Page 14 of Snowbound Threat

Behind him, he heard her talking to someone on the phone. Whatever amounted to 911 dispatch in this town asked her questions while Caleb scanned the bushes and trees beside the road.

He reached out and touched a branch that had broken off a thorn bush. Not definitive on its own. But added to the snagged piece of blue material, it definitely indicated something.

Caleb eased between bushes about six feet, discovering an animal trail that ran alongside the road and went between the trees, winding through the thick brush.

When he was too far to hear Tessa’s voice any longer, he spotted a smear of blood on the trunk of a tree.

He turned back to her. “I think he ran this way.”

Chapter Six

Sheriff Cartwright’s voice rumbled in her ear through the phone line. “Things like this don’t just happen out of the blue, Tessa. You missed something.”

She blinked away tears, picking her away down the slender path through the trees. “I guess I did.”

She ended the call and tucked the phone in her pocket, grateful she had changed earlier at home. Otherwise she would have been out here hiking through the woods unexpectedly and wearing her oversized cleaning clothes.

“Everything okay?”

She wasn’t going to bother pretending she was fine. “Let’s just find my father.”

What the sheriff had said to her didn’t mean anything to him. There was no point in rehashing it all just to desperately try and disassociate from what was happening. Her father was in danger, and it might have something to do with Caleb.

By all rights, she shouldn’t be helping him—or letting him help her. Not when he might be the whole reason why her father was in danger in the first place.

Maybe she was just too used to her boring, normal life. She lived every day wrapped up in herself and hadn’t even noticed that her father was keeping secrets from her.

What else could she have missed? Her dad might be connected to something serious. As the pastor of a small town in Montana, people would flip a lid when they found out. But then, considering he could be dead right now maybe it didn’t matter that much. Her father was all she had. Maybe to a fault.

Meg was always telling her to get out more, that she should leave and spread her wings. See the world outside her town.

If something had happened to him she was going to be glad she had stayed. Right?

“Why don’t you tell me what he said?” Caleb glanced back at her from a few feet up the trail. Close enough she could reach out and grab him if she had to. Or if he had to suddenly protect her from someone dangerous.

It was only the idea that he might be out here actively protecting her that inclined her to actually answer the question. “You’re only going to agree with him.”

“Sheriff Cartwright? Unlikely.”

Because Caleb Rourke was some kind of renegade. That only made her think that he was far too different from her for them to ever understand each other. “He thinks I should have noticed something was wrong with my dad and that he was hiding things for me.”

Caleb said nothing.

“Fine, I get it. I live a small life in a nice town. I don’t see why everyone thinks it such a bad thing for me to take care my father and serve people in different ways. That’s what God asked me to do.” She shrugged, stumbling over an exposed root. He held out his hand, but she didn’t take it. “So I’m not some kind of influencer, or a high-powered anything. I don’t run a business orrush around all day making money. That doesn’t make me some sad pathetic loser.”

Caleb turned and faced her.

She had to stop on the trail or she would have bumped into him. “What?”

“No one thinks that about you.” He tipped his head to the side. “But maybe you wonder that about yourself? If this is the choice you made, and it’s the life you want, taking care of your father and ministering to people, then what’s the issue? It’s normal to wonder what your life might be if you’d made different choices. But if you want to change things…then change them.”

She looked to the side, not wanting to meet that dark gaze anymore. “Who doesn’t want to change things every once in a while? But I haven’t come across an opportunity in a long time.” She shrugged and looked back at him. “Maybe I missed it.”

“Or maybe you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, and a lot of people would envy a life of service and prioritizing taking care of a solo parent.” He held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go find him.”

Tessa slid her hand into Caleb’s and walked slightly behind him because there was no room to walk side by side on this path. It made things a little awkward, but she liked the feel of his strong fingers wrapped in hers. “I guess I need to find a book on contentment so I can figure out my feelings.”

His fingers squeezed her gently. “Anytime you want to go anywhere, you just let me know.”