34. Brandt

The couples that are “meant to be” are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart and come out even stronger than they were before. —Unknown

I wiped down the counter of the bar and glanced at the time. Twenty minutes until opening. I’m not sure why I was so obsessed with checking the time these past few days, but I did it constantly.

Obsessively.

It’d just passed the fifty-seven-hour mark since Julianna had gone missing. Twelve minutes since I’d called in to check on my brother. And about twenty-five seconds since I’d fought the urge to ditch work and drive the streets again, searching for my lost coworker.

Colton was a fucking mess. I’d never seen him this out of sorts before. He’d wept this morning, losing his shit all over Aspen, and none of us had known what to do to help him.

I didn’t like this powerless feeling. I had no idea what to do to ease my brother. None of us did.

They said he wasn’t eating or sleeping. When he wasn’t out looking for Juli, o