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stressed and anxious as he felt. Yet she kept right on working, working, working.
     
    He banged the table with his fist. “How can you even think about work at a time like this?”
     
    A long, slow sigh whispered between her lips. She leaned back and extended her legs. “If I stop, I'll lose my mind. And anyway, I'm not exactly working.”
     
    She swiveled the laptop in his direction. A missing children's website filled the screen.
     
    Daniel's breath snagged. “You don't think—”
     
    The ringing phone sliced through his words. He leapt up to grab the receiver.
     
    “Daniel, it's Bram,” Natalie's father said. “You can stop worrying. Lissa's okay. She's here.”
     
    “Thank God!” Daniel crumpled over the tile countertop.
     
    Natalie gripped his arm. “Who is it? Did they find her?”
     
    He nodded fiercely. “Hang on, Bram, I'm putting you on speaker.”
     
    “Dad?” Natalie looked at the phone and then at Daniel.
     
    “I found her in the hayloft. She's been here all along, sneaking into the house at night to raid the refrigerator and clean up in the guest bathroom.” Bram Morgan gave a tired chuckle. “I thought something was fishy when my sandwich fixin's started disappearing.”
     
    A gasping sob tore through Natalie. She fell against Daniel's chest. “Thank God, thank God!”
     
    He wrapped one arm around her, relishing the pressure of her body against his. He drank in the smell of her skin, the warmth of her breath whispering across the hollow of his throat. Just to hold her like this: the memory of the long months apart dissipated like dew under the hot summer sun.
     
    Dear God, let this be the end of the bad times. Help us find our way back to each other.
     

     
    “Forget it. I'm through with both of you.” Lissa flounced across Granddad's living room and plopped on the sofa. No way was she giving in and going home—wherever that was anymore—until her parents came to their senses and got back together.
     
    Her dad braced his hands on his hips and gave her that look, the one he always used to imply she was being childish.
     
    Talk about childish! Mom and Dad ought to look in the mirror once in a while. When they first tore through Granddad's kitchen door—Mom squeezing Dad's hand like she'd never let go—Lissa felt sure her little scheme had worked. Faced with the fear of losing their precious only child, they'd seen the error of their foolish ways, forged a new bond, reunited for eternity.
     
    Not.
     
    Five seconds after making sure Lissa was all right, they were firing verbal grenades at each other. Mom blamed Dad for not paying closer attention. Dad blamed Mom for spending too much time at the office.
     
    Dad gave a snort. “You can't stay here, Lissa. School starts in less than a month. You can't expect your granddad to keep up with a teenager when he already has plenty of … other stuff to deal with.”
     
    “Your dad's right.” Mom sank onto the other end of the sofa. She leaned forward, her hands clasped like she was praying. “Please come home with me. I've got a room all ready for you at my apartment. With your dad moving to Putnam, you need to be close to school.”
     
    “Maybe I'll quit school. Maybe—”
     
    “Lissa!” Mom and Dad burst out in unison. Great, the one thing they had to agree on.
     
    Okay, dropping out was a dumb idea. And if running away didn't scare some sense into them, she'd have to think of something else fast. Something had to snap her parents out of this craziness. She laced her arms across her chest and shifted her gaze from one to the other. Which one was the weakest link?
     
    Mom. Definitely Mom. She'd been a total basket case ever since Grandma got sick.
     
    Sky, Granddad's lumbering old Great Dane, padded over and rested his slobbery chin on Lissa's knee. She stroked his head while she came up with a new plan.
     
    “Okay, here's the deal.” Heaving a dramatic sigh, Lissa tossed her parents a withering look. “You're