“Do you like her?”
“Yes, I think we’ll work well together.”
How did Everett respond to my letter? Was he upset? Did Rill and Katie find my abrupt departure rude? What is Everett doing right this second?
Her unspoken questions screamed into the silence.
“I . . . er . . . suppose Everett got my letter?”
“He got it. He wasn’t at all pleased. I can’t say I blame him.”
Joy dipped her head and stared blankly at the overnight bag resting on her bed.
“Is he all right?” she asked quietly.
“No one knows. We haven’t seen him since he stormed out this morning after he confronted me over what I knew about your letter and departure.”
The back of her neck prickled with uneasiness. “Did he leave in his car?”
“No. The car is still in the driveway. Rill went out to the guesthouse to have a word with him before we left this morning, and Katie tried this afternoon. He’s not in there, though.”
“And he seemed upset when he left this morning?”
There was a pause before Seth responded quietly. “He was blindsided by your letter, Joy.”
Joy clenched her eyes shut, an ache throbbing beneath her breast at the knowledge she had caused him pain. She knew it was for the best in the long run, but it hurt almost unbearably.
He’d said he loved her . . .
Don’t think about that. He didn’t mean it. It happened in a heated moment during sex.
“Joy?” Seth prompted when she was silent for a stretched moment.
“I might know where he is,” she said huskily. “He has a private place where he likes to go in the woods. If I give you directions, will you tell Rill or Katie how to get there? Someone should go to him.” She quickly explained about how to access the forest lake.
“If all of this stuff with the biopsy is truly insignificant, why did you feel the need to break things off with Everett?” Seth asked, taking her by surprise.
“One has nothing to do with the other. Everett and I just aren’t . . . suited. It’d never work.”
“Joy—”
“Are you going to tell Rill and Katie about the spot in the woods?”
“I’ll make sure someone looks for him,” Seth said grimly.
She paused, misery temporarily strangling her throat. She hated feeling at odds with Seth.
“I’m sorry for what I said in the exam room last night. I realized on the flight home how it must have sounded to you. I want you to know, I’d never leave your side if something bad ever happened—”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I know it,” he interrupted.
“I was just trying to explain—”
“I understand what you were getting at. You were trying to tell me something I’ve been too stupid to see myself. You were trying to tell me that part of you envied your father’s being able to pick up and leave during all those years of waiting and hoping and stress and misery.”
“Yes,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Joy, that’s not the same thing as saying you’d do the same as Jake. It’s normal that you would have had fantasies about being able to run away.”