Page 60 of The Souls of Lost Lake

“Sure. Dead body. Calm. I’m calm.” Her voice was high-pitched and squeaky.

“We need to get the facts. There’s nothing saying someone murdered or harmed Trina, not yet. Maybe she got lost. ItisLost Lake, remember? It was off the map for decades, and even with GPS now it takes effort to get to it.”

“I know, but—”

“And they didn’t find Jasmine. She is still out there, and as far as any of us are concerned, she is still alive.”

“But—”

“As for the doll?” Eddie’s gaze bored into hers. Good ol’ Eddie and his boring brown eyes and plain crooked nose. “We’ll figure it out.”

Well, that was concerning! She wanted him to say something bland, likeIt’s just a doll, and the name is from Tolkien.OrYou’re overreacting. Is it that time of the month?Yes, she’d even take that awful excuse of a male faux pas and then, after she pummeled him for being sexist, they could go get a cherry smoothie at the canteen and—

“Wren.” Eddie snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Back to earth, Wren.”

She blinked.

He stared.

She blinked again.

Suddenly the air between them was thick. In a way she didn’t understand. Wren realized she was holding him. Around the waist, no less, in a death grip. She didn’t want to let go. He was strong. Lithe. She could feel his abdomen through his shirt. She could feel the warmth from his body. But more than all that, Wren sensed his strength oozing into her spirit. As it always had. Since the day they’d first met at the camp’s horse stables.

“Wren?” Eddie’s question snapped her out of her mental fog.

She dropped her arms.

He cocked an eyebrow. “I need to get you home.”

Yes. She nodded. Home. It was a good first place to start.

“Come here.” Patty beckoned weakly from her bed. Today her rose-pink blouse brought out a touch of blush in her cheeks. It was good to see. For Patty, it was a good day.

Wren glanced at Eddie, who tipped his chin up. “Go.” She squeezedhis hand gently as she left his side. He knew. He knew Patty was her calming agent, her voice of reason, her... God help her when Patty left them forever.

“Sit.” Patty tapped the arm of the chair next to her bed. Her eyes danced with a familiar joy that was unique to Patty. Even through the pain, she carried that element of peace that Wren envied. She sought it too. But prayer and Scripture reading and all the church fellowship in the world hadn’t taught Wren what Patty had learned through trial. Some things couldn’t be capturedbutthrough the experience of pain. It was a wicked but essential way to understand the depths of perfection, the depths of God, more intensely. Pain either magnified faith or disabled it. For Patty, it only confirmed her belief that this world was broken, and her Lord was the One who brought beautiful redemption.

Wren breathed in the essence of Patty as she sank into the stuffed chair and pulled her legs up beneath her. Curling up next to Patty felt like curling up next to her mom. The memories of Mom were foggy. Pleasant but distant. Patty was now.

She studied Wren for a long moment and then smiled again. “Eddie texted and said you were, and I quote, ‘an absolute wreck.’”

They both laughed, Patty’s weak and Wren’s watery.

“Your son has such a way with words.” Wren wiped at her eyes again. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“What do you mean?” Patty offered another small laugh. “You’ve experienced a lot of heavy stuff this week.”

“Has it only been a week?” Wren curled her lip at what felt like a month.

“Not even.” Patty reached for Wren’s hand.

“I don’t know why I’m internalizing everything,” Wren admitted. “It feels selfish. She’s not my daughter, she’s Meghan’s.”

“Eddie said you had another nightmare?”

“Yes.” Wren nodded. “Last night. And it was...” She pulled her hand away from Patty so she could fidget with a thread hanging from the seam on herSarcasm Is How I HugT-shirt. “The dreamwas about me.Iwas the one missing, andIwas in the woods where Jasmine was supposed to be, and it was all so amplified!”

“Eddie told me about the doll you two found at the old Coons cabin.”