Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Delia and Pru drove back to Las Vegas in Delia’s Hyundai SUV, while Caleb followed behind in his big Range Rover. She wondered briefly why he hadn’t taken his Mercedes, since it surely got better gas mileage, and then guessed he’d driven the bigger vehicle because he had passengers riding with him.
Ty, on the other hand, had said that it looked as if their work was done — for now, at least — and had promptly vanished. It was a handy way of getting around when you didn’t have to worry about luggage.
But Caleb and Delia had needed to go back to Harrah’s and pack up their things, among which were, miraculously, Delia’s missing purse and sandals.
“Where on earth did you find these?” she asked. She wanted to hug the purse, with all of its necessities of life, like her ID and cell phone and favorite MAC lipstick, but settled for slipping it over her shoulder.
“In the room where Sellers was holding you,” Caleb told her.
She stared at him, shocked. “You found it?”
“We did,” Pru put in. “But you were already gone. We figured we’d take your stuff so we could give it back when we caught up with you.”
Back when that had happened, they’d probably been thinking more in terms of “if” rather than “when.” But they had found her, against all odds, and now they were headed back to Las Vegas.
Headed home.
Pru was behind the wheel, though, because she told Delia that after everything she’d been through, she shouldn’t have to drive another hundred miles. And while Delia had thought of protesting, she realized her friend was right.
Now she sat in the passenger seat and watched the dark desert flashing by outside the car windows. Part of her wished she could be with Caleb, but that was silly. This was her car, and that meant she needed to ride with Pru.
“Do you want me to stay with you tonight?” Prudence asked. They’d just passed a milepost that let them know Las Vegas was still fifty miles away, but Delia felt better with every minute that put Laughlin behind them.
She had a feeling it would be a long time before she went back.
Maybe never.
“I mean, you’ve been through a lot,” Pru continued. “I think it might be better if you weren’t alone tonight. I already have a toothbrush and a change of clothes with me, so it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Although Delia was touched by the offer, she also knew she wanted to be alone.
Or rather, if she couldn’t have Caleb there to keep her company, she’d rather be by herself…
if merely to suss out why she thought his presence would be so much more comforting to her.
An impartial observer would have probably commented that Caleb Lockwood wasn’t the most soothing presence in the world.
However, Delia knew she was far from impartial when it came to Caleb.
“No, I’m fine,” she said, and hoped she didn’t sound — or look — as exhausted as she felt. “Honestly, I just want to go to bed and sleep for about a hundred years. I won’t be very good company.”
Pru redirected her attention from the road just long enough to give her friend a sharp look. “This isn’t about hanging out and braiding each other’s hair. I just think it’s better if you’re not alone tonight.”
Once upon a time, Delia might have agreed with her.
But the last few days had made a few uncomfortable thoughts bubble up in her mind, and she knew she needed time to sit down and sort them out.
Having Pru hovering around and making sure everything was all right wouldn’t help with that process at all.
“No, I’m really okay,” she said firmly. “But I promise I’ll call you if I start to feel hinky, and I’ll text first thing in the morning to let you know I made it through the night just fine.”
Pru’s lips parted, and Delia worried that she was going to keep pushing the issue. To her relief, her friend shut her mouth again just a second later, as if she’d realized that it didn’t matter what she said, that Delia had decided on a course of action and wouldn’t budge.
“All right,” she said at length, and her mouth twisted in a lopsided smile. “But don’t bother with that early morning text. You know I won’t see it.”
Delia smiled in response. They wouldn’t be getting into Las Vegas too late — a little before eleven, if her mental calculations were correct — and yet she had a feeling Pru would still find a reason to stay up for a few more hours after that and would want to get back into her usual routine of sleeping until at least ten in the morning, maybe later.
“Then I won’t. Anyway, everything’s going to be fine.”
Or at least, fine for this short breathing space. She couldn’t quite forget that remark of Caleb’s, the one where he’d said they’d won for now. He hadn’t added to the comment; he hadn’t needed to.
They might have beaten August Sellers, but whoever was behind the Styx Group was still out there, watching and waiting.
And planning, no doubt.
Was the man she’d seen in her dream connected to them somehow?
It was just a dream, she reminded herself, even though she knew that reality wasn’t what it had been a few months ago, that dreams and visions could be just as real as the actual, tangible things she could reach out and touch.
But Pru didn’t know about the dream. She only knew that they’d defeated the current baddie and therefore had earned some time off.
So she didn’t dispute Delia’s statement and seemed content to be quiet as they drove the rest of the way into Las Vegas.
And because Pru had told her during the drive that they’d covered for her as best they could, letting her mother know that urgent business in Laughlin might keep her occupied until Friday, Delia knew she could take tomorrow off to recover.
She thought she’d probably putter around the house, maybe go to TJ’s and get her favorite comfort foods, like that awesome Greek pastry stuffed with cheese.
It didn’t land in her shopping cart too often because it was an unholy collision of carbs and fats, but she figured she’d earned it.
As Prudence pulled into the garage at Delia’s house, though, she said, “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want me to stay?”
“Absolutely,” Delia replied. “But you’ll still need to come inside to wait for your Uber.”
Because Pru had told her she’d taken one over to Caleb’s place, figuring it would probably be better not to leave her car parked on the street there for a period of unknown duration. None of them had known how long the rescue operation was going to take.
Hard to believe she’d driven down to Laughlin only yesterday afternoon. It felt as if she’d been away for a hundred years.
They got out of the Hyundai and headed inside. Delia had left on one of the can lights in the kitchen, figuring she didn’t want the place to be pitch dark when she got home, although she flicked on some others as they headed into the living room.
Everything looked utterly the same, but the house still didn’t feel quite right, as if something fundamental about it had changed.
She knew that wasn’t the problem, though. It wasn’t the house that had suffered a shift at its very core.
No, that would be her.
Pru pulled out her phone and checked the app. “Only two minutes away.”
She’d had Delia make the reservation as they were driving in so she wouldn’t have to wait too long for the car to arrive. The timing seemed to be working out just perfectly.
“Thank you for, well” — Delia waved a hand in a direction she hoped was southward — “everything.”
Pru’s shoulders lifted a fraction. Not because she wasn’t unmoved by Delia’s gratitude, but more because she’d never been all that good at accepting thanks or praise.
“It’s what friends do. I know you would have done the same for me.”
Yes, she would have, without hesitation.
“Still — ”
Pru’s cell phone pinged right then, and she looked down at the screen. “Ride’s here. I’ll text you tomorrow after I get up, just to check in.”
“Sounds good. I’m pretty sure the most exciting thing I’ll do tomorrow is head out to TJ’s at some point.”
Pru grinned, surprised Delia a little by giving her a quick, fierce hug, and then picked up her satchel and her Kohl’s bag of clothing and headed for the door. One final wave, and then she was gone.
The house felt strangely empty after she left, even though Delia was certainly used to being here by herself. She pulled in a breath, then went over and sprinkled some fish food into the tank. They all swam to the surface, mouths hungrily open, and a pang of guilt went through her.
No, it wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t been here to feed them, but the fish didn’t know that.
Luckily, it didn’t seem as if they’d suffered any irreparable harm by missing their feedings over the past day and a half, and once that was taken care of, she went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.
Thanks to the way Caleb and the gang had retrieved her purse from the room where she’d been imprisoned, she still had her phone and everything else, thank God.
At least she wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of replacing the iPhone and her ID as she’d feared.
Her phone rang then, and she frowned. She doubted that Pru would be calling again so soon…and would have texted anyway unless it was a dire emergency…and as far as Delia knew, her mother had no idea that anything had gone wrong and wasn’t expecting her in the office until Friday morning.
When she lifted the iPhone out of her purse, she saw it was Caleb calling.
“Just wanted to make sure you got home okay,” he said.
Was it crazy to be so relieved to hear the sound of his voice? Of course, she’d had no reason to believe he wouldn’t have also reached his house safely, but still, a wave of warmth went through her.
“Oh, sure,” she replied, doing her best to sound utterly unconcerned. “Pru just left in her Uber. I was going to get some water and go to sleep. It’s been kind of a day.”
He chuckled. “That’s for sure.” A pause, and then he asked, “No sign of anything funky at your place?”