Chapter 2 #2
“Probably.” I keep holding the light over the tire. The snow really comes down, and I stare up at the sky. “How far is Aspen from here?”
“At least another two hours.”
“We can’t drive two more hours at night with all this ice on the road.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he cries.
“Yelling at me isn’t going to fix this situation.”
“Yes, but it makes me feel better.” He struggles with the chains some more.
I get the giggles.
“There is nothing funny about this. . .” He stops himself from saying the next thing.
“You forgot my name, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“What’s my name, then?”
“Pain In My Ass, that’s what your name is.”
“Emma, my name is Emma,” I remind him.
“I knew that.”
“Good.” I keep holding the light. “What was your name again?”
He looks up at me deadpan, and something about him on his hands and knees covered in snow tickles my fancy, and I laugh.
“Again with the inappropriate laughing,” he mutters under his breath.
“Look, these chains aren’t going to work. Let’s just go to the next town and try and get some new ones.”
“Where are we going to get chains at this time of night?”
“If we can’t, we get a couple of hotel rooms and we’ll go to Aspen first thing in the morning.”
“You don’t have any money, and I am not sleeping in a bed with you. This isn’t a fucking Hallmark movie.”
I giggle again. He’s kind of funny when he’s angry. “I’ll transfer you money via internet banking. Actually, I’ll even pay for both rooms as a thank you for giving me a lift.”
His eyes flick up to me and then return to the tire. “Why are you suddenly being nice, are you going to murder me and bury me in the woods now?”
“Not yet, but that could change.” I hold the light up. “And for the last two hours I’ve been thinking about what you said, and you may have a point. I have been overly bitchy and mean. I’m sorry, it’s not your fault. I’m nervous, and I took it out on you.”
“I wasn’t coming onto you.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not even my type,” he continues.
“Okay, you can shut up now. That’s going too far.”
He stands with the chains in his hands.
“Come on, let’s go. It’s freezing out here,” I tell him.
“Fine.” He throws the chains back into the trunk and we pull back out onto the road.
The wipers are going at full speed, and we are both now damp from the snow. We drive for a while.
“What are you nervous about?” he eventually asks.
I shrug, not really wanting to elaborate.
“Well?”
“Fine… I am going to cold call on my biological mother tomorrow.”
He glances over in question. “Cold call… She doesn’t know you’re coming?”
“Nope.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“I want to see her face when I tell her who I am, and the only way I can do that is to”—I shrug—“just turn up.”
“So you’re adopted?”
“Yes.”
“Have you always wanted to find your biological parents?”
“Well, I didn’t even know I was adopted until twelve months ago.”
His eyes come over to me again. “Your parents didn’t tell you?”
“They still haven’t told me. I found out from my aunt after my mother died suddenly.”
“Oh.” He frowns as if processing what I’m telling him. “What about your father?”
“He ran off with his karate teacher ten years ago and now lives in Bali with his new family. He gives me a token call twice a year. Birthday and Christmas.”
“Oh.” He keeps his eyes on the road this time.
“So, yeah, that’s my fucked-up story.”
“What made you come now?”
“I found out that the woman I’m going to see tomorrow has sold her house, and if I didn’t go this weekend, she might move away somewhere, and I probably won’t be able to find her again.”
He twists his lips as if wanting to say something
“What?”
“I don’t know if cold calling is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“What if she’s married with a family and they don’t know.”
“Well, that’s tough shit for her,” I huff. “You know what, I don’t care who finds out about this or how much it upsets her.”
“You seem angry.”
“I’m not angry, I’m just over it, and I have little empathy for a woman who gave me away like I was a puppy in a litter.”
“You don’t want a relationship with her?”
“Nope.”
“So why are you here?”
“I need closure. I found out my entire life has been a lie and I’m stuck in some torturous limbo of not knowing who I am, and I really just need it to end.”
“Okay.” He nods as if understanding. “Do you want to run over her letterbox when we get there?”
“Maybe.” I smirk.
“Throw dog crap at her door?”
“Probably.” I smile over at him. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all. “What was your name again?”
“Aaron.”
“Hi, Aaron.” I hold out my hand as if we just met. “We didn’t formally meet yet, I’m Emma.”
He reaches over and shakes my hand as he drives. “Just to be clear that if you plan on murdering anyone this weekend, I am not going to be your accomplice.”
“Deal.” I smirk. “Unless it’s you, of course… but then that would make you the victim and not the accomplice.”
“Same thing.”
“It’s not, actually.”
His unimpressed eyes come over to me, and I laugh and hold my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
Twenty minutes later, we pull into the town of Vail. The snow is coming down, and we park at a service station while we try and find somewhere to stay on the booking websites.
Dates not available.
Dates not available.
Dates not available.
“Ugh, why is everything booked out?” I moan.
“It’s Vail.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a ski town, and we just happen to be here during the biggest snow dump of the season. We’ll find somewhere, just keep looking.”
“I hate skiers.”
“I ski.”
“Of course you do.” I roll my eyes. “Reason two hundred why I should have murdered you in the woods.”
“Okay, here’s a room.” He reads it out, “Queen room with balcony.”
“That will do, just get two rooms.”
He pushes on it. “Only one room available.”
“Just grab it and we will find another for me somewhere else.”
“Yeah, okay.” He goes through the reservation and locks it in.
We look and look and look. The car windows are fogging up, and we are cramped and damp.
“Oh my god, why are there no rooms?” I snap in frustration. “This place is fucking ridiculous.”
“I’m starving, let’s just go check into the hotel and we can keep looking for another room for you while we get dinner at a restaurant.”
“Yeah, okay.” I sigh. “I’m pretty hungry too.”
Ten minutes later, we pull into the hotel and make our way to reception. “Hello, I have a reservation under the name of Aaron Hammond.”
“Hello, Mr. Hammond,” the hotel attendant says. “Just for one night?”
“Yes. You don’t happen to have a second room, do you?”
“No, but there are a lot of people who haven’t checked in yet and may not be able to get here due to the snow-storm. I’m about to contact them to confirm their bookings. It will be another hour or so before I know if I have anything, though.”
“That would be great.”
The attendant passes over the key. “Take the elevator to level two.”
“Thanks.” Aaron glances over to me. “Let’s put your bag in my room and you can get it when we get back.”
“Yeah, okay.”
We make our way up to the room. It’s big and nice with modern amenities, and I look around. “Impressive.”
“Yeah, pretty nice.” He unzips his bag. “I’m all wet, I’m going to have a quick shower and change before dinner.”
“I would love a shower too.” I agree.
“Okay.” He grabs his clothes and disappears into the bathroom and closes the door. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I take it out to see thirty-two missed calls.
Fuck, I forgot to call Kara back. I dial her number.
“Where the hell are you?” she answers. “I’ve been going out of my mind thinking you’ve been murdered.”
I roll my eyes. “Why are you so dramatic?”
“You call me and tell me you are at an airport with no wallet and then go missing for three hours?”
“Sorry. I’m at Vail. I met a guy and he drove me here and now we have a hotel room.”
“Wait, what? You met a guy, what guy?”
“Oh, no, it’s not like that. He’s a player from hell, but he’s helped me. I think he’s a nice guy as long as you aren’t sleeping with him. He’s paying for the hotel on his card and I’m transferring him the money.”
“Is he hot?”
“Smoking.” I hear the shower turn off and my eyes rise to the door. “I’ve got to go, he’s getting out of the shower.”
“What the fuck, he’s in the shower? And he’s smoking hot? Get in there, you idiot.”
“Goodbye, Kara.”
“Oh my god, call me back. I need updates and—”
I hang up on her midsentence.
I rustle through my bag. Damn it, why did I only bring dresses to wear out at night? Because I had a stupid fantasy of going out to dinner and meeting some suave Aspen millionaire, that’s why.
I pick out a black dress. This will have to do.
The bathroom door opens and Aaron walks out, wearing black jeans and a white button-up shirt. He smells of soap and some kind of delicious aftershave, and jeez…
He looks up and our eyes meet. As if he’s reading my mind, a trace of a smile crosses his face.
Bastard knows he’s hot, too.
“You look average,” I lie as I walk past him into the bathroom
He chuckles as if surprised. “Yeah, well, I had to bring my average down to match my date.”
“This isn’t a date,” I call as I walk into the bathroom and close the door. I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
Fuck.