Chapter 3
Darius
With the hardware order in the back of my truck, I head down Main Street and turn off on Tupper Lane.
Down the tree-lined street, I swear I see a shock of turquoise-colored hair atop a blur of white racing down the sidewalk.
When I get closer, I realize it's a bride running from the corner church, with her fluffy wedding dress billowing in the June breeze.
She stops at the corner, whipping her head around, apparently trying to figure out which way to go. Pulling up, I roll down my window.
"Ma'am, are you okay?"
The runaway bride looks at me with wild brown eyes, but even disheveled, she's incredibly stunning. She stumbles, desperation written across her face, then her body stiffens when I hear a loud voice yell out, "Emerson!"
Craning my neck, I see a man and several other people running down the church steps. A few of them are in tuxes. One appears to be the groom.
"Emerson!" the older man's voice bellows out.
"If you need to leave right now, I can help you. Get in," I say to the bride.
She looks back for half a second, then jumps into my car and slams the door. I pull away from the curb and keep driving in the same direction.
Her breathing is ragged beside me. I can practically hear her heart racing. Her phone buzzes from somewhere in all that white tulle. When she answers, I can't hear what the woman is saying, but she sounds excited and is throwing in plenty of curse words with her cheers.
On the phone, the bride breathes, "I just couldn't go through with it."
After some fast talking from the woman on the other end, she then says, "Alright. Thank you. I'll text you where I'm going."
The response is clear as day when I hear, "No, tell me now."
I look over at the woman, who is staring at me with her brown eyes.
"I run a campground," I say, offering her a smile. "Sea Glass Campground and Cabins. I can bring you there. I'm pretty sure one of our cabins is empty right now, actually, and you can wait for your friend inside. How does that sound?"
"Thank you," she whispers.
She then relays the information to the person on the other end of the phone call.
"Okay, okay," she says, then hangs up and turns to me, "My friend says I should not be seen. She thinks my father and fiancé got in their cars to follow."
I look in the rear-view mirror.
"I don't see anyone right now, but, yeah, I can do some random turns and take my time getting to the campground, if that makes you feel better."
"Thank you," she says, sounding not only grateful, but amazed at her turn of luck.
Driving down the long campground driveway, I pull up in front of the office. As soon as I get out of the truck, Chief comes barreling around the corner, attacking me.
"Hey, buddy. Hey."
"Oh, I love huskies," the woman says.
And as if on cue, Chief attacks her as well, tearing at her dress.
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry. Chief, get down!"
But the bride is laughing hysterically.
"No. It's fine. Let him ruin this piece of shit dress."
We enter the office to find Russ helping one of our campers at the desk. I hop on the other computer to see what's available.
"Okay. Yes, miss. Cabin 3 is still empty. You are more than welcome to stay there and wait for your friend."
"Thank you so much. I don't even know how to begin to repay you for this. Like, I haven't even told you my name. I'm Emerson Kennedy," she says, holding out her hand.
As soon as I take it, an electricity races through me from her touch.
"Darius Robinson," I manage to say, letting go of her hand.
Her porcelain cheeks turn a bright shade of pink as she gives me a small smile. Tearing my eyes away from her beauty, I look back at the computer screen.
"You're more than welcome to stay the night. Free of charge, of course."
"Oh, no. I couldn't stay here for free," she argues.
"No. I insist. This cabin isn't booked for tonight, so it's no skin off my nose. And I would prefer to know that you're at least somewhere comfortable for the night."
"Thank you. I mean, I don't know what else to say."
"You don't have to say anything else."
"You really saved me out there."