Larkspur Road Read Online Free Page B

leave
tomorrow
for our honeymoon and she’s…gone. Or hiding. Or something. Laura claims she doesn’t know where Britt is, but…”
    Her sister’s voice broke, and Mia heard hard, gut-wrenching sobs.
    “Give it a minute, honey, take a deep breath.” Her mind was racing as she tried to think. Laura Walker. Britt’s best friend. If anyone knew where she was, it would be Laura.
    “Start from the beginning, Sam. Tell me the last time you saw her.”
    “Last night. We had a fight. She was being rude to Alec and I told her to knock it off. She flew out the door, yelling that she was spending the night at Laura’s. But she didn’t come home this morning—and she’s not answering her cell. So I called Laura and she claimed she didn’t know where Britt was. She swore that Britt did sleep over, but she was upset and woke up around five this morning and just left.”
    Sam sucked in a deep, shuddery breath. “No one’s seen her, Mia. I’ve called all her friends—
and
her father. He hasn’t heard from her either. I even called Wade, the boyfriend du jour, even though he and Britt broke up a month ago, but he had no clue.
No one’s
seen her!”
    Not good,
Mia thought, fighting back her own rising panic.
Think,
she ordered herself, struggling to come up with a logical explanation.
    “She might be cooling off somewhere, still pissed about the fight you two had. Try to stay calm, Sam.”
    But her heart clenched with the beginnings of real fear. She needed to stay cool, think clearly. Samantha had been a drama queen all her life—every issue was life-and-death, joy or despair. Mia, the little sister, had always been the cool, practical one, the one with her head screwed on tight, her feet on the ground. But at this moment, she felt on the verge of sheer terror.
    Britt was a good kid, an A student, responsible. Sure, she was high-spirited and boy-crazy, but she wasn’t the type to run away or give Sam cause for worry.
    Fighting down the fear twisting through her, Mia spoke quickly. “She’s probably grabbing breakfast somewhere—or just sitting with a coffee, pulling herself together. You said she wasn’t happy about staying at her dad’s while you’re in Corfu.”
    “No, but she’s not happy about much of anything these days. She’s been so moody lately, snapping at Alec when he’s been wonderful to her. Fighting with me over every little thing—”
    “All mothers and daughters fight, Sam—,” Mia began, but her sister cut her off.
    “How would you know? You think it’s easy living with a sixteen-year-old? Mia, you know
nothing
about what it’s like—you don’t even have any children of your own and at the rate you’re going you—oh!” Samantha’s voice cracked. “Crap, crap, crap. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that—I’m taking this out on you and it’s not your fault!”
    For a moment Mia couldn’t speak. Her throat was too tight. Her sister’s words hurt. Probably because they were true. She seemed to have a knack for getting involved in dead-end relationships. And the way things were going, that didn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
    She was thirty-one, living in a small town with a limited population of men, and chances weren’t great that she was going to meet her prince at the Toss and Tumble Laundromat or the Lucky Punch Saloon. True, her life was full, between her friends, her teaching, and her quilting, but it wasn’t as full as she’d once thought—and hoped—it would be.
    It wasn’t full of love. And a man she could count on.
    It wasn’t full of children and laughter and a family gathered around a table—like a Norman Rockwell painting, she thought with a stab of pain that sliced deep into her heart. She drew a long breath, swallowing past the lump in her throat.
    “It’s okay, Sam. I know you’re upset.”
    But the truth was, her sister was right.
    She had to face the fact that after one disastrous marriage and one broken engagement, her prospects of actually