Every Waking Moment

by Brenda Novak

  “It’ll convince him.”

  “If luck is on our side.”

  “What if he still won’t tell me where Juanita is?”

  “Then we’re not any worse off than we are now, right?”

  Rosa didn’t take long to decide. “Sí. Call me again in fifteen minutes, and I’ll let you know what he said.”

  After she hung up, Emma called information for motels in St. George and booked a room at the Pioneer Lodge in her real name.

  Once the room was arranged, she paced until it was time to call Rosa again.

  “Mommy, I’m ready to get out,” Max shouted.

  “In a minute,” she said.

  Evidently he wasn’t completely bored because he went back to playing. She dialed Rosa’s number. But she wasn’t encouraged by what she heard. Rosa was crying. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “He wouldn’t tell me what happened to Juanita. He says he doesn’t know.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “No!” The words turned into a wail.

  “Did you tell him I’m on my way to St. George?”

  Rosa was crying so hard she didn’t answer.

  “Rosa? Did you tell him?”

  “Sí,” she said on a sniffle.

  Emma was tempted to bite her nails but purposely kept them away from her mouth. “Do you think he believed you?”

  More tears.

  “Rosa, I’m sorry about Juanita, so sorry, but I have to know if Manuel is going to be here in Ely looking for me.”

  “I hate him,” she said. “I hate that evil man!”

  “Rosa, please.”

  “Mom?” Max called again.

  “I’ll be with you in a minute, honey!”

  This time when Rosa spoke, her voice was so low Emma could hardly hear her. “I think so.”

  Emma sagged onto the bed. Rosa thought so. They couldn’t be sure, of course, but…there was a chance. “Rosa?”

  More sniffling.

  “Rosa, listen to me. Don’t give up hope, okay?” She gazed down at the list. “Juanita gave me something. Something we might be able to use against Manuel.”

  “What is it?”

  “I think it might be proof that he’s smuggling drugs into the United States from Mexico.”

  There was a lengthy pause. Rosa sounded significantly more dry-eyed when she spoke again. “Does he know you have it?”

  “Not yet.”

  “You say it came from Juanita? How?” she asked.

  Emma ran a nervous hand through her hair. “Maybe she stumbled on to it. Or knew what she was looking for. Bottom line, it’s all we have. And I’m willing to use it.”

  Rosa started to cry again. “It won’t work. Manuel, he fears nothing.”

  Emma heard Preston outside, asking a maid for extra towels. It hadn’t taken him as long to drop off the van as she’d expected.

  “I’ll have to call you later.”

  Evidently, Max had decided to get himself out of the bath. He streaked, dripping wet, across the room to meet Preston at the door. “Can we swim now?”

  “It’s too early,” Preston said. Then, seeing Emma hang up the phone, he arched a questioning eyebrow. “Tell me that was your family and they’re on their way to get you.”

  “No.” Emma shoved the list of names and numbers back into her purse and tried to ignore his eagerness to be rid of them. “Max, get back in the water. I need to wash your hair.”

  Preston booted up his computer. “Then who was it?”

  “Juanita’s sister.”

  “Who’s Juanita?”

  “My nanny, silly.” Max had hesitated in front of the television, but now he returned to the conversation. “Remember?”

  Preston barely acknowledged him. If Emma hadn’t been intent on other things, her heart would have gone out to her son. He was trying so hard to win Preston over. But she couldn’t do anything to protect Max against such subtle hurts. Not when she was fighting a much bigger battle.

  Briefly she considered telling Preston about Juanita’s disappearance, and the document she had in her possession. She wanted to talk to someone about the best possible way to approach the situation. If she turned that list over to police, Manuel might go to jail and she wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. Which made doing so very tempting.

  But as she took Max into the bathroom to finish his bath, she realized that even if the list meant everything she thought it might—and she had no guarantees—investigations didn’t happen overnight. Manuel could be free for months, maybe even years, before spending any real time behind bars. And once she gave up those names and numbers, she’d have nothing to use as leverage to get him to back off, to leave her and Max alone or let Juanita go.

  There was also his family to think about. Manuel wasn’t involved in the business alone. The people on the list might draw his brothers and uncles, maybe even a few cousins, into the investigation. While Emma wouldn’t be sorry to see the whole family in prison, she knew the police would never catch them all. Implicating Manuel would be asking for enough trouble. If her actions brought about the arrest of anyone else in the family, it wouldn’t matter where she was hiding.

  EMMA GLANCED over at Preston, who sat at the table by the window working on his computer, and tried to come up with a good way to ask him to watch Max for an hour or so. She’d waited as long as she could, to give Manuel time to leave town—if he was going to—but she needed a new syringe in about an hour. And just in case Manuel hadn’t fallen for her little trick, she was terrified to be seen around Ely, especially with Max in tow.

  “What’s on your mind?” Preston said without looking up. Obviously he’d felt her interest because she hadn’t even said anything yet.

  “I—I need to go out for a few minutes.”

  Finally he turned away from his screen. “Why?”

  “Look at us,” she said, gesturing at herself.

  At her invitation Preston studied her bare legs. But it wasn’t the cursory, matter-of-fact assessment she’d been expecting. It revealed the same sexual awareness she’d felt from him when he’d watched her in the Jacuzzi last night.

  Heat suffused her cheeks the moment their eyes met and she couldn’t help remembering his hands on her bare skin.

  “We have no clothes,” she said, feeling she should redirect the conversation, although Preston had barely spoken.

  “Considering the situation, I think you’d better stay put.” He turned back to his work, as though he hadn’t noticed the sudden surge of energy between them. “Why not wait until we reach Salt Lake to worry about clothes?”

  She suspected he wasn’t just concerned about Manuel. He liked seeing her in her swimsuit.

  Cursing her elevated heart rate, Emma wondered why this man was having such a strong effect on her. Last night had built her trust. But relief, gratitude, even trust, shouldn’t make her mouth go dry whenever she recognized that primitive hunger in his eyes.

  She cleared her throat to hide the fact that she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she wanted to be. “I’m not comfortable traveling like this. I feel almost naked.”

  A crooked smile kicked up one corner of his mouth, but she refused to let it distract her. “We have no idea how long it’s going to take to fix the van,” she went on. “We might reach Salt Lake too late for the stores to be open.”

  “If you go out, you could walk right into Manuel’s arms.” The click of his mouse brought up a new screen. “But if you’re that uncomfortable, I’ll get you and Max some clothes when I finish here.”

  “Rosa said Manuel thinks I left town. He’s searching elsewhere already,” she told him, knowing that otherwise he wouldn’t see the point of taking this kind of risk. “And I’m just sitting around, doing nothing. Let me shop for what I need, and…and I’ll be right back. You wouldn’t know what to buy for us, anyway.”

  The smile disappeared as his eyes went to her again. “Wait a second. You’re not thinking of leaving Max here with me.”
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  She curled her fingernails into her palms. “We’d be too obvious if we were out together. And I’m on foot. It’ll be easier without him.”

  Preston shook his head. “No way.”

  “Why not? I’ll be quick.”

  He scowled. “I don’t babysit.”

  “It won’t be like babysitting.” She waved at her son. “See? He’s so immersed in SpongeBob SquarePants he’s not even paying attention to us.”

  “He could start crying the moment he realizes you’re gone.”

  “I won’t leave without telling him.”

  “Where are you going, Mommy?” Max asked, joining in as if on cue.

  “I have to run out and pick up some new clothes, okay, baby?”

  “What about our old ones?”

  “We lost those.”

  “No, we didn’t. They’re in the other motel, remember?”

  “Someone took them,” she said. “Will you be good for Preston if I leave you here with him?”

  “No. I want to go with you,” he said, but he sounded halfhearted about it, and the cartoon he’d found so fascinating a moment earlier drew him back almost immediately.

  “Okay?” she said to Preston. “He’s happy. He won’t be any trouble at all. You’ll be able to—” she motioned toward his computer “—do whatever it is you’re doing, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

  She could tell Preston wasn’t pleased, but she could also sense him softening. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll take your cell phone so we can talk if necessary. I’ll be an hour at most.”

  His scowl darkened, but he finally nodded. “Okay. But wear my ball cap and sunglasses.” His eyes flicked over her legs once again. “And unless you want to stop traffic, you’d better put on a pair of my sweats.”

  Emma couldn’t resist feeling somewhat gratified by the compliment, but she chose to concentrate on the practical. “I’ll stand out like a sore thumb if I wear sweats in this weather. It’s nearly ninety degrees.”

  “Well, put on one of my T-shirts, at least. It’ll hit you lower than what you’re wearing now,” he said, but he didn’t move to get it for her.

  “Do you want me to take it out of your suitcase?”

  “It’s open,” he said indifferently.

  She selected a folded Nike shirt and pulled it over her swimsuit. Then she borrowed his sunglasses, twisted her hair up under his cap and collected his cell phone. “How do I look?”

  He stared at her for a moment without speaking. “Keep your head down,” he said in place of an answer.

  Snatching up her purse, Emma said a silent prayer that she’d be able to find what she needed and get right back. Then she slipped out.

  IT WASN’T AS DIFFICULT to locate a pharmacy as Emma had thought it might be. The manager of the Starlight directed her up the street, almost to the other end of town, to Ely Drugs. She and Preston had actually passed this drugstore yesterday. But that was before Emma had needed a pharmacy, so she hadn’t really noticed. It had simply blended in with Mr. G’s, a boarded-up casino, a series of budget motels, pizza places and other businesses lining the street.

  The sun reflected off the glass front of the store, making it impossible to see inside. Her shoulders ached with the anxiety she’d felt as she walked. And now that she was here, her scalp tingled with fear. This was the moment of truth. If Manuel hadn’t been fooled by what Rosa told him, he or one of his men could well be waiting for her inside.

  She felt so vulnerable. She’d tested Max’s blood right before she left to make sure he’d be okay while she was gone. But that meant she only had one test strip now. For his sake, she couldn’t run and hide, much as she wanted to. She had to do this.

  Taking a deep breath, she pulled open the door and stepped inside. Only afterward, when the short jingle she’d set off fell silent, did she breathe a sigh of relief. The store was empty except for a clerk in the gift section, the balding pharmacist in back and an older woman with white hair who was paying for a few items at the cash register.

  “Will that be all, Mrs. Williams?” she heard the clerk ask.

  Gripping her purse more tightly, Emma moved directly to the pharmacy counter and rang the bell, even though she knew the pharmacist had already seen her coming.

  He frowned slightly at her impatience, but didn’t let her hurry him.

  Come on…come on. Heart pounding, Emma fidgeted with the display of Chap Stick next to a bucket of nail clippers.

  The pharmacist finished whatever he was working on, set it aside, and finally came to the counter. “Been swimming already this morning, have you?”

  Her cheeks went warm. She was wearing Preston’s T-shirt as a cover-up, but she still felt embarrassed parading around town in her swimsuit. “No, not yet.”

  “Doesn’t hurt to be prepared, I guess. What can I do for you?”

  She ordered everything she needed, except the emergency glucagon kit. Only the glucagon required a prescription, which she didn’t have with her. Reaching Max’s endocrinologist through his receptionist and dealing with the necessary red tape would take too long, and if she had to do without something, the kit was the most expendable. It was over a year since Max had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and she hadn’t needed it yet. Chances were good that he’d be fine without this fail-safe. In a few days, when things settled down, she’d figure out how to come by another one.

  Emma’s pulse began to slow when no one entered the store behind her or jumped out to grab her. But it was still hard to wait. She needed to make the most of this time. If she could finish here quickly, she could get the clothes she’d told Preston she was going to buy. Then he’d never be the wiser. There’d be no sudden upsets, no surprises and, as soon as the van was ready, he’d have no reason not to take them with him.

  “Is that everything?” the pharmacist asked a few minutes later.

  She glanced down at the supplies he’d piled on the counter in front of her and nodded. “How much do I owe you?”

  “Do you have insurance?”

  They had insurance, but she didn’t dare use it. She doubted Manuel could trace her through the transaction. By the time he received any type of notice, she’d be long gone. But the authorization would take forever, and because she was out of state she’d probably have to pay for it, anyway. “No.”

  He whistled. “This stuff’s not cheap.”

  God, didn’t she know it. The test strips alone were outrageous, and these supplies would only last a month.

  Emma dug into her purse and pulled out three crisp one-hundred-dollar bills while the pharmacist listed all the products she was purchasing. “You from around here?”

  “No.”

  “Just passing through?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where ya headin’?”

  He was being nice, making conversation, but Emma figured the less anyone knew, the better. “California.”

  “Lots of folks like California.”

  He said it as though he couldn’t understand why, but she didn’t respond. She didn’t want to encourage him. She had very little time before she had to return to the motel. She had to give Max his lunch; to keep his blood sugar steady, he needed to eat at the same time every day.

  She flashed the bills she’d taken out. “How much is it?” she asked again.

  When he gave her the total, she paid him, grabbed the bag and walked quickly through the store, pausing only when she saw the clerk dusting a shelf of decorative plates a few feet away. “Can you tell me where I can do a little shopping?”

  “For groceries or—”

  “For clothes.”

  “There’s a Garnet Mercantile across the street. They took over when the JC Penny went out of business.” She pointed kitty-corner from the drug store. “I buy most everything there.”

  “Thanks,” Emma said, setting off the jingle again as she hurried out.

  MANUEL DROVE with one hand so he could answer his cell phone. The incoming call had a 775 area co
de. Nevada.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Rodriguez?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is Gray Featherstone, the pharmacist over at Ely Drugs.”

  Manuel’s hand tightened on the phone. There were two pharmacies in Ely. He’d visited both and left his card. But when he hadn’t received a call from either place, he’d finally decided he was wrong, that Vanessa must have continued on as Rosa had said. He’d started driving to St. George. But he’d only been en route for fifteen minutes.

  It was a good thing he’d waited so long. “Is she there?”

  “She just left.”

  Excitement bubbled up inside him as he glanced over at the backpack that held Max’s diabetes supplies. He’d gambled on the fact that Vanessa would need to replace what she’d lost before moving on, and he’d won. She might’ve made it this far, but she wasn’t nearly as smart as she thought she was. She never had been. “Can you step outside to see which direction she’s going?”

  “I don’t need to.”

  “Why not?”

  “I know where she’s going. She’s heading over to Garnet Mercantile.”

  Manuel smiled. He had her now. “Where’s that?”

  “On the main drag, a couple blocks west of here.”

  “Graçias, Mr. Featherstone.”

  “No problem. I hope you get your boy back. I tell ya, I wish someone had listened to me when I went through my divorce. My ex even managed to turn a few family members against me, claiming I abused the kids.”

  “That must have been terrible.”

  “It was. Some people really lose it, don’t they?”

  Manuel made a U-turn and put the gas pedal to the floor. “Yes, indeed.”

  “CAN WE GO swimming now, pul-leeze?”

  Preston gritted his teeth and looked down at Max, who was standing at his knee, wearing the most pathetic expression he’d ever seen. SpongeBob SquarePants had been over for nearly an hour, and apparently nothing else on TV could replace it. Emma’s son had been bored silly almost from the moment she’d left. “I’m trying to work.”

  “How are you doing that?”

  “Can’t you see my computer?”

  “Where’s your suit?”