9. Cara
Chapter nine
Cara
“Okay, Connor, now wrap your arms around Brooke from behind,” I instructed the couple. “Brooke, turn your head a little to the left.”
We were outside in a field behind the barn where the wedding party took place. Bathed in the soft golden light of the evening sun, the happy couple smiled at each other as I clicked the shutter of my camera. The pictures would turn out beautiful.
“Okay, last pose, guys. Face each other, and hold hands.”
As soon as the posed photos were done, the three of us returned to the warmth of the heated barn, where the party already was in full swing.
I tried not to stumble in my high heels on the uneven ground, and Connor was holding up the train of Brooke’s pretty white dress so it wouldn’t get dirty in the grass.
I felt a pang of jealousy. Usually, I was busy enough with Riley and the rest of my life that I barely noticed my loneliness. But wedding shoots could be a challenge, especially if the bride and groom looked as happy together as Connor and Brooke.
I’d made no active attempts to look for a partner since Riley was born. A few men had been interested over the years, and I even went on a date or two, but none of them made me feel the same things Ellis had made me feel.
Maybe that was unfair to them. Maybe they had no chance to live up against the romanticized image I had of Ellis and me, star-crossed lovers, but I couldn’t help it. It just didn’t feel right. Maybe I was just careful because I’d already been burned once. It hadn’t been Ellis’s fault, but what happened when I got pregnant with Riley showed me how cruel people could be. I’d been a naive young girl, and Carlisle Benton had always been maybe not friendly but at least polite to me. When he threatened to take my baby from me, I was completely blindsided. But I learned my lesson, and I now knew I needed to be very selective about whom I let into my life because you never really knew what lurked beneath the surface.
When I walked back into the barn, the dance floor was already full, and “All the Single Ladies” was blasting.
I retreated into a corner with the plate of food that had been set aside for me and watched the commotion from there. It sure looked like fun.
Maybe one day, that could be me. I’d tried to resign myself to life as a single mother, but the romantic in me still hoped to find love again one day. I would have to get over Ellis first, but if he continued to pester Terry and Annette, that might happen faster than I thought. After our little run-in with the surveyors, Ellis had visited the ranch two more times, but Terry remained steadfast and told him each time that he needed a few more days to think things through. Maybe we had some hope after all.
After I finished my meal, I took candid pictures of the party, but as the guests got drunker and the party got even wilder, I started to crave the peace and quiet of my home. My arms and shoulders were hurting from lugging around my heavy bag all day, and a headache had started to throb behind my eyes.
At nine in the evening, after hundreds of pictures, I called it a day and packed up my equipment. Connor, the groom, helped me carry my bags and boxes back to my car, and Brooke, the bride, hugged me goodbye.
Relieved that exhausting day was over, I climbed into my car and enjoyed a moment of quiet after being surrounded by people and loud music all day. Riley was sleeping over with Parker that night, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get back home.
After my headache subsided a bit, I started the engine and pulled onto the highway, heading toward Brightwater.
The sky was already dark, but at least there was no snow. Grateful for the clear roads, I expected a smooth forty-minute drive.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. About ten minutes after I left the wedding, the engine started to make a strange noise, even stranger than usual.
The check engine warning lit up on the dashboard in angry orange. No problem. That had happened before, and nothing bad had ever happened. No reason to freak out. I patted the steering wheel of my trusty Ford. “You’ll take me home just fine, won’t you?”
Only this time, it didn’t.
Barely two minutes after the check engine light lit up, my car made a very worrying choking noise, and then all sounds stopped, and I lost speed rapidly.
Shit.
I steered the car onto the shoulder and came to a stop.
Okay, now there was a reason to freak out.
I was stuck on a highway in the middle of nowhere, halfway between Richmond and Brightwater. It was dark outside, temperature 25 degrees and dropping.
Lucky for me, I lived in the age of modern technology, so I grabbed my phone from the passenger seat and called Terry’s number. He would come and pick me up. We could take care of the car tomorrow.
But Terry didn’t answer.
I called Annette, but she didn’t pick up the phone either.
Okay, fine. No problem. I had more friends I could call. First, I tried Leah, my neighbor at Sunset Apartments.
She did pick up the phone but had bad news for me.
“Sorry, Cara. I’m at a birthday party in Stenton.”
I had to suppress a frustrated groan. “Okay, bad luck. I’ll try Kelsey and Quentin next.”
“Don’t bother, they’re not in town either. Quentin and Kelsey are on a romantic getaway to celebrate their one-year anniversary.”
I sighed. “I’ll guess I’ll have to call the towing service, then.”
“Yeah, do that. And make sure you stay warm, okay? It’s going to be a pretty cold night.”
After saying goodbye to Leah, I looked up the number of Steven Brandon, the owner of the local towing service, and called him next.
To my relief, he answered immediately despite the fact that it was past nine on a Sunday. “I can pick you and your car up,” he said, “but it will take a while.”
“How long?”
“Not sure, two hours at least. Probably closer to three.”
“Three hours?” I asked, horrified.
“Sorry, Cara. There’s a truck that conked out on the highway to Lakeview. It’s blocking the street almost completely. I have to get that thing off the road first, then I’ll head straight to you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Sit tight. And make sure you stay warm. It’s going to be a frosty night.”
As if I hadn’t already noticed. Without heating, the temperature in my car dropped quickly. My hands and feet were already getting cold.
I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed my winter coat from the back seat. My hat and my gloves were in the glove compartment. Bundled up like that, I put the seat back so that I could stew in my misery with a bit more leg space.
I’ve heard of people dying like that, freezing to death in their stranded cars.
Panic started to creep up inside me. Intrusive images appeared, of Riley crying over my grave before being forcibly dragged away by some foster care lady.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that Steve knew where I was and that he would surely get to me long before I froze to death. But the terrifying thought had clawed its way into my mind and was there to stay.
I’d never really viewed it from that angle. Without me, Riley would be all alone. Nobody knew who his father was, so if something happened to me, he would go straight into the foster system.
As if to accompany my gloomy thoughts, a light, snowy drizzle set in—just my kind of luck.
While I stared into the darkness, waiting for Steve to come and rescue me, time slowed to a crawl. I checked my phone. Only twenty minutes had passed, but I was already shivering from the cold.
I put on some upbeat music on my phone to help pass the time and to distract me from my situation, but when I noticed how quickly the battery was dropping, I turned my phone off altogether, to preserve energy. The worst thing that could happen was my phone dying.
An hour passed.
Then another. Still no sign of Steven and his tow truck. Or any other car, for that matter. Not unusual. It was Sunday night, and I was stranded in the middle of nowhere, but that only made me feel more alone.
Two and a half hours after my engine died, I noticed a light in the distance.
Finally! That must be Steve.
But as the light dots in the dark came closer, I realized the car the lights belonged to was way too small to belong to Steve’s truck.
The car passed by, and I realized it was not my rescue, just some kind of silver limousine.
Damn it. How much longer would this take? My hands and feet were getting numb from the cold, and my breath was coming out in white little puffs. I needed to get out of there soon.
Just as I felt tears welling up in my eyes, I noticed in the rearview mirror that the car that had just passed me had stopped behind me.
My pulse quickened, and my stomach clenched.
A good Samaritan? Or a threat? I was a woman, all alone. If the driver of that car had ill intentions, no one would hear me call for help. No one would come.
With shaky hands, I locked the doors and watched a tall man, all bundled up in a coat, hat, and scarf, approach my car. He was carrying a flashlight.
My heart was pounding, but I remained still and waited.
Please don’t be a crazy serial killer.
The man walked up to my door and knocked on the window.