The Calling

by Ashley Lynn Willis

  “And the Calling started this morning.”

  “This is what it feels like?”

  “Exactly what it feels like.”

  “Oh, my God! We’re having a baby!” Her voice sang, lilting toward a melody of happiness he hadn’t expected.

  His baby. She was pregnant with his baby, and she was happy. Maybe they weren’t over after all.

  For a moment, he let his mind wander to an image of Mandy, her belly round with his child. She was beautiful, all rosy cheeks and glowing complexion. His body hummed with joy. “You want this baby?”

  “Of course, I want it. It’s ours.”

  “But what about us? Do you want that, too?”

  The silence lasted too long, and his heart stopped beating, his body becoming numb. As he clung to the phone, waiting for her to speak, a vibration pulsed through his body. They didn’t have time to talk about their relationship, not with their child’s life in danger.

  “We can talk about us later.” His voice came out smooth and emotionless, the way it always did when he hid a storm inside. He hoped she wouldn’t notice. “We’ve got less than a day to get you to the ocean.”

  “I can get a plane ticket,” she said, suddenly regaining her voice. “To Miami. Or California. Or wherever the closest ocean is.”

  Justin darted to the laptop sitting on his desk. He fumbled with the latch, opened it, and fired up the computer. “Head toward the airport. I’ll get the ticket.”

  * * *

  Mandy lifted her fleece pajama top and stared at her stomach. “I’m pregnant.” The words slipped off her tongue like an unfamiliar language. Since the chemo, she hadn’t known if she was fertile or not. She’d refused testing to find out, too scared to discover if her dream of having children would never be.

  “Pregnant.” She rubbed her palm over her belly button. Something close to joy, but mixed with apprehension and fear, bubbled in her chest. Inside of her was a baby. Not just hers, but Justin’s, too. She wanted to sit on the couch and ponder the life growing inside of her for hours, even days, but time wasn’t on their child’s side.

  With her emotions in a jumble, Mandy grabbed a few belongings, left a note for Lori, and threw on a heavy coat. She hurried to her car. Tufts of snow meandered down before finally adding to the foot of snow already covering the ground. She scanned the street leading to the main Fairway. Though the snow continued to fall, the roads were as clear as the Bonneville Salt Flats, with about as much salt on them to boot.

  Her poor car, however, was invisible beneath a cloud of white. For five minutes, she scraped snow off her windshield, side windows, and mirrors. By the time she sat in her car and turned on the engine, her fingers were numb.

  As she headed, shivering, toward the interstate, she barely heard her ringing cell over the whirring of her defroster and swishing of her wipers. “Hello?”

  “I’ve got a plane ticket for you to San Diego, and a rental car, unless you want to take a cab.”

  “Cab’s fine.”

  “I’ll meet you in San Diego. You’re flying United. Plane leaves at twenty past noon.”

  Mandy glanced at her dashboard clock. Ten o’clock. She’d need thirty minutes to get to the airport, and that’d leave her with plenty of time to check in.

  “My flight gets in an hour before yours,” he added. “Make sure your phone’s charged and call me when you arrive.”

  “I will.” She said goodbye and hung up as a surge of energy coursed through her body. So this is what the Calling feels like. Her mind flashed to Justin as a boy holding his little sister. The horror in the scene he’d lived through finally hit home. Cecelia had turned to water while he’d watched helplessly. No wonder Justin’s mom had gone mad. She was surprised Justin hadn’t, too.

  “Not gonna happen to you,” she said, while white-knuckling the steering wheel with one hand and rubbing circles around her belly button with the other. No way was she letting the treasure in her womb disappear.

  * * *

  Justin rushed to grab his duffel off the bed and throw a change of clothes inside. The jewelry box holding Mandy’s engagement ring sat on the nightstand, opened as he’d left it the night before when he’d nearly fallen asleep with it clutched in his hand. He reached out to flip the box shut and throw it in his bag, just in case, but stopped before his fingers touched the soft velvet.

  What could he possibly say to change her mind about him? Christ, he’d killed her ex while she watched. The baby didn’t change that, didn’t change the fact that their relationship was nothing short of psychotic, or the fact that she deserved so much better. But what if bringing a new life into the world gave them a new beginning, a reason and a way to start over again, wipe the slate clean and build something stronger, something lasting?

  He swept the ring into his palm and pushed it deep into his bag. Convincing her to wear it wasn’t going to be easy, but he had never been one to back down from a challenge.

  With his plan in place, he hurried outside, jumped into his SUV, and headed toward San Antonio to catch his flight. He’d answer the Calling in San Diego with Mandy by his side. With a little luck and a lot of persuasion, she’d be wearing his ring when Triton returned his soul.

  * * *

  The snow fell relentlessly as Mandy drove but, with Denver’s road crews busy clearing the streets, she never even skidded on an icy patch. That didn’t stop her sigh of relief when she finally reached the airport. In all her life, she’d never driven in icy conditions, and it took her a good minute to pry her hands off the steering wheel once she parked.

  After a quick shuttle ride to the terminal, she checked the time. An hour to kill. She strolled toward the United check-in desk, making a quick stop at a departure screen,

  United 4745 to San Diego—Delayed.

  Mandy moaned and glared through the terminal window at the falling snow. She headed to the ticket counter and, five minutes later, she was on the train to Concourse B. When the doors opened, her heart sank. The gates were overflowing with passengers. Some sat reading books or talking on cells in the terminal seating. Others huddled in small groups watching the onslaught of snow through the windows. But all had impatient sets to their jaws and tension curling their shoulders forward.

  Mandy gnawed her bottom lip and headed to the nearest departure screen. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed. Nearly three fourths of the flights were late. “What’s going on?”

  An older man with gray stubble and an iron grip on his luggage sidled up beside her, his gaze roaming the screen. “Hope you’re not in a hurry.”

  “Weather related?”

  “The Midwest is one giant blizzard.” He tilted his head toward a window. “Here, too.”

  “Great,” she mumbled. As she stood there, the departure time for her flight flipped from 2:55 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.

  “I’m going to find out what’s going on.” She left the graying man scowling at the departure screen. With her carry-on trailing behind her, she headed for the gate desk. An agitated young woman wearing a United uniform rubbed her temple.

  Mandy cleared her throat to get the lady’s attention. “What are the odds that Flight 4745 is going to depart today?”

  The woman looked up and grimaced. “If I were a passenger, I’d find a hotel.”

  Panic crept up Mandy’s spine and constricted her lungs. “This could be a problem.” A pulse of energy coursed down her body, reminding her of just how much trouble she was in.

  Chapter 28

  Justin was headed down the concourse to board his plane when his cell phone rang. Mandy’s number flashed on his screen, and he brought the cell to his ear. “Is your flight about to leave?” He pressed his back against the wall to let the other passengers pass him.

  “I don’t think I’ll be getting out of here tonight.” Her voice sounded on the verge of tears.

  He straightened. “Why not?”

  “A blizzard.”

  Christ. Of course there’d be a blizzard on the day of the Calling. How
could he expect anything less? He hugged the wall and slipped out of the tunnel and back into the terminal. “We’ll figure something out.”

  He sidestepped a group of teenage boys, each wearing gold and black basketball jerseys, as he hurried to the nearest departure and arrival screen. His posture wilted when he scanned the monitors. All the flights from Chicago, Detroit, and a dozen other places in the Midwest were delayed or canceled. He could see that Colorado was caught in the mess, too, because the flight from Denver to San Antonio was canceled.

  Don’t panic, he told himself. There had to be a way to get her out of the gridlock. “Mandy?”

  “Yes?” Her voice cracked.

  “Hold tight. I’ll see what I can do.”

  He hung up and headed straight to the service desk, thankful no one stood in line.

  A man in his twenties with blond hair spiked into perfect points manned the desk. On each of his fingers, he wore a silver ring that contrasted his purple nail polish. What kind of man wore jewelry and painted his nails?

  “I need to book new flights,” Justin said, eying the guy wearily.

  The spiky-haired man looked at Justin, and his eyes lit up. He licked his lips, his gaze traveling from Justin’s hips to his shoulders. “I’ll help you any way I can,” he purred.

  Immediately, Justin knew why the guy wore adornments and, for the first time in his life, he didn’t tense when a man ogled him. “I need to get to a beach. Doesn’t matter where, but it has to be the fastest way there.”

  “Oh, you’re working on your tan?”

  Justin winked at him. Might as well play the part. “You bet.”

  “I love the beach! And I love a nice tan on a man even more.”

  Justin leaned toward the guy and took a look at his name tag. “Do you mind if I call you Clarence?”

  Clarence batted his eyes. “Not at all.”

  “So, Clarence, I have a little problem.”

  “Maybe I can fix it.”

  “If you could, I’d sure appreciate it. You see, I have a friend who’s at the Denver airport right now.”

  “That place is practically closed.”

  “I know.” Justin slid his hands across the counter until they were almost touching Clarence’s gaudy rings and smiled broadly. “I need an airport in driving distance from Denver that my friend can get to. And I need a plane ticket for this friend to the same beach you’re going to be booking me. And I need for both of us to arrive before midnight.”

  Clarence’s gaze traveled to the half-dozen people who had recently formed a line behind Justin. “That’s a tall order.”

  “If you can’t help me, I understand. I was just really looking forward to being on the beach tomorrow morning.”

  “I want to help, but I don’t know how on earth I can pull that off.”

  “Could you at least try?” Justin batted his eyes a few times, desperate times calling for desperate measures. “When I come back through here on my way home, I’ll be sure and stop by to show you my tan lines.”

  Clarence’s eyes sparkled, and he smiled coyly. “I’ll see what I can do.” He waved at another airport employee standing by the gate. “Hey, Troy, can you take the next person in line?”

  And with that, Justin had Clarence all to himself.

  * * *

  Mandy stood at the gate counter in front of a United Airline employee. After Mandy had broken down in snotty sobs, blubbering about her mother who was on her deathbed, the employee had agreed to help. The woman was furiously punching in alternative airports within driving distance.

  Beside Mandy stood a little old lady in a pea coat who’d originally been trying to comfort her, offering Kleenex and pats on the back. But since Mandy’s crying was under control, the lady was chatting incessantly about her family.

  “My grandson is a doctor in Cincinnati. He has a wife and five kids. They’re the sweetest children anyone has ever come across.” She scowled, turning her face into a map of lines. “Except for Joshua. When that young man was fourteen, he stole his parents’ car and drove clear to Mason before the police caught up with him.”

  Wondering if the stories were ever going to end, Mandy smiled at the thin woman. She had more important things to worry about than a rogue great-grandson—like her baby dying. When her cell phone rang, she gladly pulled it from her coat pocket and answered. “What’d you find out?”

  “You’re driving to Wichita.”

  She pressed her hand to her free ear to lessen the noisy buzz of the airport. “I don’t even know where that is.”

  “Kansas. Just keep going East on I-70. It’s about a seven-hour drive.”

  “What then?”

  “I’ll meet you at the Wichita airport. We’re heading to Miami at 9:15 on Delta. It’s only a two-hour flight. We’ll make it in plenty of time.”

  She stomped her foot and squealed. “Thank you, God!”

  The little gray lady gasped. “It’s not nice to take the Lord’s name in vain.” She stuck her nose in the air and tottered off.

  The United employee raised her eyebrows questioningly.

  “I’ve got a flight,” she told the employee. “Thanks for trying to help me.”

  She stepped away from the gate counter and hustled toward the tram. A slew of bustling pedestrians heading in the same direction surrounded her.

  “The baby’s going to be fine,” Justin said in a tight voice.

  “When do you think the Calling will be over?”

  “After midnight. Probably around one or two in the morning.”

  She glanced at her watch. Thirty minutes after noon. “Plenty of time.”

  “Plenty of time,” he repeated, but she heard hesitation in his voice. “Fill up your car and get on the road.”

  She picked up her pace. “I’m off.”

  “Mandy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  Her step faltered. She felt someone ram into her luggage and then a woman groaned. Mandy turned to see a lady rubbing her shin and staring at Mandy’s carry-on with an evil eye.

  “Sorry,” Mandy said.

  The woman winced as she straightened. “It’s okay.”

  A rush of people flowed around them as if they were two boulders in the middle of raging rapids. “I gotta go, Justin.” She hung up before she caused a major pedestrian pile-up, but most of all, before she heard the disappointment in his voice.

  God, she felt like a bitch for not saying the words he wanted to hear, but she wasn’t ready, and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be.

  * * *

  An hour later, as Mandy drove across Colorado, snow continued to fall, filling the air with pudgy cotton-like snowflakes. Though driving in the storm made her nervous, she had to admit the layer of pure white was beautiful on the flat plains of Eastern Colorado.

  Occasionally, a gust of wind whipped the flurries so hard her visibility dropped to thirty feet, but for the most part, the roads were clear and motorists few and far between. It seemed that others had more sense than to drive in a snowstorm. Smart people. She wished she had the luxury of staying home.

  Twenty miles after crossing into Kansas, she hit a slick spot. Her tires spun as they lost traction. The back of her car skidded to the left, jerking her in her seat.

  Mandy instinctively steered to the right. The car fishtailed. “Oh, crap!” She let go of the wheel, her hands trembling. Traction control kicked in, and the car straightened back into the lane.

  When she caught her breath, she slapped her palm to her forehead. “Into the skid! Why can’t I remember that?”

  Her heart beat a noisy number against her ribs, threatening to take flight and find somewhere safer. She would have been inclined to chase after it in hopes of landing in a safer spot, too. “I’m going to get myself killed.”

  She slowed to a crawl and, with shaking fingers, dialed Justin in hope that he would calm her.

  “Are you making good time?” he asked as soon as he answered.

 
“I’m driving twenty miles an hour on I-70.”

  “You’re going to miss our flight.”

  “The highway’s an ice rink.” Cruising at least sixty, a car passed her in the left lane, and she flinched. “Apparently, everyone else doesn’t have a problem with slick roads.”

  “Someone just passed you?”

  “Yep.”

  “What did their license plate say?”

  “I didn’t look.” Another car passed, and she took more notice. “Kansas.”

  “Put a safe distance between you and them and go the same speed they’re going. You’ll be fine.”

  “I can’t go sixty!”

  “Then, find a slower car, one that’s doing fifty. If everyone’s passing you, and they’re from the area, they know how to handle themselves in bad weather.”

  “Fine.” A pulse of energy coursed down her limbs, reminding her that arriving in Wichita on time was a life or death situation.

  “You’re gonna be okay,” he said. “Where are you, anyway?”

  “I’m about to hit Goodland.” She glanced at her fuel gauge. “I’m going to stop and fill up, grab a snack, and then I’ll find the first car going fifty and follow them.”

  “Just make sure they have a Kansas plate and, if they slow down, you slow down.”

  “Got it.”

  “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

  She hung up and increased her speed to twenty-five. Her tight grip on the steering wheel eased when she saw the Goodland exit looming in front of her. Slowly, she veered onto the off ramp and into a gas station that shined like a beacon on the prairie.

  A heavy gust whipped snow around the pumps as she pulled under the minimal shelter. She zipped her coat, yanked on her hood, and stepped outside, the snow crunching beneath her feet. The biting wind stung her cheeks, so she turned her back on it, facing the pump.

  After filling her car, she darted inside the station to use the bathroom, pay, and buy a sandwich and a Coke. By the time she left the service station, the wind had picked up even more. In her small car, she could feel every gust shudder the low frame. She couldn’t imagine what the gusts would do to a van or semi.