By the time Tanner was in his office, he was ready to collapse.

Sorting cattle in the cold sucked, but he'd needed the activity to calm the frustration running through him. From pushing the head up on horseback into the pens near the barns, then wrestling the frozen gate hardware to bring them through the chutes to check tags and health records, it was exactly what he'd needed, even if it wore him out.

Next week they'd be prepping for calving, and he and Harry had spent some time after that walking through and eyeballing rotund stomachs and condition on the placidly chewing heifers. The wind had sprung up again, and Tanner had relented and admitted to Brady when he saw him at lunch that he was glad for the tuque.

Jake was deep into his own side of things, and was clicking furiously on his laptop. Irritated, Tanner balled up a receipt he didn't need anymore and threw it, pinging it off Jake's temple.

"What was that for?" Jake yelped.

"Stop clicking," he snapped. "It's fucking irritating."

Jake raised one eyebrow and clicked the mouse several more times, then grinned and rapid clicked it. "Like this?" he said, and continued clicking, reaching towards his brother with the mouse.

"Go to hell," Tanner said, but then let out a laugh as Jake clicked it one more time slowly. Jake started laughing as well, and within moments they were gasping for air, both of them hit with the absurdity.

It felt good to laugh in the face of all they'd been through, and Tanner let out a breath. "Fuck, what are we doing?" he gasped, trying to get a hold of himself.

"It's been a helluva few days. Makes my arrival here seem like a friggin' picnic," Jake remarked and it slowed Tanner's laugh. That had been hard, but from both sides.

"Didn't feel like it then, but yeah," he replied.

"About this morning. I don't mean to needle you. You do your thing, it's your relationship," Jake said. "I know I come off like an arrogant prick. So I'm sorry if I've overstepped the past couple of days."

Tanner waved him off. "All good." In reality it was shit he needed to hear.

"Okay. Said my piece. Now, let's go get a coffee," Jake said, standing. "I'm beat and it's only two pm."

They left the office together. The sun was beaming across the front of the cattle barn, and they both stood in the warmth as they did up jackets, taking a moment to listen to the dripping noise of water off the roof, a sound Tanner loved. It signalled warmer weather. As he looked up, he saw Trevor was striding over to them quickly, so they waited.

"Hey. New horse settling in?" Jake asked. "Call the vet out to do a check up on him before we start anything, yeah?"

"Sure," Trevor said. He looked worried.

"What is it?" Tanner asked. He knew that look. Trevor was one of the most even keeled men on the ranch, so when he was worried, it was something big.

"Liam was caught fighting again this morning. Caitlin's friend Liana broke it up and offered to drive him out here to me. I was going to have him help for the day."

Tanner scanned the parking lot, but there was no little red Honda. "She's not here. I take it your boy isn't either?"

"No, they never arrived. At first I figured maybe she took him somewhere to go talk, Jenny said she might be a good person for him to know. But it's been hours. I asked Caitlin to call her but she's not picking up. My boy isn't either."

Something inside Tanner clenched up and he pulled out his phone. He dialled Liana, and it went straight to voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached Liana. You know what to do. Hang up and send me a text," her voice said.

"Liana, call me," he barked and then hung up the call. He flipped over and texted the same thing.

"Did you call home to see if he went there instead?" Jake asked as they started walking. Trevor nodded.

Tanner veered over and jogged to Caitlin's place and knocked on the door. Jake and Trevor followed. Brady answered the door, frowning. "I take it you haven't heard from them either?" Brady said, looking back and forth between Tanner and Trevor.

Tanner pushed in past him with a grunted "No". Caitlin was sitting at the table, her phone in her hand. "I can't reach her. She's not at the salon, and Jenny says they left the diner at eight-thirty," she said, and a tear fell. "What if—"

"We'll find them," Tanner said.

"Let's gather the troops up at the main house, shall we? I'll make coffee," Jake said grimly.

Liz joined them as they made their way up as a group. She put her arm around Trevor's shoulders. "We'll find them," she murmured.

Tanner hoped to hell this was just a simple misunderstanding, because his skin was crawling, thinking of the possibilities, his breath coming short as they circled in his head. Liana was not incapable of survival, but they were dealing with an unknown. It could be she slid off the road, had taken Liam to talk somewhere with no cell signal, or—

A truck drove into the yard as they were all crossing over towards the house. Tanner stopped as Cecil folded his tall frame out. He didn't need this right now. "Get up to the house, I'll deal with this," Tanner muttered.

"Cecil," he said as he met the man halfway across the yard.

"Just wanted to drop by and let you know we've alerted the police. I wanted to give you a receipt for the horse too, make it a legal transaction for your books."

"Thanks," Tanner said as Cecil handed him the paper. He folded it and tucked it into his inside coat pocket. "We're a bit busy right now with something, can I catch up with you later on that?"

Cecil scanned the main yard and then his eyes settled back onto Tanner. "Can we help? The past few days your crew's been stretched a bit."

Tanner studied him for a moment. He might be able to help, if he was on the road he could look out for Liana's car.

"Trevor's son and my—" he stopped and ran a hand over the back of his head. What should he say here? He'd already all but called her his fiancee in Dermott's kitchen but he'd never formalised it. He cleared his throat. "My girlfriend. They were headed out here this morning. Never arrived and we can't get a hold of them. We're gearing up to look."

"I'll keep an eye out. I'm headed back towards town to get some supplies. What's she driving?"

"Little red Honda. Her name's Liana, Trevor's boy Liam is with her."

"Oh, right. She came home with Dermott the day of the auction with him, stayed in his truck while he had us unload that damned useless bull. My wife goes to her salon, I think."

"That's her," Tanner replied.

Cecil grinned and slapped Tanner on the shoulder. "You move fast. I thought she was dating him up until he came home drunk the other night."

"No Cecil, I move too damned slow," Tanner said, and gestured out. "I'm aiming to fix that. Listen, I really have to go, but thanks."

Cecil nodded and opened his car door. "I'll keep an eye out. I hope she's safe."

"Me too, thanks Cecil. About this morning—" he added.

"Dermott needs his head set back on his shoulders. You don't have to apologise for anything, should be thanking you," Cecil said, waved, and ducked into his truck. Tanner waved back and headed towards the house.

He made it into the house and strode through into the dining room, not even taking off his boots. Peony would give him a look, but right now he didn't care.

"Stop grinding your teeth," Liz murmured to him as he joined her at the table. "Get your head on straight. She needs you to think, not react." As always, Liz had said what he needed to hear, and he let out a big breath. Easier said than done, but he had to try.

Peony was on the phone, and held up her hand. "No, thank you, I'll keep looking."

"That was the last of the hospitals. No report of them being in an accident," she said as she hung up. "Caitlin dear, did you call into your work?"

"She wasn't there, neither was Liam."

Tanner's chest seized as he looked down the list of hospitals they had already called. Something was off about all this. It was just after two. They'd left the diner before nine. Even with the short walk to get her car, she would have been out here well before ten.

"Jake, you, Trev, and Liz take trucks and drive the route into town, checking the side roads as well. Trev, think of any places Liam likes to go, yeah? Brady and I will drive into town directly and check her place, and go look for her at her shop," he barked.

"I'll stay here in case they show up," Caitlin said, her voice wavering. Brady pulled her into him, and murmured something no one else could hear. She nodded into his chest, her grip on his back tight.

"Are you thinking they might have—" Liz murmured to Tanner. "Should we call the cops?"

Tanner pinched the bridge of his nose. They weren't a missing persons case yet, but given what had happened in the past few days, maybe they would help them look. He looked at Liz, who was studying him, her eyes darting over his face.

"Yeah," he said. "Peony, can you call into the police station? I don't know if they'll send anyone, but—"

"I'll send them to your phone if they need to talk to you," she clipped and picked up her cell again. "Now shoo. The sooner we get them home the better."

Tanner held himself back from running, and he and Brady stopped to grab blankets and first aid from the front closet. He handed two to Liz and Jake.

"In case," he said. "Get the kit from the red six-horse slant load. It has roadside stuff in it."

Liz nodded and she and Jake left out the front door, Trevor right behind them. Tanner held the kit from the closet in his hand, and Brady took it from him, smoothing it back out. He'd been crushing it.

"Let's go," Brady said.

The trucks moved out, Tanner's roaring as he pressed the pedal to the floor. He threw his cell phone into the cup holder between him and Brady as they turned the corner onto the road. Brady fumbled and held on while plugging the phone into the cord to connect it to the sync system.

"Hey, steady," he said. "Getting yourself in trouble won't help her."

"I know," Tanner clipped and eased up. It was fifteen minute to town, and within five minutes he would be at her apartment. Brady checked his phone.

"Nothing yet," he said and set it beside Tanner's. "Would Liana take off and not call? Doesn't seem like her."

"No," Tanner clipped. His stomach was rolling, and he scanned the roadsides for anything red poking out of the snowbanks. In the rearview, Jake veered off onto a side road, starting their search, Trevor peeling off the other way. He hoped to hell they found them sitting and chatting with a coffee, oblivious to the danger everyone thought they might be in. The opposite of that was unthinkable.

He sped up, and as the edge of town came into view, he sent a silent prayer up asking for help. Because if she was hurt, he wasn't sure what he was going to do.