Page 12 of Could Have Been Us
Hiring her might have driven Grayson crazy, but it is the best thing we have ever done. She’s smart and has taken a lot of the burden off me. I get up, stretching my arms over my head and gazing at the sun, which is starting to move behind the bigger mountain top. I hear the buzzing on my cell and smile when I see it’s my brother.
“Hey, Meatball,” Alex’s deep voice says on the other line.
“One day, you’re going to stop calling me that.”
He chuckles. “Not likely. You were shaped like a meatball as a child.”
“I’m not a child anymore.”
“You’ll always be our meatball.”
I roll my eyes. I hate brothers. “What do I owe the pleasure of your call?”
Alex launches into his concerns with the property he manages. It’s doing well, but there’s been a steady decline in bookings. The Savannah is beautiful, but where Dad put this particular inn makes it very destination oriented, especially since the main road leading from town to the property washed out over a year ago.
While the views are stunning, the drive is a nightmare, and it has led to a lot of complaints and the reviews online aren’t favorable.
“Have you spoken with the mayor again?” I ask.
Alex has worked very hard to get the road repaired. None of us are sure why the mayor there is so against it, but he’s blocked the funds each time.
“Yeah, he said that there are more pressing matters the town needs than a road that only benefits one proprietor.”
“He’s not wrong.”
He groans. “He’s not right either. It’s going to be my ass that has to listen to why revenue is down.”
“Do you want me to come out there? Is that what you’re asking?”
My brothers are great, but their ability to just ask for help is sorely lacking.
“No, I don’t need you to fix this. I just need you to tell mehowto fix it.”
I roll my eyes even though he can’t see it. “Of course. First you need to figure out—” As I’m about to launch into the ways he needs to try to get this situation rectified, my phone beeps. “Hold on.”
I look down at the number and my heart stops. It’s Misty. She never calls.
“Alex, I need to call you back,” I say quickly.
“Wait I need—”
I don’t hesitate to click over.
“Misty?”
There’s a sound at the end that I can’t decipher, and then it’s Samuel’s voice. “Stella, I...I wanted to call because we just got your letter.”
“Is everything okay?” I ask because his tone is off.
“No, it’s . . . we lost her a few days ago.”
My heart stops. Everything inside me is tight as the words roll around my head. “Lost who?”
Each breath feels as though someone is pulling razors from my chest and slicing me from the inside out. One. Two. Three. I wait, needing him to tell me he doesn’t mean Kinsley. I can’t . . . I can’t live in a world where she isn’t at least out there.
I plead with God, begging him not to let him say her name.
And then Samuel speaks between a sob. “Misty.”
