Chapter 40
FORTY
Jada
My luggage made a thumping sound as it hit each stair on the way down. I probably could have picked the bag up and carried it, but it seemed like more effort than it was worth.
“What are you doing?” Max grabbed the bag from me and threw it over his shoulder. “This is going to be a long trip if you don’t start acting like you’ve got some sense.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re taking me to the airport. It’s a thirty-minute trip. You will survive.”
“I’m ready,” Kari called out from behind me at the top of the stairs. “Come get this thing, Max! It’s heavy.”
Confused, I turned around. “What’s going on? Where are you going?”
Kari flashed me a huge grin. “We, my dear sister, are going to Chicago.”
I glared at Max. “Care to explain?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me.
“Simmer down. I owed her a vacation anyway, so why not Chicago?”
“Yeah! Don’t try to talk him out of this,” Kari said from behind me.
I blew a piece of my hair out of my face. “This is ridiculous, Max. Utterly ridiculous.”
He leaned in close, winking. “This is ridiculous, I agree. Cane should have killed Simon the night he grabbed you, and this would have been over. But, alas, he didn’t, and here we are.
” He leaned back again and gave me a look.
“The tickets are bought, and we are going. You may as well suck it up and smile.”
I glared harder.
Max shrugged. “Or not.”
He took the stairs two at a time, grabbed Kari’s bags, and passed me on his way back down. “Let’s get it, girls.”
“Now, Max,” my father said, shaking his hand. “You do understand you have my entire world in your care. While I may appear to be an old man, I should warn you that I can still come after you.”
Max laughed. “Mr. Stanley, I promise you I will keep them safe. That’s why I am going … no matter how much Jada objects.”
Dad looked at me and then back at Max. “I think I like you.”
“We need to board,” Kari said, and I elbowed her in the side, flashing a look to silence her.
“This is kind of sweet. Let them have their moment.”
“Kari,” Dad said, nodding his head back and forth. “Behave.”
“I will, as always.” She kissed him on the cheek and joined Max in line. “Goodbye, Papa.”
“My Jada,” Dad said, eyeing me curiously. “I know something’s going on with you. But I won’t push. Just be safe and check in every now and then. And although you haven’t worked long enough to ensure I have to hire you back when you return, the odds are in your favor.”
I watched him, and he winced, placing his hand on his chest.
“Daddy? Are you okay?”
“Of course,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “My breakfast just isn’t settling the right way. And I hate seeing you go.”
I hugged him once more before joining Kari and Max in the boarding line. I hated leaving him, but hopefully, it would just be for a few days.
We boarded quickly, and I got comfortable in my seat. As I watched Max and Kari across the aisle, I smiled.
“You okay, Jada?” Kari asked across the aisle.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“I know that’s a lie, but I’m going to take it as a good sign that you care enough to lie.” Kari smiled.
“You can take that for whatever you want to.” I leaned back against my chair, getting situated so I didn’t bother the old lady on my right.
“Chicago seems like a fun place,” Kari said thoughtfully. “We’ll just think of this as a mini vacation.”
“I suppose so.” I sighed sadly, knowing this would not be a vacation of any sort.
“You know, Chicago is where I wanted to move originally after my divorce. It’s bizarre that I’m ending up there now, don’t you think?
” I paused, thinking about what I had just said.
“There’s that saying, ‘For every door that closes, another opens.’ Mom used to say that. Do you remember?”
Kari nodded.
“I feel like a door in my life may be closing. I’ve worried about it for a while, but sitting here on this plane, heading for Illinois, it seems very … real.” I closed my eyes for a second, absorbing the words I had just spoken.
“I’m grateful for this door opening, Kari. I have options, and a lot of people don’t. But I just really liked the door that closed, you know?”
“Yeah,” Kari said, looking at me warily. “I’m not liking how you’re talking right now.”
I shrugged sadly. “I can’t be afraid to lose something that may not be meant to be.”
“I’m calling bullshit on that.” Kari reached over the walkway and grabbed my hand. “For the record, although I’d like to chop his balls off right now, I don’t think necessarily that any door is closed right now. Just leave that one cracked a little, okay?”
My heart clenched.
I loved Cane. There was zero doubt about that.
But I wasn’t sure that I could trust him.
He didn’t tell me about Simon, and he was pulling away before any of that started.
Well, before I thought it had started. He had lied so much about that, that I wasn’t even sure when it began. And then Ashley was in his office.
Had she been calling him? Did she have something to do with his distance from me? Or was his pulling away really about the Simon thing and work, as he said? Was I in the beginning stages of the same thing I was in with Decker?
I began to feel overwhelmed and a bit claustrophobic as the last people boarding the plane took their seats.
I had a vision of Cane running onto the plane and asking me to stay, and as the doors began to close, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I was leaving him behind in harm’s way.
My chest began to squeeze, and I forced air in and out of my lungs.
In. Out. In. Out.
He has to be okay. He just has to be.
I blew out a breath hastily, shaking my head. I needed to stay calm. Panicking wasn’t going to help anything, but it was easier said than done.
The loudspeaker buzzed, and the flight attendant went through the rules and safety regulations, and I was reminded that I hadn’t turned off my phone. I rummaged through my carry-on until I found it at the bottom and touched the screen to turn it off.
The screen lit as it unlocked, and I saw a message staring back at me.
Cane: I love you.
My eyes filled with tears as Cane’s name appeared on my screen.
Me: Be safe, please. <3
Cane: <3
I smiled at his emoji before turning my phone off, burying my head in a pillow, and silently crying myself to sleep.
“I love Escalades,” Kari exclaimed as we walked to our rental car a few hours later. “I’ll drive.”
“Yeah. No,” Max said sternly.
“What? I let you come on this trip. The least you can do is let me drive,” Kari whined.
Max raised his eyebrows at Kari, giving her a no-nonsense look. “You didn’t let me do anything, sweetheart. You had no choice.”
“That’s what you think,” Kari said, rolling her eyes.
I couldn’t help but laugh at their banter.
We piled into the SUV, and Max took the wheel with only a sigh from Kari. I took the back seat, needing a little space of my own for the ride to Heather’s.
I took out my cell to text Heather and was disappointed that there were no additional text messages from Cane. I didn’t know whether to send him a message or not, unsure of what he was dealing with. I scrolled past his name and clicked my friend’s instead.
Me: Just landed! Be there in a few. Have wine.
Heather: LOL! I’m excited to see you, Jada. And I always have wine! ;)
“No! Absolutely not,” Kari said as I looked up to see her changing the radio station. “I let you come. I let you drive. I will not let you pick the radio station. I can’t even begin to take Miranda Lambert right now.”
I laughed as Kari gave Max a look and switched through the stations until she found a nineties pop station, and Britney Spears blared through the speakers.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Max grumbled. Kari leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
“You know you love it!”
“I love Miranda. Not Britney.”
Kari rolled her eyes as she started singing along to the music.
I watched the city pass by the window and I wondered where Cane was, what he was doing … and where in the world was Simon Powers?