Quarter Miles

by Devney Perry

  I dug my phone from my pocket and checked again for a message from Kat. Nothing. Where was she? Maybe this clerk would give me Aria’s number. Had Kat told her where she was going? Were they together?

  The door opened and I held my breath, but instead of the clerk, fucking Mark Gallaway emerged, wearing the same suit and smug grin he had in the café. Didn’t that guy have a corner office to lurk in?

  “Mr. Greer.” He came around the desk, hand extended.

  I shook it with a tad too much force. “Mr. Gallaway.”

  “Have you been helped?”

  “Yes.” By your impossibly slow staff. I should have been out the door ten minutes ago.

  “Excellent. Enjoy your stay.” He turned and took three steps away, his polished shoes clicking on the floor.

  I wanted to watch that guy disappear and never see him again. I wanted to say fuck Mark Gallaway, I didn’t need him to help me find Aria. But my pride was in tatters. It had been ripped to shreds by the five-foot-one woman who owned my heart. And above all else, I wanted her back.

  “Wait,” I called to Mark’s back.

  He turned and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  That son of a bitch knew where she was, didn’t he? “I’m looking for Kat. Have you seen her?”

  “I have.”

  I gritted my teeth. “And where was that?”

  His smirk stretched as he sauntered my way, arrogance rolling over his shoulders. Swear to God, if she’d taken a job in the last hour while I’d been packing and searching for her, I’d . . .

  Deal. I’d deal with it.

  We’d do whatever she needed to do, even if that meant working for a man like Gallaway.

  “I believe she left with Aria. Something about a road trip.”

  Fuck my life. “Thanks.” The word tasted bitter. “If I asked, would you give me Aria’s number?”

  “Are you asking?”

  “Yes.” Don’t punch him. Don’t punch him.

  He stared at me, cold and calculating. I expected the asshole to turn and walk away without another word, but I stood tall, patient, because he wasn’t the only powerful man in the room. Maybe I didn’t show it. I didn’t need to wear an Italian suit or four-thousand-dollar watch.

  But I wasn’t backing down.

  Kat was mine.

  He could try to steal her and he’d lose.

  She’d been mine for a long time, even when I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself.

  Kat had said something on the trip, during our first fight. Why do you let people decide how your life is going to go? God, she’d pissed me off.

  She was wrong about people pushing me into a certain job. I’d always gone willingly. Except maybe that statement wasn’t entirely wrong, she’d just pegged the wrong target.

  My family’s influence over my relationship with Kat was stronger than I’d let myself recognize. They’d dictated that she be a family member. I’d followed their lead.

  But Kat wasn’t only my friend. She wasn’t only my best friend.

  She was mine.

  She’d been mine since the day a young stallion had bucked me off into a fence and I’d gotten a concussion. She’d crept into my room every two hours that night, waking me as the doctor had instructed to make sure I was okay.

  She’d been mine since the night she’d gotten so drunk at a bonfire party that she’d decided my bed was more comfortable than hers and had crawled in next to me, snoring so loud I’d heard it down the hallway from the living room where I’d slept on the couch.

  She’d been mine since day one.

  And whether Mark Gallaway gave me Aria’s phone number or not, I’d find her. I’d search every highway in the country until I tracked her down.

  Mark’s eyes narrowed as I held his gaze. I stood steady and strong until, finally, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a phone, scrolling through before rattling off Aria’s number.

  “Did you need me to write it down?” he asked.

  “No.” I mentally repeated it once. Twice. Then it was there. “Appreciated.”

  He gave me a nod, then turned again. I didn’t wait for him to disappear. I went back to my spot at the desk, took out my phone and let my fingers fly across the screen as I called Aria’s number.

  It rang three times before it clicked to voicemail. “Aria, this is Cash Greer. I’m looking for Kat. Please have her call me.”

  I ended that call and dialed Kat’s again. It went straight to voicemail. “Kat. Please. Let’s talk about this. Please call me back.” I sent the same in a text, sending it off just as the clerk returned.

  “I’m sorry for the delay, sir.”

  “That’s fine,” I lied.

  “It looks like that car is no longer in valet.”

  Son of a bitch. Where had she gone? She couldn’t have gotten far, but I was without wheels and unsure of the direction to head.

  “Is there anything else I can assist you with?” the clerk asked.

  “No, thanks.” I bent and picked up my bag, only to turn back again. “Is there a rental car place in town?”

  “Yes.” He took a sheet of paper from beneath the counter—a map. Staring at it upside down, he circled the destination and used a highlighter to mark directions from the hotel.

  “Thanks again.” I took the map and wasted no time walking the five blocks to the rental place.

  It took another thirty minutes to rent a car. People in Heron Beach didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. The nervous energy I was emitting didn’t inspire them to work with much urgency either. Finally, with the keys to a black SUV in my hand, I loaded up my bag and got behind the wheel.

  But where was I going?

  Kat and Aria hadn’t returned a call or text, so I made a different call instead, bracing because I knew it was going to sting. I sucked in a deep breath as the phone rang and when my mother’s voice answered, I blew it out in a shaky stream.

  “Hello! I was wondering when you’d call.”

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

  There was no hiding anything from Liddy Greer. At least, not if you were her son. “I fucked up, Mom. I need your help.”

  “I’m listening.”

  I spewed the story in a rambled rush. Mom stayed quiet on the line as I spoke, and replaying the story, hearing my own words again, was nearly as bad as having to confess it to Kat.

  “Cash.” She was shaking her head at me. I didn’t need to see it to know. “You fucked up.”

  “I know.” It wasn’t often that Mom said fuck, or any variation. For her to curse, I hadn’t just fucked up, I’d done it royally. “I can’t find her. She’s not answering my calls, and I can’t lose her like this.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  I flinched. “What?”

  “Maybe you need to let her go. I know she’s your friend and you care about her. But son—”

  “I’m in love with her.”

  My declaration was met with a deafening hush. Wouldn’t Mom want us together? Maybe I didn’t deserve Kat, especially after all I’d done to hurt her, but damn it, I’d spend the rest of my life righting my years of wrongs.

  “Mom,” I whispered. “Please.”

  “You’re sure you love her?”

  “Took me a while to figure it out but she’s the one.”

  Mom sniffled.

  “What? Why is that wrong?”

  “Oh, it’s not wrong. It’s just about damn time.” She laughed. “What can I do?”

  I sighed. “She won’t take my calls and I don’t know where she’s at.”

  “Okay. Let me see what I can do,” Mom said, then ended the call.

  Waiting and sitting idle was not an option, so I started the rental car and pulled up my GPS app.

  Kat couldn’t have gone far, but if she was racing down the highway, a ten- or twenty-minute lead meant it would take me hours to catch up. That was, if I even started in the right direction. At least one thing in my favor was Kat�
��s propensity to always drive the speed limit.

  Had she started home? Kat could be miles on her way to Montana. Maybe she’d changed her mind about California after all, though I doubted it. She could have taken that quarter and let it decide.

  They were all options, but I didn’t punch Clear River or Temecula into the navigation. My gut said Kat was with Aria.

  So I was headed toward Welcome, Arizona.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Katherine

  “Damn, girl,” Aria said. “I’m sorry.”

  “I hate him,” I lied, my fingers tightening around the wheel. We both knew I’d never hate Cash.

  Over the past thirty minutes, I’d told Aria everything that had happened today. Everything I hadn’t when I’d found her at the hotel with my suitcase in hand to say goodbye.

  Aria had known something was wrong, but rather than push me to talk or let me leave, she’d stuck close. Loyalty was my second favorite quality of hers, the first being her ability to listen. As the Cadillac flew down the highway, she sat in the passenger seat, attuned to my every word.

  We were on the highway that would eventually lead us to Arizona. Maybe after twelve hundred miles I wouldn’t feel quite so broken.

  I’d set out on this trip to get over Cash. To put the hopes and dreams of an us in my rearview mirror. Maybe one day I’d stop loving him, but what hurt the worst was that I’d lost my friend.

  My best friend.

  He was the one I ran to on bad days. He was my safe haven. When I’d gotten food poisoning from grocery store sushi, he’d been the one holding my hair back as I puked for twelve hours. When one of our guests had sent me a scathing email about his bad experience with allergies at the resort—as if I had some control over the pollen in the air—Cash had let me cry on his shoulder and mourn the loss of my impeccable five-star Google rating.

  His absence was like a gaping hole in my heart.

  But at least I had Aria.

  After I’d left Cash standing in the room, the truth tainting the air, I’d hurried to the front desk to page Aria. She’d come into the lobby with a smile that had brought me to tears. I’d hugged her, told her I was leaving and that I was so happy to have found her again. I’d apologized for the last-minute change of plan but I wasn’t leaving her with the Cadillac.

  I needed it to make my escape.

  Without asking why I was seconds away from an emotional breakdown, she’d grabbed my free hand and hauled me to the second floor, winding through a maze of hallways until we reached Mark’s office. I’d waited in the hallway while she’d gone inside to talk to him. When she’d come out, she’d looked at me and said, “Let’s go.”

  On the way out of town, we’d stopped by her home so she could pack a bag and ask her neighbor to water her plants.

  She seemed used to taking time off. To stepping away. Maybe this trip of mine wouldn’t have been such a disaster if I’d taken more vacations before this. Maybe I would have realized much sooner that I was replaceable at work and that the family I’d clung to wouldn’t bother to call for days, not even Gemma.

  The open road ahead did nothing to give me a sense of freedom. Instead I looked down the double yellow lines that divided the pavement and felt lost. Alone. Where was I going? Arizona was a start, but then where? What was I doing with my life?

  I just wanted . . . I wanted to go home. I wanted to rewind this week and go back to the days when I wasn’t so angry at Cash I could barely breathe.

  “You okay?” Aria asked.

  “No.”

  “Want me to drive?”

  I clutched the wheel. Having it under my palms felt like the only thing in my control at the moment. “No, thanks.”

  Her phone rang in her hand and she narrowed her eyes at the number. “Um . . .”

  “What?”

  “Area code four-oh-six.”

  “It’s Cash.”

  “Should I answer it?”

  “Definitely not.” He’d been calling me relentlessly and sending texts. My phone rested on the seat, tucked beneath my knee. I’d felt it vibrating and held tighter to the wheel every time, resisting any temptation to answer.

  “He really didn’t say anything when you said you loved him?” Aria asked.

  “Nothing.” To be fair, I hadn’t really given him the chance.

  He’d looked so shocked, like a deer in the headlights. Of all the things he’d said to me in that hotel room, his silence had by far hurt the worse.

  “I hate him,” I whispered. I love him. Even furious, my heart belonged to him.

  “I’m sorry about your mom,” Aria said.

  “Me too.”

  I’d been wrestling with feelings for my mother for years. I was sorry that she’d died. I was sorry that she’d lived a life without much joy. But I didn’t forgive her and I doubted I ever would. She’d hurt me too deeply, and even if I’d had the chance to see her again, even if she’d apologized, I wouldn’t have wanted a relationship with her.

  Did I blame Cash for her death? No. She’d given me up long, long ago. A visit to Montana wasn’t enough to compensate for her actions. And I knew, bone deep, that Cash had only done what he’d thought was best.

  Bone deep, I’d already forgiven him for always looking out for my own good.

  My phone rang again, vibrating against my jeans. Temptation got the better of me and I slid it free, surprised to see Liddy’s name on the screen.

  “Who is it?” Aria asked.

  “Cash’s mom.”

  It rang in my hand as I alternated my gaze from the phone to the road.

  “Are you going to answer?”

  “He probably called her.” That or she was finally returning my call. Any other person, I would have ignored it. But this was Liddy, the woman I loved more than my own mother, so I answered. “Hi.”

  “We love you,” she said.

  I blinked. “Huh?”

  “We love you,” she repeated. “No matter what happens with you and Cash, we all love you. He wants me to find out where you are. He’s desperate, Kat. But I’m going to hang up before you can even tell me. Do what you need to do for you. And we’ll be here whenever you’re ready to come home.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Liddy had already hung up.

  Just like that, she’d made me a promise. She’d erased all of my fears. No matter where I lived, no matter where I worked, she loved me. They all did.

  Even Cash, in his own way.

  God, this hurt. The ache in my heart twisted so hard it stole my breath and a little sob escaped my lips.

  “Oh, Katherine.” Aria placed her hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m okay.” My eyes flooded and I swiped at them, catching the tears before they could fall.

  I’m okay.

  This was just another bump in the road. Another unexpected turn. I’d deal with it like all the bumps that had come before. On my own.

  Aria and I drove in silence, the whirl of the tires offering no comfort. The scenery was lush and green, and though we were headed away from the ocean, its salt still clung to the air.

  It was nice. Different. Except I didn’t want different. I wanted to breathe in the clean Montana mountain air, smelling hay and horses as I watched Cash work.

  Training the younger animals was his favorite. Cash would spend hours with a foal, teaching it in slow, methodical steps how to wear a halter and follow a lead. Then as the horses got older, he’d teach them to wear a saddle on their backs and a bit in their mouths.

  It was magic, watching him work, and one of my favorite pastimes. He was the definition of steady. Gentle. Patient. I’d stand at the arena’s fence, unable to tear my eyes away. Every few minutes, he’d glance my direction and gift me with a smile.

  That smile.

  There had always been love in Cash’s smile.

  Liddy had said he was desperate. Desperate for what? To find me and apologize again? Or was there more?

  I’d run from him so fast today that
I hadn’t given him the chance to explain. I’d shut him out and thrown up my guard. I claimed to love him but hadn’t truly let him in.

  Tears filled my eyes again and no amount of biting my cheek would make them stop. They fell in silent streams down my cheeks, dripping onto my jeans and creating dark indigo circles as they fell.

  My foot came off the gas. “I’m so sorry, Aria. I can’t do this.”

  She gave me a sad smile. “I understand.”

  “I just . . . I can’t run from this.” From my home. From my family. From him.

  “What about Cash?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.” I sighed. “I’m mad.”

  “Uh, yeah.” She nodded. “I would be too.”

  Though with every passing minute, my anger was subsiding. He shouldn’t have kept my mother’s visit a secret, but I understood why he had.

  We all love you. Liddy’s words rang in my ears. We all love you. What was she getting at?

  “I can’t exactly avoid him forever,” I said. “We’ll figure it out eventually. But there’s no rush. A few more hours to let things settle won’t hurt.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that if I were you.”

  “Huh?”

  She glanced over her shoulder and through the back window. “He’s been behind us for the past few minutes.”

  “What?” My eyes whipped to the mirror, where a black SUV was nearly clinging to my bumper. I’d been so focused on the road ahead, I hadn’t noticed it approach.

  The SUV’s headlights flashed and a strong, sinewy arm extended out the driver’s side window, waving to get my attention.

  My breath hitched. I knew that arm.

  I let the Cadillac drift slower, my foot barely pressing the brake as I scanned the side of the road for a place to pull over. A mailbox caught my eye ahead, marking the entrance to a private driveway. I put on my blinker, slowing down as Cash eased back to give me some space so we could both pull off the highway.

  “I’ll just wait here.” Aria grinned as I opened the door.

  I stepped onto the ground, my feet barely steady, as Cash rushed to me, sweeping me into his arms in a crushing embrace.