Reunion (2 page)

Ten Years Later

“Holy Mother of God!” Patti Cox whispered, her
face alight with excitement. “Smoking hot man-candy, due west.”

RJ followed her gaze, hoping to catch sight of
Grant, the man they were waiting for. “Shit, Patti. You must be seriously
seeing too many moose up there at the canyon, if that’s what you think passes
for good looking. Wait. What’s the plural of moose? Meese? Moosi?”

Laughing at his own joke, RJ turned back to face
the woman he’d once hoped he’d marry when he grew up. The girl with freckles
under a bright red cap of pixie cut hair when they were teens had matured into
a beautiful woman—when she wasn’t causing trouble, which he suspected was still
more often than not. High cheekbones emphasized her wide set hazel eyes.
Patti-from-the-past had worn her short hair of youth in a tumbled mess that
hung over her forehead and poked out at odd angles. Tonight, the very grown up
version wore her long copper hair smoothed back into a sophisticated chignon
that revealed a widow’s peak and accentuated her heart-shaped face. With her
long legs encased in black slacks and a form-fitting turquoise sweater, she’d
turned more than a few heads when the hostess led her to the table.

“Idiot.” Patti laughed good-naturedly. “We don’t
have moose at the Grand Canyon—we have elk. And I can’t help it. I’m dying to
see Grant.” She turned back to face him, her expression suddenly serious. “It’s
funny. Before we got here, I was worried I wouldn’t recognize you—like you
would have matured into a person who looked completely different. I know
better, but I was still obsessed with the idea that I could walk right past you
and never know.”

“And now?”

Patti smiled. “There’s no good answer to that.”
Her laugh rang out and drew the gazes of a couple at a nearby table. “If I say
nothing is different, I relegate you to the twenty-something you were when I
saw you last. On the other hand, if I say you’ve matured gracefully, you’ll
think I’m calling you old or blowing smoke up your ass. Truthfully, RJ…I would
recognize you anywhere, under any circumstances, despite the passage of time.
Logically, I know it will be that way with Grant, too, but damn, I wish he’d
get here.”

Patti continued to scout the crowd near the front
entrance of the restaurant. She ran a lazy finger around the rim of her glass,
her shoulders pressing forward with each new person who entered.

“Do you ever think about it? About the last time?”
RJ wanted to kick himself. The one clear decision he’d made before arriving was
to wait until they were all together before bringing up the past, but
apparently his mouth was on autopilot.

Turning her bright focus on him, Patti smiled. “You
two ruined me for life.”

“Smart ass. I was being serious.”

“I know. So was I.” She cupped his cheek in one
hand and leaned in close. “Are you happy, RJ? Did you find what you were
looking for in Massachusetts?”

“Aww, Patti, be fair. The three of us were just
having fun in college—you know that. It’s not like I broke up with you or you
broke up with Grant. I went to grad school at MIT. Grant went to grad school,
too. You went up north to the Park Service. We all had someplace else to go.
Besides, people don’t live like that—not really.”

RJ liked rules, order. The constant uncertainty of
his childhood had left scars—they were always waiting on news of the next crop,
the next job, even the next meal sometimes. In the past ten years, he’d layered
patterns over the top of his life, worked hard to conform to the increasingly
conservative expectations of his boss. It felt vaguely scandalous talking about
their brief ménage relationship in the middle of all these normal looking
people. Couples everywhere—as in one man, one woman couples. No doubt there
were two point five kids and a dog at each home, along with the babysitter.

Thinking a little more explanation might be in
order, RJ took Patti’s hand in both of his. A shock of desire shot up his arm,
the skin and nerves pulling up an instant mental image of Patti naked and
writhing under his hands, around his dick.
Jesus
. He took a steadying
breath and tried to push the memory back in the box. 

“I don’t know if anyone would call me happy, but
I’m not unhappy, either. I’m an engineer.” He shrugged and smiled as if that
was an obvious conclusion. “I’m still doing R and D, new product development,
so I work a lot of hours. It doesn’t really leave me much time for socializing.”

Unable to resist, RJ reached up and fingered the
soft copper curl trailing along the long sleek column of her neck. “What about
you? I mean, I see you online sometimes, but we haven’t really talked about
what’s happening with you. Are you still dating that guy…what was his name?
Gabe? Do you have plans to settle down and get married?” RJ held his breath and
tried to keep the hope off his face. What kind of a shit did that make him? He
wanted to know that she was still single and this weekend would be the long
awaited reunion of his dreams. And Grant? Well, he still didn’t quite know what
to do with that.

“Ha. Yeah, we’re a little out of touch. Gabe and I
are good friends, but the whole dating thing never worked for us. What about
Grant? Have you heard anything about him? Is he serious about anyone?”

“Jesus, Patti, you’re breaking my heart here.”
With a heavy sigh, RJ wanted to go back in time to thirty minutes ago and start
the reunion over. Maybe talk about baseball or forest fires, or the fucking
moose. Anything but a conversation about how much she wanted the missing third
from their former trio. Talk about a crash and burn…

Then again, it was really stupid to hope to start
something between him and Patti. They’d lived in different parts of the country
for years—his mind flashed to his computer case and the tiny device that
carried his dreams of moving permanently back to the valley. Resisting the urge
to shake his head and sigh, Grant knew they had completely separate lives for
far too long to go back now, and wasn’t that just the crux of the matter? He
was chasing an old dream, all because he was completely inept at real life.
Patti and Grant had been the only ones who’d ever made him feel comfortable in
his own skin. The only ones he’d ever loved. What kind of a sicko did that make
him?

She focused her clear hazel gaze on him, her eyes
steady. “I am? Why?”

The ringing of her phone spared him from admitting
he was unreasonably jealous of their absent friend.  

“Damn, I thought I turned the ringer to vibrate. I
told work to leave me alone.” Patti dug into her bag and retrieved the
offending device, but answered despite her apparent annoyance. RJ celebrated
the reprieve by taking a sip from his water glass.

“Hello?”

There was a short pause while Patti listened.
Straightening suddenly, she pulled RJ in close and put the phone between them
so they could both hear. Just as RJ was about to tell her to put the damn thing
on speaker, Grant’s voice came through.

“Patti? Are you there? Please, I need help. You
and RJ, too, if he’s there.”

“RJ’s with me, he can hear you, Grant. What’s
wrong?”

“Help. I need help. Someone’s kidnapped my
daughter.”

Without waiting to hear more, RJ stood and pulled
Patti to her feet. “Get the address.” He tossed enough money on the table to
cover the cost of their drinks, then started toward the door.

When he looked to make sure she was following, Patti
nodded, then the two of them were racing to the car.

Jesus Christ. It might have been ten years since
they’d last been together, but RJ didn’t even hesitate. Their funny, sexy,
happy-go-lucky, softhearted, idealistic Grant was on the phone instead of here
with them as planned. And no wonder. In the grand scheme of life, RJ imagined a
kidnapped child was just about the worst scenario for any parent.

Patti swung the wheel of her Jeep Cherokee, parking
across the street and down a couple of houses from the address Grant provided.
Unsure of the situation, she didn’t want to slow down any law enforcement
efforts or make their presence obvious in case someone was watching the house.

“Come on,” she said, tucking her arm into RJ’s and
leading the way to the end of the block. They circled around back and came
through the alley that was typical of many the older Scottsdale neighborhoods.
The house was a well-preserved fifty-year-old cinder block construction, on a
nice-sized lot. Entering through the backyard, they circled around the pool,
and Patti noted the playhouse and a scattering of toys littering the small
fenced-in lawn.

Why the hell didn’t she know Grant had a family?
She’d sent out her time-for-the-reunion email, blithely anticipating the men
were as unsatisfied with their love lives as she was. There was no excuse. For
God’s sake, she and Grant lived less than five hours apart—in the same damned
state. And it wasn’t like she didn’t come to Phoenix several times a year.

The truth was, she’d not been a very good friend.
They’d all gone their separate ways, and with so many new opportunities at the
time, they’d probably all been happy enough for a little while. Over time, she
began to feel the loss of the best friends she’d ever had, but they were all
busy, all building careers. Patti had worked around the country, usually closer
to Grant but sometimes closer to RJ, but she’d never reached out because she’d
always wanted it to be Grant
and
RJ, not Grant
or
RJ. One without
the other was like…Oreos without the filling. Good enough, but definitely
better together.

Once they got Grant’s daughter back, and everyone
went back to their own lives, Patti could take the time to mourn her lost
dream. Maybe closing the door on the three of them was exactly what she needed
in order to move on with her own life.

The door opened quickly after her quiet knock and
then Grant was falling into their arms and falling apart. For a long minute,
they stood plastered together in the doorway while their friend cried in their
arms, sobs shaking his slender body, and he held on like a limpet. Meeting RJ’s
gaze over Grant’s bent head, a silent communication passed. Together they eased
Grant fully inside, then RJ reached back to close and lock the door.

Blinking against the bright overhead lights, Patti
took stock of the room. Although not quite old enough to qualify as the
original appliances, the kitchen would need a serious makeover to qualify as
the last decade’s latest design. A bulky microwave took nearly one-third of the
available counter space. A drip coffee maker and wire dish drainer completed
the trifecta and left no room for food prep in the kitchen itself. Unless you
counted the pullout wooden slide that had fallen out of favor with builders
years ago. The kitchen opened into a small, boxy dining room that in turn
opened into the living room, which was where Patti steered them.

“Come on, Grant, honey. Tell us what’s happening.”
Her earlier fears went unrealized—she would have known him anywhere. Of the
three of them, he’d changed the least. He still had the body of the
cross-country runner he’d been in high school and college. All long legs and arms,
flowing rhythmically when he was running, his pace smooth, motions fluid, somehow
turning into a tangled, gangly mess when he was walking around. Dressed in a
light blue denim button-down shirt and a pair of khakis, he looked more like
he’d just come home from a day at school rather than like he’d been getting
ready to go out on their date. His sandy brown hair spiked around his head, as
if he’d raked nervous fingers through the short curls. Watery blue eyes blinked
rapidly past the sheen of tears as Grant shuddered with the effort of bringing
himself under control.

“Thank you—thank you for coming. I don’t—didn’t—”
Grant sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard before he continued. “I don’t
know what I would have done. All I could think was my best friends were here
and I needed you. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“How about the cops, Grant? Did you call the
police?” RJ looked around the room as he asked, as if he thought the officers
might be hiding. He put an arm around Grant’s lean shoulders and pulled him to
a denim slip-covered over stuffed sofa piled high with brightly colored throw
pillows. Patti sat on the other cushion and took Grant’s icy hand.

“The note said not to call the cops. It said they’d
kill her. Oh God! My baby…someone has my little girl.”

Patti squeezed his fingers and leaned into his
face to keep his attention focused. “Stop it, Grant. You have to tell us from
the beginning. Do you have the note?”

“I do.” With shaking hands, he reached into his
shirt pocket and Patti tried not to wince as he smoothed the wadded paper over
his knees. The words were handwritten in block letters, all caps and smeared,
either from sweat or tears. More likely a combination of both. As a former law
enforcement ranger, Patti knew they’d have to call the cops, sooner rather than
later, and this bit of evidence was severely compromised. Peering over at the
note, she read:

We have your daughter.
No cops if you want to see her alive. Get $50,000 in unmarked bills by
tomorrow. We will call with instructions.

Don’t make us kill
her. Small bills. Don’t tell no one.

“When did you realize she was—what’s your
daughter’s name?”

“Annie. Her name is Annie. I didn’t know about
her. I mean, her mother—I just got— Oh God!” Tears welled in his eyes, but
Patti didn’t have time for tea and sympathy. The faster they brought in
professionals the better—she needed information right-the-fuck-now.

“Pull it together, Grant. We have to help Annie
here.” Her voice was sharp, and RJ’s head snapped up to look at her before he
slid an arm around Grant’s shoulders. Great. Good friend, bad friend. Maybe it
would help.

“When did you discover Annie was missing?”

Grant’s gaze drifted to his watch. “Uhm, a little
over two hours ago. I was making her dinner before the sitter got here. I was
going out…I never go out, but tonight…” She knew there was guilt seeping in
about coming to meet them. It was a useless emotion right now.

“Okay, so you were making dinner in the kitchen.
Where was Annie?”

“In the backyard playing. It’s what we do every
night. I make dinner and she plays outside. I can see her almost the whole
time. But I couldn’t—”

“How old is Annie?” Patti cut off the
self-recrimination.

“Four. She’s only four.”

Making a decision, Patti pulled out her phone and
thumbed through the contacts.

“What are you doing?” Grant made a panicky grab
for her cell phone. “They said not to call the cops— God, stop or they’re going
to kill her!”

“Grant, honey. We have to get help, and I know
just the right person. Do you have fifty thousand lying around? Do you know
anyone with easy access to that kind of money?”

“I do.” RJ’s comment was quiet, but he was
reaching for his own cell phone as he spoke. “I can have the money here…” he
checked his watch. “I think I can arrange to have the money tomorrow. Maybe.
It’s a weekend.”

Nodding, Patti thought getting the men to work on
the money would give them focus while she reached out to some professionals who
might just be able to get Annie back before any money changed hands. Because
once the money was paid, the odds of recovering the little girl decreased
dramatically.

“Enwright Security. How may I direct your call?”
With a silent thanks that despite the late hour she reached a living person
instead of a maddening menu of options, she gave her name and asked to speak to
Michael Enwright. While she was waiting to be transferred, she realized she
could have called his cell phone—somehow a kidnapping merited a workplace
official call. Probably a good thing, because the calls to the office would be
recorded, and this was going to have to be reported eventually.

“Patti, nice to speak with you. Are you here in
the valley for the weekend?” Michael, Graeme, and Liz had started as friends of
a friend, but they’d quickly discovered they had a lot of things in common and
she often gave them a call when she was in town.

“Michael, this is serious business. I have a
friend with a four-year-old daughter who was abducted about two hours ago. Can
you help?”

“Yes. Give me the address first and I’ll get
rolling. You can give me details on the way.” That was what she loved about the
man. When it was time to get down to it, he was all business. And his company
was the best in the security and protection field. She passed over the address
and listened to a quiet murmur as he spoke to someone else. With a series of
clicks, another voice joined the conversation.

“Patti, this is Graeme. Michael is monitoring from
the office, I’m on my way to your location. ETA ten minutes. Can the father or
mother overhear you?”

“Yes, the father.”

“Okay, keep the answers short and to the point,
let’s minimize the drama. Have the cops been called?”

“No.”

Graeme chuckled darkly. “That’s to the point. I
take it there’s a note threatening harm if the cops are brought in?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Is there any chance the father is involved?”

“None at all…although. Do you mind if I ask
Grant…ask the father a question?” Patti was quickly piecing together what Grant
had said so far, and in missing children cases, the first job was to rule out
the parents and other close family members. “Grant, honey? You said you just
got Annie? How long has she lived with you? Could her mother have taken her?”

Grant hiccoughed and scooted closer to RJ. “N-n-no.
She…uh…Annie came to live with me after her mother died. Do we need to go into
this? Shouldn’t we be doing something to find her?”

“We are doing something. Enwright Security is
sending over one of their partners to help us, Grant, but we need information.”

RJ’s head whipped to her for a second, then he
turned back to face their distraught friend. “Come on, Grant, Patti’s right. We
need to know,” RJ said.

Nodding slowly, Grant reached for Patti’s hand. “Sorry,
I know we have to do this. I-I just hate that Annie’s out there somewhere all
alone. She’s just now getting used to our routine. The nightmares are going
away, too. Now this.” Grant dropped his head in his hands and the tears fell
again.