleased that Toby had learned to read the time properly, but upset that it was Grant who taught him.
She sighed. Today was day six of their weeklong vacation. Tomorrow she and Toby would leave Frost Lake behind. And Grant Carrington wouldn’t be teaching any other lessons to her son. Or to her.
Sending a wary glance at the now soap-less hot tub, she settled Toby on the back patio with Becca and Nell, who instructed him on the fine art of corn shucking. Jami had intended to spend this time with Grant, but now alone, she wandered along a mountain trail she hadn’t previously explored.
Skirting a rockslide, she took a broad path veering left, her mind whirling with thoughts of the one person she did not want to think about—Grant Carrington. Why couldn’t she have fallen for an old-fashioned, one-woman man? Jami kicked a clump of dirt. Still filled with restless energy, she marched down the trail. Awhile later, she found herself back at the lodge, approaching the front drive. She’d been traveling in circles, just like her life.
Well, she might as well check on her son’s progress.
Jami traipsed around the lodge and through a side gate into the garden, alive with the scents of roses, phlox, and lavender, blended with fragrant herbs, many in blossom. When she reached the patio, she found Nell dozing on the wooden swing, and the shucked corn was stacked by size in neat yellow rows in a cardboard box. Jami smiled as she noted the green leaves in one paper bag and the brown strands of corn silk in a separate bag. Hopefully, her child’s organizing streak hadn’t driven Becca crazy.
Jami went inside the lodge through the Garden Room eager to find Toby and Becca. Maybe the innkeeper had him doing additional KP duty in the kitchen.
She found Becca in the kitchen, alone.
“Where’s Toby?” Jami asked, damping a flare of panic as she remembered last time he’d disappeared.
“On the patio with Nell shucking corn,” Becca answered as she peeled and rinsed carrots at the sink. “I just checked on them ten minutes ago.”
“No,” Jami replied, her voice constricting, her throat tightening along with her chest as an unwanted premonition gripped her. “The corn’s done, and Nell’s asleep in the swing.”
Becca’s hands froze in midair. “Not again!”
“What’s going on?” Grant demanded entering the kitchen in time to witness Jami’s strangled gasp.
“Toby’s missing.”
“It’ll be okay.” Grant moved to place an arm around Jami’s shoulders. “Hey, he’s probably just in the suite.”
“I’ll check,” Becca volunteered as she dumped the carrots into the sink, turned off the water, and dried her hands. “If he isn’t, I’ll have Homer help me search the lodge.” She glanced apologetically at Jami. “That tyke’s probably just getting into a bit of innocent mischief. Unless he’s napping in your room.”
“I’ll check outside,” Jami whispered, trying to pull herself together. Ten minutes wasn’t very long. Toby must be close by—maybe playing with the frogs at the spring?
“I’ll check the woods,” Grant volunteered, dropping a reassuring kiss on Jami’s forehead as she glanced up at him in alarm.
“The woods? Toby can’t be in the woods!”
“I doubt he is. It’s just a precaution.” Grant hugged Jami tight, then released her. “Don’t worry, Red, we’ll find him.”
Doris bopped into the kitchen like a plump parrot. “I heard all the voices. What’s going on?”
“Toby disappeared,” Becca answering, rushing out the doorway.