Garrett Bravo's Runaway Bride

Cami put boxes of crackers and cold cereal in an upper cabinet and then made herself march to the end of the counter where she’d dropped her Birkin bag on the first trip in from the garage. With a grimace of dread, she took out her phone. She’d fully charged it at the cabin and turned it off when they left.

As soon as she turned it on, there would be a flood of frantic calls, texts and messages to deal with. Up on the mountain, it had been so easy to tune out the real world. Not anymore. The time had come to deal with everyone she’d been trying not to think about. They were going to be very upset with her when they found out that she had purposely avoided dealing with them since Saturday afternoon.

She was still standing there with the powered-off phone in her hand when Garrett emerged from the laundry room.

“That is not a happy face.” He put his arm around her.

She leaned into his solid strength, breathed in his woodsy scent and made herself smile up at him. “I think I’ll just go out and sit on that back deck while I make a few calls.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Take me back up the mountain. We’ll stay there forever, just you and me and Munchy. “Thanks, but I think this is something I need to deal with myself.”

* * *

Garrett got busy putting his gear away in the garage.

When he returned to the kitchen, she was still outside, pacing back and forth across the wide patio tiles, the phone to her ear. Munch, panting anxiously, trailed along behind her. Garrett stood at the glass door admiring the shine to her thick gold hair. How could she be so pretty even in his ill-fitting old jeans and faded shirt?

When she glanced over and saw him watching her, she gave him a quick wave and went back to her pacing. It looked like the phone calls were going to take a while.

He finished putting the kitchen stuff away and made them some sandwiches. When she finally came inside, she went straight to the end of the counter and stuck her phone back in her giant purse.

“You made lunch,” she said, her eyes worried, her smile way too bright.

“Come on.” He pulled out one of the high padded chairs at the kitchen island. “Everything will look better after you eat.”

She got up on the stool. “Yum. I’m so hungry.”

He let her polish off half of her turkey on rye before he asked, “So. Want to talk about it?”

She gave a tiny shrug. “My parents are furious. They demanded I return to Denver immediately. I told them I’m not coming back except to close up my condo and pick up my stuff.”

He touched her arm in reassurance. “I’m sorry, Cami.”

“Yeah.” She forced another sad little smile. “Me, too.”

“How was it with Charles?”

“Not much better—scratch that. Worse. He said he had to see me immediately, that we had to talk.”

“Don’t let the guy bully you.”

“I’m not. I told him I needed to think about the whole face-to-face idea. I made it clear that I wasn’t coming back, so there really was no point in us meeting. He was calling me bad names when I hung up.”

“What an ass.”

“Well, I did leave the guy at that altar, after all.”

“And now he wants to talk about that? What’s the point?”

Now she was the one putting her hand on his arm. It felt really good there. “I don’t know, Garrett. I mean, I love that you’re on my side, but I do feel guilty about running away. It had to be pretty awful for him.”

“Talking about it with him isn’t going to fix anything.”

“I know you’re right. But as I said, I haven’t decided whether to talk to him or not.”

“If you do decide to see him, meet him here.”

“Why?”

“I should be close by, just in case.”

She patted his arm and then picked up the other half of her sandwich. “At least my maid of honor was understanding. She promised she’d call my other bridesmaids and tell them I’m okay. It’s so weird.” She stared thoughtfully down at the triangle of sandwich in her hands. “I like my maid of honor, but I never felt all that close to her. It’s as if, in Denver, I was just going through the motions, acting out living a life that wasn’t really mine—oh, and, apparently, I’m a missing person, so I guess I need to go see the police and explain how I’m not so missing, after all.”

“That, I can definitely help you with.”

“No way. You’ve done enough.”

No, he hadn’t. Not if she still needed him. And clearly, she did. “My brother-in-law, Seth Yancy, is the county sheriff. I’ll take you to the justice center.”