Just a Breath Away

by Carlene Thompson

  Contents

  Cover

  Further Titles by Carlene Thompson

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Further Titles by Carlene Thompson

  BLACK FOR REMEMBRANCE

  ALL FALL DOWN

  THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT

  TONIGHT YOU’RE MINE

  IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH

  DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES

  SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE

  IF SHE SHOULD DIE

  SHARE NO SECRETS

  LAST WHISPER

  LAST SEEN ALIVE

  IF YOU EVER TELL

  YOU CAN RUN …

  NOWHERE TO HIDE

  TO THE GRAVE

  CAN’T FIND MY WAY HOME *

  * available from Severn House

  JUST A BREATH AWAY

  Carlene Thompson

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  First published in Great Britain and the USA 2018 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of

  Eardley House, 4 Uxbridge Street, London W8 7SY

  This eBook edition first published in 2018 by Severn House Digital

  an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited

  Trade paperback edition first published

  in Great Britain and the USA 2018 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD

  Copyright © 2018 by Carlene Thompson.

  The right of Carlene Thompson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8517-3 (cased)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-861-3 (trade paper)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-923-7 (e-book)

  Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

  This ebook produced by

  Palimpsest Book Production Limited,

  Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland

  PROLOGUE

  Twenty years ago

  The boy sat forward on the seat of the car, anxiously watching rain batter the windshield. The wipers flew back and forth, but they couldn’t keep up with the onslaught of cold, relentless water obscuring the view.

  ‘You’re making me nervous,’ the woman behind the wheel snapped. ‘Sit back and put on your seat belt!’

  ‘I don’t like bein’ all strapped up.’ The boy leaned closer to the windshield, squinting. ‘I can’t see anything. Can you?’

  ‘Barely.’

  ‘Then let’s stop.’

  ‘No. We’re almost there. Fifteen minutes tops.’

  ‘But if you can’t see—’

  ‘I can see good enough. Be quiet.’

  The boy watched his mother frown as she peered through the black-framed glasses she never wore in front of anyone but him. She chewed on her lower lip, and her hands gripped the wheel so hard the knuckles were white. They hit a deep pothole and bounced hard as the car’s frame scraped against the crumbling asphalt. Trying to swallow his anxiety, the boy looked around. No other lights shone on the narrow road. They hadn’t met another car for at least twenty minutes. He felt as if they were the only two people in the world. And it was almost midnight.

  She’d turned on the radio about ten minutes ago. His favorite song began playing and he tried to sing along, very softly. He thought that if he focused on the song, on the words he knew so well—

  ‘So you think you’re a singer now? That’s a laugh!’ She snapped off the radio.

  The car slid. She wrestled with the wheel and barely got control again. A tremor of fear forced words from him. ‘Can we please stop?’

  ‘Where?’ she demanded. ‘Have you spotted a nice restaurant? Or a motel? Do you see something I don’t?’ She glared at him. ‘Well, do you?’

  He lowered his eyes and shook his head, realizing she was getting even madder. He saw the signs – her jutting jaw, her puckered forehead, her voice. He’d always been baffled by how her voice – honey-toned and soft-edged when she spoke to other people – could immediately turn biting and razor-sharp when directed at him. The boy wanted to be quiet, not to make her angrier. But he couldn’t help himself.

  ‘It’s just that—’

  ‘I said for you to shut up, dammit!’ she exploded.

  The boy shrank in on himself. She was about to have one of the full-blown temper fits that had frightened him for as long as he could remember. Right now, she was concentrating on the narrow road drowning in pounding water, but he knew that when they were safe she’d dish out revenge for arguing with her. The thought of it made him cringe. She was even scarier than the drenching rain, the starless night and the murky fog that seemed like something living as it crept around the car. He hated her, he thought with a red-hot wave of emotion. He hated her for driving on this bleak decaying road in the stormy darkness. He hated her for making him feel so small and weak and terrified.

  He looked out the window to see spindly trees lining the side of the road. He’d traveled this way a year ago and remembered that just beyond the trees the land dropped sharply to a creek. While his mother muttered curses, as she drove hunched over the steering wheel, he sighed in misery, closed his eyes and slowly counted to one hundred. When he opened them, ahead he saw orange-yellow lights bouncing dimly off the heavy cloud cover. City lights! He thought he would look at the reflection of the beautiful city lights and try to forget about her. He would pretend she didn’t exist.

  Lightning sliced wickedly through the darkness, followed by a crash of thunder that made the car vibrate. The boy let out a cry. His mother’s arm flew out for a back-handed slap, but he dodged and she barely caught the side of his face, although one of her long acrylic nails nicked his eyelid.

  ‘You deserved that! What’s wrong with you?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled, touching a trickle of blood running from his eyelid.

  ‘You’re a coward like your father!’

  Again, the boy thought with dull hopelessness. My father, again.

  ‘He isn’t even natural,’ she went on gratingly. ‘He’s a bastard for turning his back on you. And especially for turning his back on me. He doesn’t care how hard it’s been for me to take care of you. He’s never thought I’m good enough for him, but you’re his own flesh and blood. His son. He knows we’re a package deal, though. He can’t have you without me and he’d rather see us both suffer than let me be part of his life. But I’m relentless. I haven’
t given up on him all these years and I never will!’ She turned her head, and her eyes seemed to burn at him in the light from the dashboard instruments. ‘I could have gotten rid of you, but I didn’t. I’ve held on to you even though you’ve been the curse of my life. He owes me and he’ll pay. He’ll pay!’

  She went on spitting out the wrath she’d fed and nurtured for years until it was taking her past the point of sanity. The boy decided she wasn’t even a real woman anymore. She was an evil, fury-wracked creature, like something in one of his comic books.

  He also thought that soon she would hurt more than his feelings. She would kill him.

  During the last couple of years, though, he’d grown much tougher and much more scheming than he let her know. For months, he’d spent countless hours thinking of how he could escape her. He had no family who would take him in and protect him from her. He’d quickly ruled out reporting her to any government office that would send him to a foster home. He would be miserable, and even if he wasn’t she’d find him. And he didn’t want to think about what she’d do to him.

  When he realized his only hope was to disappear, he’d sought out other boys who’d run away from home and made it alone on the streets. He could be casually friendly and sympathetic. He’d had no trouble befriending them, encouraging their confidences and developing a comradery that showed him the world didn’t offer much to stray adolescents. They said his good looks would help him. Some claimed his youth would also be a plus, making him seem innocent and docile, open to anything as long as it pleased – a prospect that filled him with repulsion. His fear of his mother grew every day, but he wasn’t sure he could go through with the occasionally degrading or painful acts these lost boys endured just to survive. Still, when he thought of maybe dying …

  Suddenly a form flashed in front of the car – big, brown, with huge dark eyes. A large buck deer. For a moment it leaped gracefully on the road, past the car, as the boy’s mother shrieked and jerked the steering wheel to the right. The tires screamed and the car spun. The boy’s thoughts disappeared as his reflexes took control. He yanked up the door handle. And as the door flew open he launched from the car, landing with a thud on his side, and rolled to a slow stop on the rough asphalt road.

  He hardly felt a thing. All of his senses seemed to merge into one – hearing his mother’s shrill screech as the car shot past him and tore through the line of skinny trees snapping crisply. He got to his feet and staggered to the edge of the road, watching the car cut a brutal path down the muddy, vine-covered ravine until the bumper hit the creek and the car flipped, crashing on to its roof.

  He hunched down and stared at the car. Half of it was submerged in the storm-swollen creek water which ran toward the car and split as it reached it, then swirled around the obstacle and passed it to again become an uninterrupted current. The car’s engine had stopped running. The headlights cast an eerie glow beneath the water.

  The boy didn’t know how long he’d crouched in the rain, looking down at the wreck, listening. No other vehicles had passed. Even the deer had escaped. Through the half-exposed windshield, he saw no movement in the car. He heard only the rain beating on the road and on the leaves of the vines.

  The boy looked up and closed his eyes as the rain battered his face. Then he drew a long breath. He felt as if he hadn’t breathed so deeply and easily for years.

  At last, he stood, smiled with slow satisfaction, and began walking toward the beautiful city lights.

  ONE

  Present day

  Two blonde women drifted along the sidewalk, talking and laughing. The taller one tilted back her head and took a deep breath of warm night air. ‘I love Louisville in the springtime!’

  Kelsey March smiled at her younger sister. ‘You especially love Louisville during Kentucky Derby week, Lorelei. You have since you were a kid.’

  ‘Who wouldn’t? The hot-air balloon races, the steamboat race, the Pegasus Parade, the actual Derby?’ Lorelei flashed the smile that had put her on half-a-dozen international magazine covers, then glanced at the neon sign to her right. ‘Conway’s Tavern. Looks good from the outside.’

  ‘I think you’ll like it. I come here two or three times a week.’

  ‘All partying and no work?’ Lorelei teased.

  ‘An occasional drink or two at night. Some days I come for lunch. The bar serves great sandwiches.’

  ‘And it’s only two blocks away from your store with your big loft apartment above it. It’s huge. Do you know how much a loft that size would cost in Manhattan?’

  ‘More than I want to think about, which is why I stayed in Louisville where the cost of living isn’t in the stratosphere.’

  Lorelei was laughing as they stepped inside, but Kelsey noticed her sister quickly assessing the long, carved mahogany bar with a mirror backdrop, the copper-plated ceiling, the amber light glowing from metal tavern-light chandeliers, the high-backed cushioned wooden booths and the ten tables covered with burgundy cloths. Framed pictures of Kentucky Derby winning horses decorated the walls. Five people stood around a grand piano singing along as a young man played Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man.’ Three booths and two tables were taken. Nine men and four women sat at the bar. Three of the men smiled at them.

  ‘How quaint! I feel like I’ve stepped into another world. I love it!’ Lorelei looked at Kelsey. ‘This building was a wreck last year when you bought your store.’

  ‘I couldn’t believe how fast they finished such a big remodeling job. Do you want a booth or a table?’

  ‘I like booths. They’re cozier.’

  They’d just sat down when a petite young woman with pixie-cut ginger hair and hazel eyes appeared at their table. ‘Welcome to Conway’s Tavern,’ she said with a wide smile directed at Lorelei. ‘Here are our menus. Nice to see you, Miss March,’ she went on in a rush, glancing at Kelsey before her gaze shot back to Lori. ‘Excuse me, ma’am, but are you Lorelei March, the model who was on the cover of last month’s Glamour?’

  Lorelei looked up with her striking violet-blue eyes, which the fashion industry had labeled ‘indigo.’ ‘Yes, I’m Lorelei March, Kelsey’s sister.’

  ‘I knew who you were as soon as you walked in!’ she exclaimed. ‘I told Rick – he’s the owner – “That’s Lorelei March!” He didn’t know who Lorelei March was, but when I told him he was impressed. He said his mother reads loads of fashion magazines, and she’d for sure be thrilled to know you came to Conway’s.’ She clutched her hands to her chest. ‘You’re even more beautiful in person than in your pictures!’

  Lorelei smiled warmly. ‘Thank you! What’s your name?’

  ‘Janet O’Rourke. If it’s not a bother, I’d love to have your autograph!’

  ‘Sure, but I don’t think I have a notepad in my bag.’

  ‘I’ll bring one back with me. Thank you, Miss March.’

  ‘Janet,’ a man called from behind the bar. ‘Let the ladies decide what to order.’

  ‘Oh, sure.’ Janet looked back at a tall, broad-shouldered man with curly chestnut-brown hair and brown eyes – Richard ‘Rick’ Conway, owner of the tavern. He was handsome in an unassuming way, with even features and a lazy smile. Kelsey smiled at him as Janet hurried to the bar.

  ‘I can’t believe she recognized me so fast!’ Lorelei said.

  Kelsey looked across the table at her beautiful twenty-one-year-old sister with long pale blonde hair, classic bone structure and remarkable eyes. ‘You’re a celebrity. People have recognized you and asked for selfies all day. Louisville has a population of over six hundred thousand people, Lori. We get fashion magazines and have the Internet here.’

  ‘If we didn’t, I wouldn’t have grown up wanting to be a model. We’ve been running around since noon, though. I’m a mess,’ Lorelei fretted.

  ‘You’re never a mess.’

  ‘Only someone who loves me would think that.’ Lori sighed. ‘I need a glass of white wine.’

  ‘Wine? No, no. We’re having mint juleps. That’s w
hy we walked here. It’s Derby Week. We’re going to have fun and not worry about driving afterward.’

  ‘Think of all the bourbon and powdered sugar in juleps.’ Lorelei shook her head. ‘I have to watch my weight. The African photoshoot is the week after next.’

  ‘You love juleps and a couple won’t spoil your willowy five-foot-ten body. You said you want to have fun tonight, so the matter is settled.’

  ‘Gosh, you’re even bossier than usual!’ Lorelei giggled.

  When Janet returned, Kelsey announced, ‘We’ll each have a mint julep. I’ll also have a double order of chicken fingers. I’m starving.’

  ‘I’ll have some crackers,’ Lorelei told her.

  Janet nodded and headed back to the bar. Kelsey gave her sister a serious look. ‘Crackers? All you’ve had today is a salad. You’ll get rickets if you don’t start eating more.’

  ‘I’ve been home with Dad since Wednesday afternoon. He kept pushing food at me and I ate more than I should have. Also, the salad I ordered for lunch was huge.’

  ‘It was large, not huge. And you ate less than half of it.’

  ‘I don’t want to argue about how much I eat.’ Lorelei looked around. ‘Janet’s cute, Kelsey. So is the owner of the bar. He keeps glancing at you.’

  ‘Only because he knows me. Slightly. He opened this place about three months ago and I’ve been in a lot since then because the tavern’s so pleasant, and it’s close to my office and the food’s good. Rick’s friendly to everyone.’

  ‘A hot friendly guy. Those eyes are like dark chocolate syrup …’ Lori pretended to shiver. ‘He’s really good-looking. And I bet he’d like to ask you out if you’d give him the least bit of encouragement.’ Lorelei looked at him speculatively. ‘Is he married?’

  ‘I haven’t asked.’ Kelsey paused. ‘But he doesn’t wear a wedding ring.’

  ‘So you noticed?’ Lorelei asked archly. ‘You’re interested.’ Then she turned serious. ‘You won’t go out with anyone because of Brad.’

  Kelsey’s smile faded. ‘It’s May now. I broke up with Brad before Christmas.’