“Good show, Dallas.”

“Thanks, Jay.” Her boss was waiting in the hallway as she exited the on-air booth.

“KVXN missed you. It’s sure great to have you back.”

“Thanks.”

Dallas pressed a hand to the nape of her neck. She was tired. Returning to the grind of a nightly show proved exhausting when, in the past, the hours behind the microphone, chatting up strangers, had energized her.

“Everything okay?” Jay frowned in concern. “Not getting one of your headaches, are you?”

Maybe that was the problem. An impending migraine. Sometimes they stirred around in her head for a few days before erupting. “I’m fine. Just need to take my medication.”

His beefy hand patted her shoulder in a brotherly manner. “You do that. And get some rest.”

“Will do.”

After stopping in the office for her handbag, she headed home to her condo.

When she arrived, the windows of her house were dark. She was alone. She should be accustomed to that, but the place seemed empty and lonely. She missed the glowing welcome at Lawson’s ranch. She missed sharing her day with him and Madison and hearing about theirs. She missed propping her bare feet next to Lawson’s sock footed ones and snuggling on his couch while Madison rolled her eyes and made gagging sounds.

Inside the condo, she tossed her bag on a chair and went to the sink for her medication.

Given the brief time she’d spent in Calypso, she didn’t understand this empty feeling, but she couldn’t shake it. All she’d wanted was to get her job back and to move on from Aaron’s tragedy. Yet, here she was, every night, thinking about Lawson. Wanting to call him but resisting. If she heard his voice, she might—

Downing the pills, she chased them with water.

She might what? Tell him she loved him?

She collapsed on the couch and closed her eyes. Her career was important. She was going places, climbing the ladder.

Could love happen that fast? Did Lawson feel the same?

Pressing a hand to her forehead, she tried to pray. All she saw behind her eyelids was Lawson’s face.

When had she become so confused?

The doorbell rang. Dallas sat up. The hour was late for most people, but her best friend Bethany knew Dallas liked to wind down for an hour or so after work. Sometimes she’d come over with a pint of rocky road. Ice cream sounded really good right now.

Grateful for the interruption to her ping-ponging thoughts, Dallas went to answer. Squinting one eye, she peeked through the peephole. Her stomach leaped. She yanked the door open.

“Madison!”

“Miss me?” The girl walked right in, unloading her backpack on the living room floor. “Nice place.”

Dallas looked outside, saw no one else, and shut the door. “What are you doing here? Is Lawson with you?”

Her stomach clenched in hope.

“No. Just me, myself and I. Aren’t you absolutely de-lighted?”

She was. She was also taken aback. “How did you get here?”

“I hitched. But don’t panic.” Madison flopped in a chair and spread out both arms. “I’m safe, as you can see.”

Alarm prickled the hairs on her arms. “You hitchhiked from Calypso to Bayville?” Of all the foolish things to do, and for what reason? “Didn’t Lawson tell you to never again to get in a vehicle with a stranger?”

“I don’t plan on making it a habit.” All teenage confidence and audacity, Madison yawned and stretched. “Not anymore, anyway. The last guy was kind of creepy.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Dallas wilted onto the couch again, this time with her eyes wide open. “What happened?”

“Nothing serious. But he kept asking me if I was alone, and he had this funny look in his eyes. Kind of smarmy, like I was an ice cream cone. He even asked if I liked older guys.” She stuck her tongue out and pretended to gag. “Can you imagine?”

The migraine was coming on fast. Dallas rubbed her temples. Madison had no concept of the danger she’d put herself in. She was too young, too vulnerable, and far too pretty. This hitchhiking insanity had to stop.

“I finally told the dude that my dad was meeting me, and he was a cop.” Madison snickered at her ingenuity. “That shut him up. After that, he couldn’t wait to get me out of the truck. Kind of handy to have a cop uncle.”

“You can’t ever do that again.” Dallas used her sternest voice. “Ever. You hear me?”

“Sure.” Madison jerked a nonchalant shoulder. “I hear you.”

She heard, but would she follow through? “I mean it. If anything happened to you…”

The cocky expression left the girl’s face. “You’d care, wouldn’t you? You really would.”

“I’d be devastated. So would your uncle.” Dallas sat up, wishing the medication would kick in. Her thinking was getting wacky. “What’s this all about, Madison? Does Lawson know you’re here?”

“Probably by now. I left a note on the fridge.”

“You need to call him. He’s probably frantic with worry.”

Madison held up a stop-sign hand. “Not yet. Not until you and me have a little talk.”

“About what?”

“You and Uncle Sheriff.” Suddenly serious, the girl leaned forward, clasped hands pressed between her knees. “I thought you should know. He misses you real bad. He mopes around like a sick puppy. Love sick, if you get my drift.”

Dallas pressed her fingertips against her mouth. Lawson had never said a word about love. Was Madison telling the truth? “He told you this?”

“Yep. Sure did. I twisted his arm a little, but he finally admitted it. He’s crazy about you. It would be sweet if he wasn’t so pathetic. So I came to ask. Do you love him back? ‘Cause if you do, you can drive me home and put him out of his misery.”

A disbelieving laugh spurted from Dallas. The outrageous imp. “I have a job here, Madison. I can’t just get up and leave.” Even if she wanted to. “Besides, your uncle is a grown man. If he has something to say to me, he’ll handle it on his own.”

“No, he won’t. He has this dumb idea about wanting you to be happy.” Madison made a sound of disgust. “That part’s not dumb, but he thinks he has to be unhappy so that you’re not.”

“You do realize how little sense that makes.”

“That’s what I told him!” Madison slapped both hands against the chair arms. “So, do you love him or not? I really need to know.”

“Love isn’t that simple.”

Madison groaned, eyes toward the ceiling. “Adults are so dumb. Yes or no seems pretty simple to me.”

“All right. Yes. I do love him.” Tears pushed at the back of her eyelids. No wonder she was miserable in Bayville. The lonely, empty ache inside was for Lawson. He was the reason Dallas after Dark no longer fulfilled her. She missed him, needed him in her life, wanted him. Loved him.

Madison beamed. “There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“But I think you’re wrong about your uncle. He misses me, of course. We had a great time together. But love? No.” Madison, with her desperate need for family, had let her teenage imagination run amok. “Lawson is a confirmed bachelor, too busy to settle down.” He’d said as much. He’d even encouraged her to take the Bayville job without a hint that he wanted her to remain in Calypso. Not a single hint. And that had hurt. A lot.

The dratted tears threatened again. She batted them away.

For the first time, Madison’s confidence wavered. She looked like what she was-a young, needy kid. “Don’t you miss us at all?”

“Very much.” Too much, as in desperately. She rummaged in her purse and handed over her phone. “Call him, Madison.”

“Do you want me to give him a message from you? Something romantic and mushy?”

“No, I do not.” She had a lot of thinking to do, but first things first. “Call him before he has every cop in America looking for you.”

“Oh, gosh. I never thought of that.” Madison pushed up from the chair and looked around. “Where’s the bathroom? I gotta go.”

“Straight down the hall on the left. Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

Probably hadn’t eaten all day. “You make the call. I’ll make the sandwich.” And then try to figure out what to do from here.

“Mayo, not mustard.”

“I remember.”

Madison blinked. “You do?”

‘It hasn’t been that long.”

“It has been to us.”

And while Dallas absorbed that sweet statement, Madison disappeared down the hall.

Lawson wasn’t prone to panic. He was a peace officer, for crying out loud, trained to remain calm in the worst of circumstances.

But nothing had trained him for dealing with a recalcitrant niece. A niece he was responsible for. A niece he’d come to love, attitude and all.

He read the note again. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix things.” She’d signed it with x’s and o’s and a big, swooping M.

Fix what? The problems with her dad? But they were already fixed.

Surely, she didn’t mean the situation with Dallas. That was a done deal. Dallas was gone for good. The best he could hope for was an occasional visit.

He slapped the note on the table. He had no idea when she’d left or how long she’d been gone. Work had kept him much later than usual today. He’d known it would, so he’d told Madison last night to ride the school bus home. If she’d skipped school—and he wouldn’t put it past her—she could be in Nashville by now.

He’d given her some money. Had she bought a bus ticket?

“Please, God,” he prayed, “not hitchhiking.” But that’s exactly the kind of thing Madison would do.

Where had she gone? And why hadn’t he bought her the cell phone she’d wanted?

Frantic with worry, he called Jenny first. Her friend confirmed his fears. Madison hadn’t been at school, but Jenny didn’t know why.

He started to call Dallas but resisted. If Madison wasn’t there, Dallas would worry, and there was nothing she could do to help.

Lawson sure wasn’t calling Bryce, who’d accuse him of losing his kid. Which he had, in a manner of speaking, but that was beside the point.

The only thing left to do was to report her missing and put his law enforcement buddies on the look-out.

His phone vibrated in his hand. Dallas’s number glowed like a beacon.

“Dallas?” He said into the phone before the caller could speak. “Have you heard from Madison?”

There was a pause and then a girlish voice. “Uncle Sheriff. It’s me. Madison.”

His eyes fell shut. Thank you, God.

All Lawson’s adrenaline drained to the floor. He leaned against a wall, weak as a baby. “Where are you? Are you okay? What are you doing?”

“I’m okay, but I’m with Dallas in Texas, and she’s not okay. She’s sick.”

The adrenaline shot back up. “What’s wrong? Is it a migraine?”

“Something bad. You need to come here right now.”

It was eight hours to Bayville. He was too far away to help. “If she’s in distress, call 9-1-1. I can’t get there fast enough.”

“Oh, shoot, I didn’t think about that.”

The offhanded remark sent his suspicious cop-antenna straight up. “What’s going on? Is there something you’re not telling me? Let me speak to Dallas.”

“No! I mean…” She gave an exasperated huff. “Okay, here’s the real story. You need to come here because Dallas misses us and she loves us and she thinks you don’t. And I’m sure you can fix it if you’ll just come and talk to her.”

Oh, boy, a misguided teenage matchmaker.

“Did she tell you all this?”

“Would I make up something like that?” A tiny chuckle. “Okay, I probably would, but I didn’t. I promise. I told her your dumb idea about making her happy or whatever and she got all teary-eyed. She thought you didn’t want her.”

“Why would she think that?” He wanted her more than his next breath. If he had one inkling that she felt the same, he’d walk to Bayville. Barefoot. On glass.

“Because you didn’t ask her to stay. You told her to take the dumb job.”

He had. “It was what she wanted.” Wasn’t it? Had he missed the signals? Had she been waiting for him to ask her to stay?

“I want her back.” Madison’s voice was low and achy. “Don’t you?”

Lawson gripped the phone like a lifeline. “I do, but that’s adult business, Madison. Between me and Dallas.”

He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with a thirteen-year-old.

“But I have this great idea.”

“Whoa. Stop. Is Dallas really sick?”

“Not exactly. I kind of made that up. But she is lying on the couch, and she was rubbing her head. That part’s true.”

“Could be a migraine. Or a pain-in-the-neck teenager.”

Madison snickered. “I’ll look out for her until you get here.”

Lawson growled into the phone. “You’d better.”

“Ugh. Does that mean I’m grounded or something?”

“Without a doubt, but we’ll talk about that in person.”

“So, you’re coming?” The excitement in her voice was palpable.

“How else would you get back to Calypso? And don’t say, hitchhike.”

“I promised Dallas I wouldn’t, but if you don’t come to Bayville…”

“I’m coming,” he growled. “You stay put. Don’t even go outside until I get there. Now, put Dallas on the phone.”