The worry started in the bottom of San Miguel Canyon when he was gathering her things. Thanks to her ringing phone, he’d found her purse and used his own phone to call Leona’s landline to share the good news. When she didn’t answer, he figured she was resting and put the missed call out of his mind. Halfway to Leona’s house, he called again. When she didn’t answer a second time, he hit the gas. He didn’t know Kate well, but she struck him as someone who answered the phone. The third scare rocked him when she didn’t respond to his knock on the door. He imagined her dizzy, falling, hitting her head in the shower. That’s when he strode around the deck to the back of the house. The path through the acorns pointed to the garage, but why hadn’t she come out when she heard the truck? It occurred to him now that she was hiding from him. Light from the window illuminated the tears in her eyes, and her cheeks were a palette of ivory, white, and hot pink.
