by Terri Osburn
But the McGraw matriarch was nothing but an empty shell of a woman, and Snow knew full well she would never do the right thing.
The urge to scream boiled in Snow’s chest. As confident as she’d been in her speech to Vivien, the fear that Caleb would never believe her was suffocating. The thought put her feet into motion. Snow flew out the back door and ran down the alley in time to see Caleb’s Jeep drive down Main Street. She patted her pockets for her cell phone, forgetting she’d left it in her purse.
Plowing through the front door of the store, she nearly knocked three customers down in her haste to reach the counter.
“Where’s the fire?” Lorelei asked, stepping out of the way before Snow could barrel her over. “And where did you go? I’ve been running the entire floor out here by myself.”
Snow ignored the questions as she grabbed her phone. She called Caleb’s cell, but after one ring the line went to voice mail. She tried again with the same result.
“Dammit.” This couldn’t be happening. Every second he drove might as well have been a hundred miles.
“What happened?” Lorelei asked, her normal smart-aleck nature gone. “Take a breath and tell me what’s going on.”
“He’s gone,” she said, holding her phone in both hands as if it were her only connection to Caleb. “My husband is gone and I don’t know if he’s coming back.”
Chapter 25
Caleb drove with no destination in mind, running on autopilot while his mind was back at the store, standing in Snow’s storage room as his heart was being ripped from his chest and volleyed back and forth between the two women who claimed to love him. If there had been another man, where was he now? Was it over? Was he the reason Snow ended up in Ardent Springs? She never did explain how she got here. No one wanders into a speck of a town that they’ve never heard of before.
She’d been adamant that she hadn’t left him for another man, but if Snow was telling the truth, then his mother was lying. Why would his own mother lie to him? Then again, she’d lied to him for a year and a half. Months of anger, panic, and flat-out worry about his wife and she’d known all along. How could she watch him go through that?
But then how could his wife ask his own mother to lie for her? She was so concerned about her own parents not being burdened with her secret, but she never gave a second thought to how he’d feel when he learned how much he’d been betrayed.
By both of them.
One gave him life, and the other gave his life meaning. But they’d both lied. Last time Caleb checked, you didn’t lie to someone you loved.
Surfacing from his thoughts, Caleb realized he was headed for the interstate. Coming up on Cooper’s garage, he veered in and parked at a pump. If he was going to keep driving, he’d need a full tank.
Turning off his brain, he followed his instincts and pumped the gas.
“Hey there,” Cooper said, coming up behind him. “You out battling the crazy shoppers today?”
“No,” Caleb said, locking the pump handle to run on its own. “Just taking a drive.”
Cooper learned against the pump. “You don’t look good, man. What’s going on?”
With a shake of his head, Caleb said, “I wouldn’t know where to start.” Then a question popped out of his mouth. “Do you remember when Snow came to town?”
“Sure,” the mechanic said. “I’m the one who towed her in.”
“Towed?”
“Her car broke down on I-65, and she managed to get it up the exit ramp. Brody over at the PD found her and called me.” He crossed his arms. “Poor thing needed a new transmission, and I was backed up for days. Miss Hattie happened to be here getting her oil changed, and she gave Snow a place to stay. By the time I got her up and running, she’d decided to stay.”
“Was she alone?” Caleb asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer, but unable to hold his tongue.
“She was when I found her. I wondered why she never put herself on the market around here, but I guess since y’all were doing the long-distance thing, that explains it.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said, sliding the nozzle back into the pump. “That explains it.”
So she’d been alone when she landed in Ardent Springs. That didn’t mean she’d been alone the night she left him.
And she had left him.
As he stared east toward I-65, anger and hurt churned in his gut like something rotten brewing in the late-day sun. Maybe it was time Snow learned how it felt to be the one left behind. Only this time, there would be no happy reunion.
“Thanks for everything, Cooper,” Caleb said, climbing into his driver’s seat.
“Anytime,” the mechanic answered, giving a brief wave.
With anger pushing him on, Caleb headed for the interstate and never looked back.
“I need to fix this,” Snow said for the fifth time in the last half hour. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, her hands clutched at her scalp. Lorelei had forced her into this position when she’d cried herself into hyperventilating. “I need to make him listen to me.”
“Maybe you should give him some time,” Lorelei said as she rubbed Snow’s back. “Let him cool off and he’ll come around. He can ask any one of us if you ever cheated on him and we’ll all tell him no.”
She squeezed wads of hair in her hands. “You weren’t there the night I left. She planted that seed in his mind, and now there’s no way for me to prove she’s lying. It’s her word against mine. Either I’m lying, or his mother is lying, and who do you think he’s more likely to believe?” Sitting up, Snow took a deep breath. “Was Spencer sure that Caleb wasn’t at the apartment?”
“He checked twice.” The pity in Lorelei’s blue eyes made Snow want to cry again. “No luck at the newspaper office either.”
Snow lurched from her chair to pace her back room. Thankfully, Lorelei’s grandmother, Rosie, and her friend Pearl had been milling about and were watching the store while Lorelei stayed with Snow in the back. Once Caleb had left, she couldn’t have cared less about the store and her big sales day. All she wanted was to go find him.
“There’s no place else he could be,” Snow said. “He must have left town. He left just like I did. This is exactly what I deserve.”
“Bullshit,” Lorelei said, her voice stern. “So you screwed up. Fine. But you owned up to it, explained your reasons, and he said he understood, right?”
“He did, but—”
“No buts, Snow. Bailing is not the same as lying. If anything, it’s the most honest thing you can do. It’s a hell of a lot better than staying married for however long his parents have been and playing the martyr the whole damn time. If he pulls a disappearing act now, over what he knows deep down are nothing but lies, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Everything Lorelei said was true, but she didn’t understand. Caleb had drawn one very clear line in the sand, and according to his mother, Snow had crossed it. And even though she knew the truth, he didn’t. That doubt would always be there.
“Do you remember how to close and open the store?” Snow asked, determination straightening her spine.
Lorelei blinked. “Sure, but what are you going to do? You can’t head for the interstate and chase him down. You don’t even know which way he went.”
“I know he isn’t going back to Louisiana, at least not yet, because his mother has already called twice looking for him. When I left Baton Rouge, I essentially headed back to the scene of the crime.”
“Las Vegas?” Lorelei asked.
“Okay, not the scene of the crime, but the place where we met.” Snow snagged her jacket from a hook on the wall. “I went back to Nashville, and that’s as good a place to start as any. My keys are up at the register with my purse. I’ll leave the store keys for you.”
Following her into the showroom, Lorelei had to use long strides to keep up. “How long are you going to be gone?�
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“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Snow said, hustling behind the counter. “If I find him today, then we’ll be back tonight. If not, I’ll keep looking.”
“Snow, this is crazy.” Lorelei caught the tiny hoop of keys Snow hurled her way. “This is the biggest shopping weekend of the year. You’re going to walk away from everything to go find your runaway husband?”
“That’s exactly what he did for me. Now it’s my turn.” When the look of confusion remained on her friend’s face, Snow said, “If Spencer took off, would you go after him?”
Lorelei took a step back. “I’m here to run the store as long as you need me. But keep me posted, okay?”
There was a reason they were friends. “Thank you,” Snow said.
As she stepped through the doorway, Lorelei yelled, “Good luck!”
Snow didn’t need luck, she needed a miracle. And if Caleb loved her as much as she believed he did, she might get one.
Without conscious thought, Caleb landed at a small bar off Division in Nashville, not far from his old Vanderbilt stomping grounds. The bar where it all started one cold New Year’s Eve night that felt like decades ago. In some ways, that was the first night of his life—when he spotted a tiny woman with big hair and sparkling eyes shuffling to stay warm on the other side of the crowd. There was a band playing on the outside stage, but once Caleb had spotted Snow, he’d lost interest in the entertainment.
Drawn to her instantly, he asked her to dance and was rewarded with the prettiest smile he’d ever seen. Innocent and yet promising at the same time. She hadn’t gone willingly, claiming her inability to put two steps together would be the death of them both, but he’d pulled her into a slow dance, and something clicked into place. As if everything he’d always wanted was right there in her fragile frame and golden eyes.
Not two years had passed, yet Caleb couldn’t remember his life without Snow. Every day since meeting her had been a balancing act between happiness and madness. When she was with him, he couldn’t get enough. When she wasn’t, he couldn’t breathe.
Once he stepped inside the bar, Caleb gave his eyes a second to adjust to the dim lighting. Losers didn’t put much stock in illumination. The bar was sparse, as expected on a Friday afternoon when the whole world was out hunting for the bargain of the century. He took a seat two stools down from one with an Army jacket thrown over it and waved for the bartender.
“What’ll it be?” the slender man behind the bar asked.
“Bud, please.”
A pinup in a hula skirt flexed as the bartender popped the top. “Three fifty.”
Caleb pulled a ten from his wallet and said, “That’s for the first two.”
“A man with a plan. Got it.” He pushed a couple of buttons on the register, made change, and slid three dollars next to the bottle. “My name’s Watts. Let me know when you’re ready.”
After a quick nod of acknowledgment, Caleb took a long swig as he spun on the stool. The place looked the same. The tiny indoor stage by the front door. Poker machine at the end of the bar. Christmas lights strung along the top of the walls. Not the most glamorous spot in town, but the beer was cold, the music was good, and the service friendly. When Caleb was a single guy looking for a good time, Losers had served his purpose. It didn’t hurt that the place had been walking distance from his apartment.
“No freaking way,” said a voice from his left. “Caleb McGraw? Is that you?”
Tucker Holcomb, one of his regular running buddies back when he’d met Snow, stood outside the bathroom door staring as if Caleb were the second coming.
“Hey, Tuck. How you doing?” He wasn’t in the mood for reminiscing, but Caleb should have expected to run into someone he knew.
“I’m good, man.” The two shook hands and did the bro hug greeting, bumping shoulders accompanied by two pats on the back. “Haven’t seen you in forever. Not since you swiped Snow out from under us.”
Caleb stalled by taking a drink of his beer.
“Sorry that didn’t work out, buddy. I thought you two were going to make it.”
He came close to spewing Budweiser across his friend’s Slipknot shirt. “You know?” Caleb asked.
Tucker picked up the green jacket and settled onto the stool. “I saw Snow a couple months after y’all left for Vegas. She was staying over at Deb’s place.”
Deb had been Snow’s roommate when they’d met, and the first person Caleb had checked with in Nashville after she disappeared. The lanky brunette had claimed not to know where Snow was.
“And Snow told you what happened between us?” he asked, struggling to keep his voice conversational.
“No details,” Tucker said, holding out his hands. “She was pretty bummed. Deb and I tried to get her to come out for a drink, but she wouldn’t do it.”
Tapping the side of his bottle, Caleb stared at the red label. “Was she alone or did someone come back to town with her?”
Rubbing his blond goatee, Tucker looked to be searching his memory banks. “No one that I know of, man. You’re the only guy she ever gave the time of day. We all took a turn trying to catch that honey, but she turned the rest of us down.” He tapped Caleb on the knee. “That’s why I thought you guys were really gonna do it. Get that happy ending everybody’s always talking about.”
“Yeah, I thought so, too,” Caleb said.
So she’d been alone when she stayed at Deb’s. But was Snow bummed, as Tuck had put it, because she’d left her husband, or because whatever guy she ran off with had left her?
“You in town for a while?” Tucker asked. “Me and the boys are playing outside tonight. It’s gonna be cold as hell, but a party to be sure.”
Caleb hadn’t considered anything beyond the present since watching his wife and mother battle to see who could hurt him more.
“I’m just passing through,” he said. Even if he stayed the night at a local hotel, a late night at Losers held no appeal.
“Damn.” Tucker pulled cash from his pocket. “Next time, then. You need to come around more often, bro. You were our ringer for drawing the hotties. You gotta help your boys out.”
There was only one hottie that Caleb wanted, and she wouldn’t be found at Losers. Not this time.
“Good luck with the show tonight,” he said, making his way toward the exit.
“Hey,” the bartender called. “You never had that second beer.”
“I’ll pay for Tuck’s,” Caleb answered and stepped into the sunshine.
Chapter 26
Snow had looked everywhere she could think of, but Caleb was either a step ahead of her, or he’d driven through Nashville without stopping. By the time she’d reached the city, the sun had set and the shoppers all seemed to be on the roads at once. Thinking that he might have maintained some kind of home base while looking for her, she drove by Caleb’s old apartment. The eight mum-filled hanging baskets decorating the entry made it unlikely that Caleb still held the lease.
She drove the streets around Vanderbilt, certain that if he planned to blow off steam, that’s where he’d go. Checking the smaller venues first, she’d inquired inside but no one remembered seeing a man who fit Caleb’s description. Though one female bartender said if she found a guy like that, she’d be keeping him for herself. Not what Snow needed to hear.
Fighting off the memories, she drove by Losers, but the crowd was too thick and the music too loud to ask questions. Caleb’s Jeep wasn’t in the parking lot, and though he could have left it parked at a hotel and called a friend for a ride, she doubted that would be the case. The man had a thing about being in the driver’s seat, something that had bothered her before, but tonight she’d gladly scoot over if she could find him.
Thanks to changing phones when she’d arrived in Ardent Springs, Snow’s phone didn’t have most of her old friends’ numbers. Not that she knew who was still around and
who wasn’t. The one person she did contact was Deb, her old roommate. Unfortunately, Deb didn’t answer, forcing Snow to leave a message. How was she supposed to tell the person who’d helped her hide out when she ditched her husband that said husband had now ditched her?
If by some miracle Snow managed to find Caleb and make this right, they’d have to make up a story about the beginning of their marriage so their kids didn’t know how bad they were at this.
On the chance that he’d ventured downtown, Snow cruised Broadway trying to keep her car on the road while checking out every male pedestrian over six feet tall. When a glimpse to her right revealed a white Jeep pulling into a parking space at the Union Station Hotel off Tenth Avenue, she nearly took out an elderly lady in the crosswalk trying to make the turn. But when she reached the Jeep, the man who climbed out was not Caleb.
Adrenaline had sent her heart racing, and the letdown was like someone pulling a plug. She rested her forehead on her steering wheel until a car honked behind her and she was forced to drive on. By ten that night, defeat had settled in, but Snow wasn’t ready to give up. Traveling a short distance north of downtown, she found an Econo Lodge off the interstate and settled in for the night. When three more calls to Deb got her nowhere, she turned off the light, but left the TV on for company.
And then cried herself to sleep.
Standing at the window of his hotel room in the downtown Omni, Caleb watched the dawning sun glisten off the skyscraper that locals liked to call the Batman building, contemplating his next move. When he’d booked the room, his intention had been to get an early start for Baton Rouge. But a night’s sleep, not that he’d slept much, along with some distance allowed him to process things more rationally.
His instincts told him Snow wasn’t lying. That there’d never been another man. But if he accepted her word, then his mother was lying. Vivien McGraw could be overbearing and opinionated, but to fabricate a story like this? To claim she’d seen the other man with her own eyes? She wouldn’t go that far.