Page 144 of One Last Promise

Shep lifted a shoulder but couldn’t stop a smile.Maybe. Almost. He hadn’t tried to kiss her again, but it had been tooling around his mind.

Kiss her, and eventually ask some big questions. But, “We’re taking it slow.”

“Why?”

He frowned. “Um . . .”

“If she’s the one”—Axel waggled his eyebrows—“get on with it, dude. Pop the question.”

Oh. “Are you?—”

“Yes. Definitely. Not yet, though. Flynn’s still getting settled in at the police department. But yeah, she’s the one. So . . . I should probably start looking for my own digs.”

A car pulled up outside, and Shep looked out the front window. Boo, in her Rogue, snow melting off the hood. She got out, headed inside.

“Okay. I like Alaska and everything, but those roads are crazy!” She pulled off her hat, then her jacket.

“Is London driving separately?”

She hung up her jacket, turned. “She’s not here?”

Silence.

“She wasn’t home when I got there. I thought . . . I thought she was with you.”

Shep set down his coffee mug. “She was—we had dinner at my place. And then she went home before the storm really hit. What time did you getin?”

“After eleven.”

More silence.

And right then, dispatch came through their radio.

Axel headed into the office to grab it.

Boo came over, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry, Shep. I didn’t even think about it—I got up and came here and just assumed?—”

“We have a callout,” Axel said. “There’s a car in Jewel Lake. They think it slid off the road in the night. Submerged. They need a diver to go in after it. I’ll get my gear.”

Shep put down his coffee, pulled out his phone. Dialed London’s number.

Voicemail. “Hey,” he said. “It’s me. Please call me.”

He hung up and texted her again, too.

Shep

I’m worried. Please call.

Then he grabbed his jacket and pocketed his phone.

Boo was already in the rescue truck, checking the supplies. Axel came out, geared up in a wetsuit, carrying a duffel bag, his fins.

Shep climbed into the front seat and set the phone on the console.

Axel got in front beside him. “She’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”

Shep looked at him, his jaw tight. But Colt’s words had settled inside him in an icy ball. “Listen, if she gets spooked, she’ll vanish again.”

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