Page 5 of Treasured

"What were you looking at?" Creed asks, gesturing toward the computer with a jut of his chin.

"Well, first I checked the marriage announcements in Silverado Junction. Then the obituaries."

"Oh for God's sake. Maxine would have told us if she'd died. Probably if she'd married too."

"Maybe she's not in touch with her aunt either. Maybe she cut all her ties to Eagle Canyon." The thought of Tracy cutting all ties pains me. Creed and I are from one of the first families of Eagle Canyon. Been here for generations. We're related to half the town it seems. Eagle Canyon is an integral part of me. Creed too.

But I guess not for Tracy.

I guess we weren't important enough to her either.

Unconsciously, my hand pats the center of my chest.

Creed misses nothing. "Don't tell me you're still wearing that ring around your neck?"

I don't say anything.

He steps toward me and holds his hand out. Palm up. Like a teacher demanding that I spit my gum out.

"No," I say. "You might have given up, but I never will."

Creed lowers his hand and huffs out a breath. He pulls up a chair and sits facing me. "Look, Jake, I'm as sad and lonely without Tracy as you are. I thought it would get better, but it hasn't. But I think we need to face the fact that Tracy isn't coming back and we need to get on with our lives. Find a different woman to marry.”

We look at each other for a moment and my shoulders slump. "I guess you're right," I say.

"I'm always right," he says with a grin and punches me in the arm.

* * *

Creed

"This is stupid," Jake says. We're sitting at the gate of the Hound Dog airport.

"Ethan and Hawke met someone in Las Vegas, seems like we ought to give it a try," I say, glancing toward the desk where the airline employees are calling out the names of people on standby. "Besides, we could use a little trip out of town. We haven't gone anywhere for ages."

"Not since Tracy left," Jake says. Man, he is one lovesick pup. I get it. I felt that way too, but I guess I'm a little more practical. Or hard-hearted. After Tracy abandoned us and didn't respond to our calls or messages, a barrier formed around my heart where she was concerned. It was my way of coping and it's worked pretty well. At least I'm not sneaking off to search the internet for information about her like Jake.

"I just have a funny feeling," Jake says. "We should stay home. What if Tracy calls?"

"Don't you have your cell phone with you?"

"What about work? We can't ignore our business."

"We left Randy and Dennis in charge. Besides, we're only going to miss a day or two. We do home repairs, not brain surgery. The world will go on."

"Fine," Jake says, then he perks up. "Maybe we'll at least win some money."

"Sure," I reply, because I just want to get him on the damn plane. I don't have any great hope that we'll meet the woman of our dreams in Las Vegas, but it seems like we've spent way too much time sitting around moping, particularly Jake. And it's my responsibility, as his brother, to get him out of town and out of this funk.

* * *

"Hey, I thought you guys were going to Las Vegas for a wild weekend," Pat, owner of Pat's Diner says, setting down a couple of burgers and fries in front of us.

"How did you know?" I ask and then shake my head. It's Eagle Canyon. Everyone knows everything.

Pat doesn't even answer, just gives me a look that says she knows all, then walks off.

"It's fate," Jake says, diving into his burger. "I told you it was a bad idea for us to go."

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