Chapter 1 #2
Needing a restroom, she took the exit for the welcome center, which turned out to be a large white building that resembled a house on steroids with dark green trim.
An American flag and what she assumed was the state flag flew in the breeze.
The noise of the highway was much louder from outside the car, and she could smell something delicious and fried.
According to the sign, there was a Roy Rogers in here, a chain she hadn’t heard of before.
The ladies’ room was huge, its stainless-steel stalls immaculate.
She did her business and then walked around what was almost a food court.
It had a convenience store, that Roy Rogers, a Starbucks, and a pizza counter.
Along the wall outside the bathrooms, hung a huge map of Pennsylvania.
Smaller road maps stood in a rack beneath it.
Maggie considered her options. Did she have to keep going?
This seemed far enough away that Sean wouldn’t find her, and she was tired of driving.
She hadn’t made a plan so there would be nothing for Sean to discover. But where the hell should she go?
She grabbed a map and bought a bottle of water at the 7-11, then headed back to her car. It wasn’t quite dinner time yet; she could put some more miles behind her before finding a place to stop for the night.
When her stomach started growling a couple of hours later, she pulled onto an exit following a sign advertising food and lodging. She found a motel easily enough, and this one was even a chain. But of course, she ran into an issue when she tried to rent a room at the front desk.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the young clerk said. “We need a card for incidentals.”
“Look, Ben,” she told the young man, feeling far older than her thirty-three years, “the courts froze my accounts because I’m going through a divorce right now. I cannot give you a card, it will deny.”
Ben bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “Let me talk to my manager.” He disappeared behind a door and then returned with an older woman, her hair graying, and her demeanor no-nonsense.
“You’re paying cash?” she asked.
“Yes.”
The manager sighed and started typing on the computer. “We need a cash deposit of a hundred dollars that we will return to you at checkout. How long are you staying?”
“Just one night.”
Ben leaned over his manager’s shoulder at her insistence. She pointed a few things out on the screen and muttered about how to put the transaction in the system. “Name?”
“Maggie Watson. And I’d like the room unlisted, please.”
“Got it. Let me see your ID.” Maggie fished it out of her purse and bit her lip. Thank goodness she’d kept her maiden name along with her married name. It had been a hassle at the time, but it would let her fly under the radar with two last names.
She handed over the cash as requested and took her keycard. “Anywhere you suggest for a decent meal and a drink?”
The manager raised an eyebrow and gave her a once-over. “You look like you could use a beer. Tracey’s is just next door.” She pointed to Maggie’s left. “You can even walk.”
“That’s perfect, thanks.”
Maggie took the elevator up to the second floor and dropped her suitcase off in the room. It looked just as basic as the others she’d stayed in. When she got where she was going, maybe she’d find something different. Then she rode back down to the first floor and headed out the door.
The sign for Tracey’s Bar and Grill lit up the evening sky.
Maggie had been so focused on where she would sleep tonight that she hadn’t noticed it on her drive in.
She opened the door and stepped inside a dark, cozy dive bar.
Normally, a place like this would make her skin crawl, but the woman wiping down the bar didn’t look like she accepted any shit from handsy patrons.
She had to be six feet tall, built like a rugby star.
Maggie instantly felt safe here and hidden.
Few patrons sat scattered around in booths along the wall, conversations hushed.
Maggie strode over to the bar and sat on the stool at the end.
“What can I get ya?” asked the woman she assumed was Tracey.
“A menu, please.” Maggie hung her purse off the corner of the bar, unwilling to take up extra space.
The blonde powerhouse slid a laminated piece of cardstock over to her. Maggie scanned it quickly, grinning when she saw exactly what she was craving. “I’ll take the mushroom burger with a side of onion rings, please.”
“What do you want to drink?”
The menu had mentioned a beer that paired well with the burger.
It had been ages since she drank anything harder than soda, wanting to keep her wits about her when Sean got in a mood.
She ordered that, and the bartender put the menu away, then poured her beer from the tap.
“I’ll give Jack your order; it’ll be out shortly. ”
Her greasy burger and thick onion rings hit a craving she’d been having for years. While she ate, Maggie pulled the map out of her purse and let her eyes wander. Where could she go? How was she going to decide?
“Where you headed?” Tracey asked as she polished a glass.
Maggie sighed. “Actually, I need a destination. I’ve been driving enough.”
Tracey set the glass down and leaned over the bar. “Do you believe in fate?”
Maggie pondered the question. Had it been fate that led her to Sean? No, that was timing and his persistence, and her mother telling her to go out with the guy. He’d worn her down, despite her initial lack of attraction. She’d let her mother convince her he was what she needed.
“I don’t know. I don’t disbelieve, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Tracey nodded. “I've got an idea. Let’s throw a dart at it and let the universe decide.” She pulled a roll of tape from somewhere behind the bar. “If you don’t like the answer, you can throw it again.”
“It’s as good an idea as any.” Maggie shrugged and followed Tracey to the dartboard along the wall. Tracey taped the map up over the dartboard.
“Don’t worry if you don’t hit the dartboard; most drunks miss it, too.”
Maggie shook her head and laughed as Tracey handed her a dart. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and willed the universe, or whoever was out there, to guide her where she needed to go. Pulling her arm back, she let the projectile fly. It landed with a thud, and she opened her eyes.
“That’s the middle of nowhere!” She lamented. Tracey walked up to the map and peered at where the dart had landed. Maggie followed.
“Looks like you’re going to Hawthorn Hills.” Maggie squinted at the map in the dark, so Tracey pulled out her phone and shone the flashlight on the dart.
“Huh. So, it does.” A tiny dot next to where the sharp point pierced the map showed the town name. “Do you know anything about it?”
“Nope. Never heard of it.” Tracey pulled the dart out of the wall and peeled the map down. She folded it back up and handed it to Maggie.
Maggie returned to her seat so she could finish her food before it got cold. A voice from two stools over that she hadn’t realized was occupied stole her attention.
“Hawthorn Hills, huh? It’s a cute little town.”
She looked over to see a man drinking a beer, a few silver strands in his dark hair catching the light from his phone.
He wore a dress shirt and a loosened tie, his jacket draped over the stool between them.
He’d rolled up his sleeves to show off his olive-toned forearms, and Maggie felt a stirring of attraction for the first time in ages.
Huh. She’d thought for sure everything with Sean had shut down that part of her for good. And now that she’d left him, she could finally look at someone of the opposite sex without fear of repercussions.
The man reached his hand over the stool and held it out for her. “Kirk.”
She quickly wiped the onion ring grease off onto her napkin and shook his hand. He kept it short and business-like, and her shoulders relaxed.
“Maggie. Have you been there?”
He nodded. “I’ve passed through there for work. My territory spans about half of Pennsylvania, and that’s the edge of it. I’ll be out there again in a couple of weeks.”
She took another bite of burger as she considered what questions to ask. After she swallowed, she turned her head and startled to find Kirk now sitting in the stool next to hers.
“What’s it like?” Maggie didn’t look at him, continuing to eat. Her hackles were raised and she just wanted to finish her dinner and make her exit.
“Cute, like I said. They’re an old town, but they’re welcoming.
You see an influx in people in the spring and summer.
The outdoorsy types love to go there for a quick getaway.
You’ll have to stay at the bed-and-breakfast there, it’s the only place in town.
But the old lady that runs it is top-notch.
” He kept sipping at his beer, its malty tang floating to her nose over her food.
Her own beer sat half empty, and she found she didn’t want to finish it now.
Kirk leaned into her space as she finished her onion rings. “Can I buy you another beer?”
Maggie shook her head. “One’s plenty for me.”
“Come on, I can tell you all about your destination over a fresh one.”
Ugh. He’d been much more attractive two stools over, but Maggie didn’t know how to get rid of him.
“I’m tired, and I need to get going.” She raised her voice just a hair.
“Let me walk you back to your car, Maggie.”
Shit. Now she wished she’d gotten back in her car and driven over. Maggie wracked her brain trying to figure out how to ditch the guy without telling him where she was staying. Tracey must have noticed Maggie’s discomfort.
“Come around to the register, and I’ll get you cashed out.”
“Thanks for the information.” Maggie nodded at him and gathered her things, ignoring his request for her phone number. Thank God he didn’t follow her, though that could be due to the glare Tracey gave him.
The register just happened to be on the other side of the bar. Tracey leaned over and spoke so only Maggie could hear. “You walked, didn’t you?”
Maggie nodded.
“I’ll keep him here as long as I can.”
“I only need ten minutes or so.”
Tracey gave her a nod. “You got it.” Maggie tried to give her a healthy tip, but Tracey pushed the extra cash back at her.
“We gotta look out for each other.”
Maggie smiled. “Thanks for everything.” Then she high-tailed it out of there.
Back at the hotel, Maggie powered on her burner phone for the first time since leaving Oklahoma City. The pictures she found of Hawthorn Hills were charming, a quaint small town smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania. Sean would never think to look for her there.