Chapter 48 #2
One thought in particular keeps coming back as I walk through the shadows cast by the street light, each one a reminder that I just want my Shadow back.
If she’s sick, I should be there with her and give her everything she needs.
If she heard something I wanted to tell her myself, then I owe it to her to explain everything.
I should have admitted to her what I already admitted to myself back in Jackson, when Slade showed up, that night at Gloria’s.
In that moment, I already knew in my heart that I wasn’t going to leave her for Seattle.
I should have told her that on the spot and this never would have happened.
A cruel laugh works its way up my chest because this feels like it did just over two years ago. This time though, I’m not going to let her run away until she hears the truth straight from my mouth.
The grating sound of a metal chair dragging across concrete is the sound of defeat that echos in my ears.
Sly sits down in the chair next to me, prompting it to creak under his large frame.
I eye it skeptically, but he doesn’t seem too concerned when he sighs and leans back.
For the second time tonight, I find myself trying to regroup after an emotional whirlwind.
Instead of sitting by our childhood pool like we were only a couple hours ago, we’re now at the motel’s pool under the moonlight.
“So now what?” He asks, running his hand over his short, cropped hair and scratching his beard.
I lean back in the chair and toss my head back, groaning.
“I don’t know. Maybe she drove herself to urgent care or maybe she really just went for a drive to clear her head.
” My brother hums to himself and I can hear the question in it.
“Alright, go ahead and ask, or laugh at me, or whatever it is you’re going to do. ”
He chuckles and leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees.
“You want to tell me what this is really about?” He flashes me a look that tells me he already knows there’s more to this story than I’ve told him.
“Because I don’t know her that well, but most people don’t go on a two or three hour drive to clear their head when their stomach is bothering them. ”
I let out a long sigh and keep looking up into the night sky. “When did you become the observant sibling?”
He snorts, but doesn’t say anything. I can feel his gaze on me, imploring me to answer his question. “Fine. Slade and I were talking about me working at the restaurant in Seattle, after you left. I think she overheard part of that conversation. The part I wanted to tell her myself.”
“Woah, wait. You’re moving to Seattle?” I straighten up in my chair to find him looking at me with wide eyes.
“I love our brother too and know you can be a masochist when it comes to work, but I didn’t think you were that dumb.
And speaking of being dumb, you need to stop coming down here twice a month. ”
“I thought you said Dad was pretty much useless in the garage?”
He nods enthusiastically. “Oh, he’s totally useless in the garage, but great at the counter. Either way, Dad and I can handle the garage on our own. We’ve talked about hiring someone ever since Uncle Dan retired—not just to keep up—but to actually get ahead.”
I furrow my brows. “Why did you let me keep coming down all the time then?”
“Maybe we liked letting you stretch out those hero legs of yours and feel like you were part of the family. Or maybe, we just missed you a little.” He winks, and holds his finger and thumb just barely apart in front of his face.
“But that’s not important anymore. You’re in love with this girl—she needs to be your priority. ”
“You don’t think I know that?” I bark back. “That’s why I was talking with Slade—to come up with a plan where we all win. I just wanted to tell her myself.”
“Tell her what exactly?”
That’s a great question, with so many possible answers. I want to tell her that I’m going to finally stop being Slade’s errand boy. I want to tell her that I get it, that Jackson is her home. I want to tell her that like her, I’m choosing to do this for me.
His deep voice snaps my runaway train of a mind back to the moment. “You know what, don’t answer that. I can already see you spiraling and I want to get back to bed. Now, where did you get that rental car from? The airport?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Did you use a discount place like Dad, or did you actually rent from one of the big companies that doesn’t nickel and dime you for everything?”
I let out a lighthearted laugh, thinking about how that’s exactly what Dad would do. “One of the big ones with the pick-your-own-car aisle.”
“Good. Give me your phone.” He holds out one of his big bear paw hands and curls his fingers at me.
“OK.” I hand him the phone and watch him open the app for the rental car company. “Why?”
He rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath. “It’s a good thing you’re the good-looking brother.” He keeps scrolling on the phone with a pleased grin. “Some of those companies have remote start and keyless entry built into their apps.”
I arch a brow at him. “I thought you hated technology in cars?”
He looks up from the phone and glares at me. “I do. That’s why I drive a fifty year old muscle car, but all that technology keeps me in business because it always craps out.”
“OK, so this helps me… how?” I start to bounce my knee, losing my patience.
He rolls his eyes again before looking back at the phone. “Well, if you would have let me finish, I was going to say maybe they also have remote tracking for idiots that forget what rental car they picked and can’t find it in the parking lot.”
Hope surges in my chest. “Are you saying you can see where the car is?”
“Would you just hold on a second? God, you’re impatient.” He keeps flicking his thumb over the phone screen. A few seconds later, the corner of his mouth lifts into a smug grin. “So do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Fuck it,” I groan. “Bad news first.”
He grins back at me. “There’s no tracking in their app.”
“Great. Then what’s the fucking good news?”
I reach for my phone, but he coyly pulls it away. “Hold on. I do know where she is.”
“Where? I thought you just said there wasn’t any tracking.” I snatch at my phone but he holds it over his head, just out of my reach. I stand up ready to fight him for it if he’s going to insist on a childish game of keep-away.
He must know it because he relents and hands the phone out for me, pointing at the screen. “There isn’t tracking, but you got a notification.”
I look down at the screen, but instead of a text or a voicemail, there’s an automated notification from the rental car company.
Thank you for returning your rental car. We hope you enjoyed renting from National Auto Rentals at Taos International Airport.
I take my phone back and read the message again and breathe a sigh of relief.
She's at the airport. She went for a drive and returned the car at the airport. That relief only lasts a moment because another realization occurs to me. She’s back at the airport.
She took the car back to the airport and is going home.
Fuck.
“You OK there?” Sly asks, with a suspiciously calm expression.
I say nothing while I run through each of the possibilities of what she might be doing. One perk of flying back and forth between Jackson and Sterling Springs for the last two years is that I know the flight schedule at the tiny Taos airport as well as I know my own recipes.
If she just dropped off the car, she’s probably already through security by now. And if she was able to get onto the last flight to either Salt Lake or Denver tonight, she’ll have to connect to Jackson tomorrow morning.
I try calling her again, but slump into my chair when she doesn’t answer. My brother is still watching me with that same stupid, smug grin plastered on his face.
“No, not really. I’m not OK.” She’s probably hurt and pissed at me, or panicking and trying to get home. I’m an idiot for not dealing with this sooner. I bury my face in my palms and let out a ragged breath. “Today’s a fucking disaster.”
“So what? You’re just going to do nothing?” I peek through my fingers to see him raising his brows.
“I’ll see her tomorrow. I’m flying back on TJ’s plane with them in the morning. If she’s taking the first connection in the morning, we’ll probably get there around the same time.”
He folds his arms over his broad chest and shakes his head, clicking his tongue. “Where is the Sutton Sterling I know?”
I sit up and tilt my head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He chuckles to himself, again getting some sick pleasure out of tormenting me. “For someone that really loves being the hero, you’re going to pick now, as the time to be lame and what… just wait? Go get the girl, you fucking idiot.”
“Even if I leave now, she’ll already be on a plane to a connecting hub by the time I get to Taos.”
His gaze hardens and he stands. His teasing tone is gone, replaced by his gruff solemn words when he looks down at me. “I’m not going to let you make the same mistake I did. Come on. If we get you on the road soon, you can get to Jackson before she does.”
I quirk a brow at him. “Are you going to let me borrow your baby and drive it?”
He flashes a shit-eating grin at me. “Hell no, but I thought these might come in handy.”
He reaches into the pocket of his sweatpants and before I can react, he tosses a set of keys at me, hitting me right in the middle of my chest.
“For fuck’s sake, can people stop throwing keys at me?”
“Nope,” my brother says dryly before starting to walk toward the gate to the motel parking lot. “Let’s go get your ride.”
I look at the keys in my lap and recognize them immediately. “You really think that thing’s ready to drive that far?”
Sly stops and turns to me, dropping a shoulder in a one-sided shrug. “Yeah, I trust anything that one of us fixed.” He waves a hand at me in a gesture to join him and I finally peel myself out of the patio chair.
I know he’s talking about fixing cars, but the casual confidence in his voice reignites that spark of hope that I can fix this with Kelsey and make everything right. Not just what happened tonight, but everything else that’s happened between us over the last two years.
I love her and want us both to feel good about a future together. Most of all though, I want it to be our future. Something that we can build together, something that’s truly ours, and that’s exactly what I told Slade earlier tonight.
That’s why I follow my little brother to his old car and fully commit to this crazy idea.