Twilight time, p.3
Twilight Time, page 3
In response, the dog wriggled around until she could lick Maia’s cheeks.
“Okay, so now you’ve seen us. What else do you want?”
One last nuzzle for bravado and Maia got to her feet again to present this stranger with her outrageous offer. “I want to come with you.”
Chapter 3
This woman was insane. Wait ‘til he got hold of Leah. He’d known this was a setup. Had seen right through their game from the second Wyatt asked for his opinion on the song. The only thing he hadn’t anticipated was they’d done it for some verbal sparring match with Lily’s former owner. Well, he’d set this crazy lady straight right now. He had no time for dog custody games.
“No.”
On a sigh, she held out her hands. “Hear me out, okay?”
“No,” he repeated, firmer this time.
“Why not?”
“For one thing, I don’t even know you.”
She shrugged. “Leah does. Talk to her.”
Oh, he intended to. Definitely. First thing tomorrow. All he wanted was to get inside the RV with Lily and hit the road! Another glance at the closed-up house told him no one would be coming outside to interfere. The sooner he ended this conversation the better.
Since logic didn’t seem to hold much sway with her, he’d have to try practicality to convince her what a bad idea she’d thought up.
“Have you ever traveled in a tour bus? It’s not exactly roomy or luxurious.” He pointed to the vehicle behind him. “The toilet’s in the shower, which is about the size of a grandfather clock. There’s no extra space for makeup or blow dryers or curling irons or any other of your female stuff.”
“Female stuff?”
He ignored her smirk. “There’s no privacy. None. The beds up top are spaced about two feet apart.”
She waved him off. “Don’t worry. Your virtue is safe with me, and if you dare to come near my bed, Lily will eat your face.”
“You overestimate your appeal.” His inner self winced at the harsh words, but she appeared to take his insult in stride.
“So do you. Therefore, I don’t see any issue with the sleeping arrangements. Now that we’ve got that settled, what other roadblocks do you want to throw in my path?”
Spence said nothing, letting her squirm as he glared at her with open disbelief. The woman had a set of brass ones, that was for sure.
She shifted from one foot to the other. He remained still. She snorted out a breath. He kept his respirations even, Zen-like. She cocked her head. He kept his gaze steady.
His placid silence eventually wore her down because she softened her stance and heaved a two-ton sigh that left warm puffs of air in the chilly evening.
“Okay, okay. I know I sound like a lunatic,” she said at last, her tone more easy-going. “But I’m not. I swear. I’m just a nice person stuck in a sucky situation. You’re the only one who can help me. And you may not think so, but I’m guessing I can help you.”
“I doubt that.”
The rigidity returned to her posture. “Because you’ve never needed help before, right? You’ve always led a charmed life. I can see it on you: no worry lines etched into your forehead, no dark rings under your eyes from sleepless nights, no bend in your shoulders to convey you’ve ever had to carry a heavy burden. Nope. You were born into privilege and have lived your whole life in that world where everything you want is handed to you on a silver platter. You wear your arrogance like most people wear underwear. It’s so routine, you pull it on without even thinking about it.”
The ice in her words pelted him, a flurry of sleet, piercing his skin and stirring his anger. “We’re done here. Nice meeting you. Have a great life.” Picking up his violin case from the grass where he’d placed it, he smacked his thigh as a signal to the dog. “Lily, come!”
To his embarrassment, Lily looked up at the woman and whined.
Maia’s smirk made an encore appearance in full force. “Sorry. I guess my ten years with her overrules your few days.”
“Maybe, but I’ve got a copy of a signed contract from the shelter that names me as her owner. What’ve you got?”
All the bluster left her in one long sweep. She shrank in defeat and held out the leash, her flag of surrender.
He should have been ready to celebrate as he took control of Lily and guided her back toward the RV, but a worm of sympathy niggled at his conscience—not enough to reconsider her request to accompany them, but enough to offer her a soft thank you before bringing the dog inside.
After locking the door against any additional intrusions, he bent to unclip Lily’s leash from her collar and connected with those soulful eyes. A high-pitched whine pierced the quiet.
“None of that now, sweet girl,” he crooned. “We’ve got exciting adventures ahead. Maybe, when we get back, we can set up a meeting for you two to see each other again.” With adult supervision, he thought to himself. “For now, let’s get set up so we can get to our first stop before midnight. We’re already behind schedule.”
He secured her to the passenger seat, stowed his violin in a locked cabinet, and opened the driver’s side door. Even with the clip that ran from her harness to the seatbelt mechanism, Lily sat up on her rear legs to paw at the window, barking and howling in ear-splitting volume.
“Easy, Lily. It’s going to be all right,” he said and shut the door.
She still stood on the lawn, where he’d left her, beneath the ornate light. The woman. Maia. He held up a hand before she could say anything.
“Don’t. I’m just grabbing my gear and then we’re outta here.”
To her credit, she said nothing, didn’t move an inch. She simply waited. As far as he was concerned, she could stand there ‘til the birds settled on her shoulders. He wouldn’t change his mind.
Several harried minutes later, with the backpack and duffel stowed, he settled in the driver’s seat and started the engine. As he pulled out of the driveway, the woman returned to her car at last. Good. As they merged onto the parkway, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Still, the dog’s restlessness increased. Lily continued scratching at the window, her bark punctuated with high-pitched howls. A quick glance in the rearview mirror told him why. The woman was following them!
Under normal circumstances, he might have pulled some quick maneuvers to shake her off: a cut between other cars or a last-second jump off an exit ramp, but not with this bus. The unwieldy RV wasn’t equipped for tight turns or slick sidelining.
“Okay, fine,” he said to the reflection in the mirror overhead and the crazy howling dog. “You want to come along. Fine. I guarantee you won’t last twenty-four hours.”
In fact, he’d see to it.
When the RV pulled into a well-lit, busy parking lot off the parkway, Maia gazed heavenward in a silent prayer of thanks. If he’d opted for someplace dark and unpopulated, she would’ve had to second-guess her decision to tail him. A site so public could only mean he had no intention of killing her and tossing her body in the woods—yet.
She parked directly behind the van and waited in the car until he got out first. Leaving her engine running, she met him halfway.
“You’re really gonna follow us the whole way?” he demanded.
“You’ve got two choices,” she replied. “Either I follow you, or you let me ride along. I’ve got nothing waiting for me back home. If Lily’s not going to make it back to me before she...”
She couldn’t say the word, “dies,” couldn’t even think it.
“Please.” Her voice broke on the plea. Oh, how it killed her to have to beg a man for a simple bit of kindness, but for Lily, she would. “I’ve already lost so much time with her. I made a mistake—a huge, honking mistake—leaving her behind. I always thought I’d be able to get her back as soon as I got on my feet. It never occurred to me I might lose her forever before that happened. I can’t leave her with a stranger when she might need me the most. I just can’t.”
“And if I let you come along, what happens when you’ve had enough? Or God forbid, Lily dies in... say, Montana? Am I supposed to drive you back here, no matter where we are, to pick up your car and go home?”
She’d made him waver. Not a huge amount, but enough to make him waffle on his “never” into an “okay, say I agreed” position. Let the negotiations begin.
“Once again, I present you with two options. We can either tow my car behind us, four-down, or you can leave it here and I’ll text my former roommate to come pick it up. I left her the spare set of keys. The title is in the glove compartment, ready for my signature, transferring ownership to her. She can sell it to cover this month’s rent.” She cast a sorry glance at the fifteen-year-old Korean import. “God knows, it’s not worth much more than that—especially without an automatic transmission.”
His glower transformed into puzzlement. “Four-down?”
Yeah, she was proud of herself for researching all the details after her phone call with Leah last week.
“All four tires on the road?” she said with an air of authority—as if she’d always known what it meant and so should any idiot.
“I know what four-down means,” he retorted. “Wait. Did you say that tin can doesn’t even have an automatic transmission?”
“Nope. It’s a manual.”
His eyebrows rose in twin arcs. “You drive a stick?”
He made it sound like she’d admitted she could create nuclear fusion with a pair of tweezers and a tuning fork. “Can you?”
His cheeks flushed, and she had her answer.
“I guess that means you don’t know how to hook up a tow, either.” And she’d bet her boots he’d had no idea what four-down meant until she’d told him. “Okay, then. Our loss is Stephanie’s gain. She just won custody of my car.”
“Whoa! Hold up. What happens if you want to go home, and we don’t have your car with us?”
“Not that it’s going to happen.” She held up her phone and pressed the button to illuminate the screen. “But should I need to take Lily and skedaddle at a moment’s notice, there’s this magical instrument that allows me to hire a car to pick me up anywhere and take me to the nearest airport, car rental place, or hotel.”
“You thought of everything, didn’t you?”
“I’m resourceful.”
She’d had to be. Teddy was the worst sort of man-child, incapable of handling any problem that came their way. Within six months of their marriage, Maia had her own toolbox, savings account, and contingency plans for every problem short of world annihilation. All the more reason she should have realized he’d dump Lily at the first sign of trouble that popped up. Well, she wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Uh-huh.” He said nothing else.
She opted to translate his grunt as surrender.
“Let me just sign the title and bill of sale and grab my bag, and we can be on our way. Where are we going anyway?”
“First stop, Bear Mountain.” He stared at her sneakered feet. “I hope you packed hiking boots.”
Ha! The joke was on him. She didn’t even own hiking boots.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said, opening her car’s passenger door. “I’ll be fine.”
Inside the camper, Lily erupted into another fit of barking.
“Hang in there, sweetie,” she called. “I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”
Maia climbed into the passenger seat in her car and pulled the paperwork out of her glove compartment along with the pen she’d stowed there for this one purpose. Once she’d signed her name where she needed to and stuffed everything back inside for Stephanie to find, she picked up the duffel from the floor and looped its straps on her arm. A quick slide out, door slammed, click of the locks, and she was ready.
She stood, shifted the straps of the heavy duffle to her shoulder, and faced her dog’s new owner. After one inhale deep enough to expand her chest and make her appear taller, she projected an aura of being in complete control, far from the turmoil bubbling in her gut. “Let’s get started on Lily’s Big Adventure.”
Spencer frowned. God, the man had the attitude of a bridge troll. This was not going to be a fun journey.
“You’re forgetting one thing.”
She would not let him get to her. She would maintain a bright and cheery persona, no matter how it killed her. No way did she plan to give him a reason to leave her behind the first chance he got. “What’s that?”
“I haven’t agreed to let you ride along yet.”
Keep it cool. She shrugged the duffel straps higher. “Oh, well, in that case, I’ll just keep following behind you then. I hope you can handle this mini-bus when Lily grows more animated the longer I’m not with her. Wouldn’t want you to hit a guardrail or anything.”
Inside the RV, Lily howled and scratched at the window. That’s my little co-conspirator.
Behind Spencer, an older couple, arms laden with shopping bags, stared at the commotion and began a murmured conversation.
“Everything okay here, miss?” the man asked, his tone laced with macho concern.
Spencer turned around, aimed for the RV. “Let’s go.”
“Everything’s perfect, thanks,” Maia crowed to the stranger as she raced to catch up to her new traveling companion.
Chapter 4
For the first half-hour on the road, Spence did his best to ignore his new passenger. Not that she tried to break through his resentment wall in any way. No, all her attention lasered on Lily, who’d curled up on the banquette bench beside Maia, furry head burrowed in the woman’s lap. After several glances in the rearview mirror without his gaze connecting with hers, he relaxed and let her be. Either he’d get rid of her after one night, or he’d have weeks to figure out her plans and reasoning while they traveled. He was hoping for the former.
“Hey everyone, look,” she exclaimed, dragging Spence’s concentration from the road again.
Maia held out her phone, tilted to show whoever was on the other end that Lily lay asleep on her lap. “We’ve been reunited, my Lily-girl and me.”
Spence returned his interest to driving, but kept his ears pricked to hear her conversation. Who was she talking to? Family, he supposed.
“Isn’t she beautiful? That’s Spence up front. He adopted Lily from the shelter and now, we’re about to give this pup the adventure of a lifetime. Since we don’t want to get into an accident, you’ll have to meet him in more detail another time.”
Like hell...
“I was hoping I could show you some of the tricks Lily knows—she’s so smart—and you’d see for yourself how special she is, but as you can see, the excitement of our reunion has pretty much wiped her out. Hopefully, once we’re settled at our first stop and get a good night’s sleep, she’ll be ready to perform for you, so check in tomorrow. If you want to follow us on Lily’s journey, be sure to click the green ‘keep me informed’ button to be notified whenever we post a new video. Thanks for coming along tonight. This is Maia Gardner and Lily signing off with doggie kisses and squishy hugs.”
As she placed her phone on the table, Spence’s curiosity overrode his promise to stay unengaged with her. “What was that all about?”
“I’m video-journaling the trip,” she said and gingerly slipped off the bench seat, leaving Lily snoozing with no disturbance. Maia bent to rifle through her duffel on the floor and then made her way to the front of the camper and the passenger seat. “I brought peace offerings.” She held up a small backpack. “Hot cocoa and white chocolate biscotti. Both homemade.” After settling in and buckling up, she pulled out a silver Thermos, a covered plastic container, and two plastic camping mugs.
“I’ll take a cookie for now,” he said—just to be nice.
His grumbling stomach had nothing to do with his decision. Besides, it was her fault they were going to reach their campsite late anyway. If not for her and the Blackthornes’ interference, he’d be at least thirty minutes ahead of where they were now. So, yes. He’d take a small piece of her peace offering.
“No cocoa? It’s really good.”
He cast her a sideways glance. “Not while I’m driving. One rogue pothole and I might never have kids.”
“Oh,” she murmured, clearly embarrassed at his innuendo. “Right. Sorry.”
As she passed him the cookie, he caught the heightened color in her cheeks, and the worm of suspicion wriggled in his head. “Unless that’s what you were hoping for? I accidentally burn my crotch, and you get to take off with my dog while I’m seeing a doctor in a hospital in the middle of nowhere.”
Her eyes rounded. “Wow. Who stole your sunshine?”
“What are you babbling about now?”
“Do you always look for the worst in people? Or is it something about me that brings out the ugly in you?”
“You want to get your dog back, don’t you?”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong.”
“Really? When you coerced me into agreeing to bring you along, you came right out and confessed that you’d take Lily and ‘skedaddle’ given half a chance.”
“Okay, let’s get a few things straight. One, I didn’t coerce you into anything. I had a strong argument, and you, playing the role of a decent human being—maybe for the first time in your life—were generous enough to not make me get on my knees and beg. And two, I wouldn’t have even mentioned skedaddling if you hadn’t been so... so gruff.”
“Oh, well, excuse me for not greeting you with a brass band parade. You were trying to steal my dog.”
“God, how many times do I have to say it before you’ll get it through your cement skull? I. Can’t. Keep. Her. I’m on your good graces here, and I know it.”
“If you’re not after Lily, why are you here?”
“To spend time with Lily. I told you. Even if you were willing to turn her over to me, I’m in no position to take care of her on my own right now. All I can do is tag along, record as much of her life as possible, and be there to say goodbye when she goes. If that stone in your chest you call a heart can’t understand that, turn around and take me back to my car.”
