Page 10 of Colton's Last Resort

He stopped. “Ma’am?”

“You will keep my brothers and me informed of any developments?” she requested. “We all cared about Allison a great deal.”

“I will,” he agreed. “Have a good day.”

She waited until he was out the door before she sank to the seat. Her legs weren’t steady enough to stand on.

She should’ve asked why Allison’s lips had been blue. Would Fulton know how long she had been in the cabana?

Had she suffered? Was she scared? How long had she been alone and frightened?

How could this happen? What was she going to do now? How was she supposed to go about their day as if nothing had happened?

Laura’s posture caved. She rarely let it, but she folded under the weight of shock and pressed her fingers to her closed eyes.

She hadn’t lost anyone close to her since her mother’s passing and hadn’t forgotten how it felt—the staggering weight of bereavement. It was impossible to forget. But she hadn’t expected... She hadn’t been prepared to feel it all again.

The shock was wearing away fast. Once it was gone, the grief would sink in. And it wouldn’t give way to anything else. She pressed her hand to her mouth, choking it back.

She was afraid of it. Grief. How it gripped and rent. As a child, it had come for her on wraith wings, real but transparent. She hadn’t been able to see it, but it had held her. It had hurt her. And it had transformed her into something she hadn’t recognized.

Panic beat those wings against her chest now. Her pulse rushed in her ears. She tried to breathe, tried to think through it, but it didn’t allow her to.

It was already taking hold.

She’d seen it coming before. Her mother had warned her there wasn’t much time. She had told all her children what to expect at the end of her cancer battle. She had prepared them and armed them for the hard days to come.

This wasn’t the same. And yet it was.

She thought of her brothers waiting outside the door. Coming to her feet, she walked the length of the conference room. She paced until the panic subsided—until her breathing returned to normal and her heart no longer raced.

Adam might be the oldest, but her brothers had looked to her in the past. For strength. For stability. When their mother died, she had stepped into Annabeth’s power—to carry them, to ground them and to keep them together.

They were grown now, but they would look to her, still. They would need her to handle this...and they would need to lean on her. And so would the staff.

She dried her eyes, fixed her makeup and made herself down the entire glass of water in front of her.

A knock clattered against the door. She checked her reflection in the window before she said, “Yes?”

Alexis stepped in. “Hey. How are you holding up?”

Laura made herself meet her friend’s gaze. “I’m fine.”

Alexis raised a brow. “You want me to pretend that’s true?”

“I’m going to need you to,” Laura requested.

Alexis nodded. “Okay.” She, Allison and Laura had gotten to know each other well. Besides Tallulah and Laura’s brothers, redheaded, smiling Allison and dark, no-nonsense Alexis were the members of staff Laura felt closest to. In some ways, they had been her saving grace over the last few years. There were things she couldn’t discuss with Adam and Joshua. Just her girls. The three of them had made Taco Tuesdays at Sedona’s Tipsy Tacos a weekly escape from the pressures of the hospitality business. Laura lived and worked at the resort. Alexis and Allison had taught her that getting away, even for a few hours, could be crucial for her well-being.

“How about you?” Laura asked. “How are you handling this?”

Alexis’s hazel eyes raced across the length of the table, as if searching for the answer there. “I think I’m still processing.”

“It’s a lot.”

“Yeah, and it doesn’t make sense, Laura.”

“No,” Laura agreed.

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