Take Me Away (Southern Bride 6)

“Linnzi, sweetheart?” Amy called out as she frantically searched through the rooms.

Steve went up the steps. “Check her room,” he said to me as he walked by. I wanted to follow him, but instead I ran to her room as I called out her name.

“Linnzi!” Amy cried out as she appeared in the bedroom door.

“She’s not here, but she was. She changed, and it looks like she grabbed clothes,” I said, surveying the mess of clothes and the open drawers of her dresser.

“Where’s Steve?” Amy asked.

“I…I don’t know. He told me to check here, and he kept walking down the hall.”

Amy’s eyes went wide. “The attic! The trunk!”

She spun around so fast she was gone before I had a chance to let her words register. We had put everything of Amanda’s into an old trunk, including anything that would remind Linnzi of me. I had begged Steve and Amy to let me keep the trunk at my house, but they insisted it stay with them.

I rushed out of the bedroom, down the hall, and then took the attic steps three at a time. Steve was sitting on the floor next to the trunk. Amy stood there, silently crying.

The trunk was open; the latch had clearly been broken.

“The picture of the three of you is gone, the baby blanket, and…” Steve’s voice trailed off.

“And what? What else is gone, Steve?” I yelled out.

He turned to look at me. “Her engagement ring and wedding band.”

I stumbled back and hit a large box. I stood there frozen as I let it all sink in.

Amy faced me. “Where is she, Nolan? Where would she go?”

“I—I…I’m not sure. I don’t know,” I stammered.

“We have to find her. Steve! My God, get up! Both of you snap the hell out of it. We have to find her!” Amy cried out.

I nodded and rubbed the instant ache at the back of my neck. My mind spun with where Linnzi could have gone. Did she remember everything? Did she even remember Amanda? She had to have. The expression on her face when she turned back and looked at me was one of utter devastation. The fact that she broke into the trunk, took the picture, took her wedding set—what did it all mean?

Steve slowly stood and asked, “Does she have her passport?”

“Oh, dear Lord,” Amy said as she rushed past me and back down the steps.

“You think she went back to Paris?” I asked Steve.

He shook his head. “No, but we need to know that it’s not an option for her.”

I swallowed hard as I placed my hands on my thighs and took in a few deep breaths. I felt sick to my stomach, and each breath seemed harder than the last. Steve walked up to me and placed his hand on my back.

“Tonight. I was telling her tonight,” I said. “I even told her I needed to talk to her. I was going to tell her tonight.”

“Steve! Nolan!”

Steve quickly squeezed my shoulder and then walked down the steps of the attic without saying a word to me. I followed and tried to push away the urge to throw up.

Amy appeared in the hallway from Linnzi’s room. “Her passport is still here.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Steve sighed as he leaned against the hallway wall. “Nolan, is there any place that was special between the two of you, a place that holds meaning for you both?”

“A few places.”

He nodded, a look of utter defeat on his face. “Have Truitt take you back to the ranch, get in your truck and go to each place. Amy and I will start driving around, checking hotels, asking anyone if they’ve seen her.”

Truitt. I had completely forgotten about Truitt.

Amy suddenly stood up straighter and cleared her throat. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry. We will find her.”

All I could do was nod and then numbly make my way back down to the first floor. Truitt stood from the couch and made his way over to me. “Did she leave a note, anything?”

I shook my head. “No. Nothing.”

“She left your keys on the side table. I saw them when I walked in.”

“Good. Good. Will you take me home to get my truck? Then I’ll go looking for her.”

“I’ll take you home to change, then I’ll drive while we look for her. I already called Saryn and filled her in. She told me she’d call Ryan for a ride home. He left the dinner early.”

I nodded. “You go and get her. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re in no condition to drive, Nolan.”

I lacked the energy to even argue with him. All I could do was agree and follow him out the door. Truitt picked up my keys, and before I knew it, we had pulled up to my house.

“Would she have gone anywhere here on the ranch?” he asked.