Hockey Holidays Read online

Avery silently applauded her clever guise to avoid more pie making. Neither of them were thrilled about the time-consuming, messy process. They could’ve picked up some pies at Costco and called it good. No one would’ve minded except Emma.

  “I saw her a few minutes ago. She appeared distressed by all the arguing. She probably escaped and is hiding out upstairs.” Emma cast a pointed glare at the men, standing toe to toe near the bank of windows in the dining area. The men took no notice. They were each too busy trying to prove their point and winning some insane competition as to who was right. The argument was pointless because there wasn’t a correct answer, in Avery’s opinion. Each sport had its merits. Too bad these men couldn’t see that.

  “Let me ask the other kids,” Paisley said with a sigh.

  “I’ll go upstairs and check,” Emma volunteered.

  Paisley nodded and walked over to where her niece and nephew played Candy Land. Zeke and Paisley had custody of the children after the death of their mother at the hands of their father. They were in the process of adopting them.

  Avery abandoned her pie crust and tagged along, grateful for a reprieve.

  “Hey, kids, where’s Sadie?” Paisley asked.

  Both children shrugged.

  “Did you see her leave?”

  Sophie, Sadie’s twin sister, nodded. At five years old, she was a chatterbox, while her sister rarely said anything. Only currently, she, too, had lost her gift of speech.

  “Where did she go?”

  “She didn’t like all the yelling. She left. I don’t know where she went,” Brayden answered and scowled at the guys across the room, still oblivious to what was going on around them.

  “No one does,” Paisley said drily. They looked up expectantly as Emma hurried down the stairs.

  “She’s not up there. I checked all the rooms, under the beds, the closets, the bathrooms. She’s not there.” Alarm crept into Emma’s voice, mirroring the mounting worry building inside Avery.

  Sadie was a sensitive little girl, and she didn’t like conflict. She’d been cowering behind a couch when her abusive father killed her mother in the same room. She hadn’t uttered a word for months afterward. Only recently had she started to come out of her shell.

  Paisley ran to the doorway and opened it, emitting a cold gust of wind. She paid the weather no mind and disappeared onto the porch. Avery followed, grabbing a coat hanging on the peg by the door. Emma was on her heels. Dusk was settling in and dark clouds threatened to unleash a nasty, drenching storm any minute.

  Paisley called and called for Sadie but received no response. The little girl was nowhere to be found. Her face paled as she turned toward her sisters-in-law.

  “Where could she be?” she said with a quiver in her voice.

  Avery glanced over her shoulder. The other two kids stood in the doorway, both faces scrunched with worry. Beyond them the men continued their pointless argument. Anger built inside Avery. She was going to rip those jerks a new one and then some. They’d caused this. She was certain of it. Sadie wouldn’t be able to handle the animosity currently poisoning the air inside the festively decorated home.

  “We need to find her before dark,” Emma said.

  “We will. We’ll turn the place upside down and won’t leave one stone unturned. Let’s get the guys involved.” Avery focused her attention on the men and stalked toward them. They didn’t notice her until she stepped in the middle of their latest heated argument.

  Isaac’s eyes flashed fire momentarily at being interrupted, but he must have picked up the fear in her expression because he immediately sobered and moved back a step, creating distance between him and his brothers. Both brothers stopped yelling and blinked several times as if coming out of a trance.

  “What’s wrong, Avery?” Isaac asked. Concern lined his handsome face and furrowed his brow. His brothers gathered round him, finally silent.

  “We can’t find Sadie.” The words came out in a choked sob, effectively transmitting the direness of the situation.

  “Can’t find her?” Zeke stepped forward. His concerned gaze slid to Paisley, who was wringing her hands and sniffling. She nodded and gazed up at him, eyes brimming with tears.

  “Where did you look?” Isaac asked.

  “Everywhere in the house and close by outside. We need to spread out and find her before dark. The kids didn’t see her leave. Just said she was upset about all the yelling.” Avery’s final words had an effect on the brothers.

  “Yelling? What yelling?” Tanner asked. As a quarterback, his normal speech was in the loud zone.

  “All of you. You were yelling. You upset her.” Emma glowered at them like a mother chastising her children. She raised her chin and shot each of them a ferocious glare.

  “You morons. I told you to shut up,” Isaac said, pointing a finger at both brothers.

  “You dumb shit. You were just as bad as we were,” Zeke shot back.

  “Yeah, don’t go all innocent on us. You were right in the middle of it.” Tanner crossed his arms over his chest and glared smugly at his brothers, as if he were innocent.

  Avery gaped in mute amazement as they were off again, fighting with each other.

  “Shut the hell up!” Paisley screamed over the melee. She never screamed. The entire house went silent except for the howling wind outside. “You’re not helping. Not one of you.”

  Zeke stared at his feet, while Tanner shuffled his weight from one foot to the other.

  “Sorry,” they both muttered together.

  Isaac’s head hung with guilt. Finally, he lifted his gaze, determination burning in his eyes. “Let’s cut out the blame and start searching. Ladies, you look in every nook and cranny of this house. We’ll take the outside. Zeke, search the outbuildings. Tanner, take the yard and surrounding brush. I’ll start walking down the road.” Isaac had gone into controlling, big-brother mode. Tanner stiffened, and Avery could see him building up to a protest. Zeke pursed his lips. Neither of them appreciated Isaac ordering them around.

  “Who put you in charge?” Tanner bristled.

  Emma elbowed him, and he yelped. She narrowed her eyes and gave him the evil eye. Tanner wasn’t stupid.

  “Okay, I’ll start in the yard,” Tanner said meekly. His cowed expression would’ve been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.

  Zeke opened his mouth to say something, but he snapped it shut after one murderous glare from Paisley. Instead he nodded grimly. “I’m on it.”

  “Then let’s get started. We don’t have much daylight to burn.” The men donned their raincoats and trudged out the door.

  Paisley stood in the doorway, her fist shoved in her mouth and her eyes filling with tears. “We have to find her.”

  Emma moved next to her and put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “We will. She wouldn’t have gone far.”

  Avery shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoody and stared out the window at the angry clouds on the horizon and turned to call the sheriff.

  Sadie ran and ran and ran to get away from the arguing brothers. Why couldn’t people just be nice to each other? Why did they have to be mean?

  She splashed through a puddle, not caring about her soaked shoes and wet feet. She was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, not exactly warm enough for the chilly night.

  The rain had stopped for a moment, but the clouds were dark and ugly. Soon it’d be raining again. Her feet pounded on the gravel road, harder and harder as she blindly ran away from the noise, not just in that house but in her head.

  All she’d wanted for Christmas was a pony.

  She tripped over a branch and fell, skinning her knees. She started crying. After crawling on her hands and knees for a short distance, she scrambled to her feet. The wind whipped her hair across her face, and a dog howled in the distance. It sounded like a big dog. Maybe one that tore little girls apart and ate them for dinner. Her daddy used to threaten her with dogs like that, said he’d throw her over the fence into the neighbor’s yard if sh