“Hey, Miles,” I say softly then I look down at Winter. “How was school this week?”

“Great, and I totally aced my spelling test.” She smiles proudly.

“You did?”

“Yep.” She nods.

“That’s awesome. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Uncle Clay was going to take me out to ice cream, but he left.”

“He left?” I repeat, hoping like heck I heard her wrong.

“He’ll be back next week,” Miles says softly.

I lift my eyes off his daughter to meet his gaze.

“He just had to go take care of some business back in Boulder.”

“Oh.” I should not feel relieved. Should I?

“Do you want to have ice cream with us? We’re going to get all the stuff to make sundaes. Daddy said I could get whatever toppings I want, even gummy worms,” Winter says.

I can’t help but to smile at her excitement. “I would love to, but I’m having dinner with my cousin tonight.” I smooth my hand over her soft hair. “Maybe another time.”

“When Uncle Clay gets home?” She holds her hands together and looks up at me with big pleading eyes, making it impossible for me to tell her no.

“We’ll see, okay?”

“Okay.” She lets me off the hook then grabs her dad’s hand. “Bye, Willow.”

“Bye, honey.” I smile at her and say goodbye to Miles then watch them walk down the isle and disappear around the corner. When they are gone, I pick up a bottle of red wine, figuring it’s a safe bet, then head to check out. As I’m standing in line, my cell phone beeps, telling me that I have a message. When I pull it out of my bag, I’m relieved to see that it’s from Carly, although I’m a little surprised she didn’t call, because she is one of the few people I know who rarely texts.

Carly: I’m in Florida with my family. Thanks for checking in. I’m okay.

“Ma’am are you ready?” Pulling my eyes off my phone I look at the cashier and she holds out her hand.

“Sorry, I spaced out.” I place a smile on my face as I pass her the bottle, while a strange feeling settles in the pit of my stomach.

“That’s okay.” She rings it up, asks for my ID then tells me the price. After I pay, I take the bottle in hand and walk out of the store, and pull up the message again as soon as I get into my car. The text is simple enough, and like I said, Carly and I are not the best of friends. I don’t know everything about her, but I can’t remember her ever mentioning any of her family besides her parents, who had passed away.

With my fingers hovering over the keypad, I try to figure out what to write back, then decide it will just be better if I call her. After pressing the green dot next to her name, the phone starts to ring and ring and ring again, until the call is cut off, and I’m sent to voice mail. With a deep breath I wait until it’s time to leave a message then I just ask her to call me, and tell her that I’m worried about her, and that I just want to hear her voice to know she is okay. Sure, that I’m overreacting, I hang up and hope like heck that she actually calls me back and puts my mind at ease.