Chapter Twenty-Four
“Sky?” Kane had his hand around her arm helping her to remain upright as he pressed the phone closer. “Listen. I gotta go. Talk to you later.” He swiped off his cell and stuffed it in his top pocket. “Why are you hiding?” His voice came out soft and not accusatory. He must have realized she’d overheard his conversation.
Sky pasted on a smile. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“You did.” He tapped her nose. “Listen. I need to take care of some business this morning. Promise me one thing?”
“Sure.” How she managed to smile with her broken heart barely managing to beat she didn’t know. Inside, her stomach was devouring itself, probably eating the heart that had dropped into her gut.
“Please stay in the house.”
She refrained from tossing out a retort, mostly because she wasn’t in the mood to listen to his bluster this morning. “No problem. I’ve got lots to keep me busy around here.” He had to see she was lying.
“Good.”
Guess not, or else he didn’t care enough to question her. He kissed her quickly and then practically ran out the door, acting like he hadn’t just told the person on the phone that he didn’t give a shit about her.
She didn’t move until the sound of his engine disappeared down the road.
In an attempt to keep from breaking down, Sky went through the motions of fixing breakfast. Too bad the eggs tasted like rubber, and the coffee did nothing to help the headache that fully blasted her. She wanted to cry and beat something, but her energy had disappeared. How dare he say there wasn’t a strong attachment between them? There was, dammit. She slapped the table, and the coffee sloshed out of the cup. The tears trickled out at first, before the sobs came in full force.
She’d been abandoned again. What was wrong with her? Her rational side screamed, nothing, but her emotional side said she was just plain unlovable. She bet Kane would say she was too stubborn, didn’t listen, and was too afraid to open her heart.
“That’s not true,” she announced to the air.
Hoping a hot shower might help shed some light on this mess, she placed her dishes in the sink, and then disappeared into the bathroom. While the hot water and lavender scented body wash soothed her skin, her heart wouldn’t stop crumbling. Not in the mood to enjoy the shower, she finished and dressed in her fanciest outfit, hoping her new blue top would cheer her up—and it did somewhat. She put on makeup and even curled her hair, but then decided she looked dumb all dressed up with no place to go.
Sky stared in the mirror at a person she barely recognized. Anger, frustration, and depression nearly swallowed her. Her life was in shambles, plain and simple. Not only was she on suspension from a job she’d worked her ass off for, the man she was falling in love with had rejected her.
Follow your dream.
That little person in her head screamed at her to do something positive with her life instead of wallowing in despair. With the military out to frame her, it might be smarter to just leave town, because, knowing her, if she stayed, she’d be tempted to go back to the Base.
Hell, she’d been wanting to visit her cousin, Jessie, is West Virginia, for quite some time, and a few days of rest might help clear her head. If she recalled correctly, Jessie’s man used to commute to Kerry, West Virginia from Baltimore. Perhaps he could even help her find a job in the big city.
Sure, Harriet and Earl would miss her, as would her dad, but that would be all. Harvey, Elmer, and the Chief would forget about her in a week. Sky would catch the next flight out east and call Harriet when she was safely with Jessie.
Happy with her decision to start living her dream, she tossed a few things into a suitcase, wrote a note to Kane about why she was leaving, and then headed out. For the first time in hours, Sky had pep in her step.
Once in her car, she headed toward the Page Airport. The windy day had calmed, and the sun was shining brightly. She tried not to think about Earl, Pearl, or the good citizens of Savory. She’d miss them for sure, but they’d survive. She hoped Kane was successful in learning something about the Base and was able to expose them.
Her thoughts were filled with regret, but this was the best thing for her. A light reflecting off something in front of her startled her. She reached up to shield her eyes from the glare when suddenly a trailer carrying cows entered the roadway directly in front of her car.
“No, no, no. Shit.” She slammed on her brakes but couldn’t stop in time to prevent the collision. The airbag deployed and her whole body jerked forward. Her first thought was that this couldn’t be happening again. Then she mentally thanked her dad for insisting she have airbags installed in her old VW. It had cost a mint, but now she was happy she had them.
Instantly, the bag deflated, and she let out a big breath. Other than the blood pounding in her head, only the mooing of the cows reached her brain. She slumped forward, not willing to assess the potential damage to her body or her precious car.
A few seconds later, a knock sounded on her window. “Hey, lady, you okay?”
* * *
The moment Sky’s house came into view, and Kane saw her car was missing, he slapped the wheel. “Goddammit.”
That pig-headed woman would never listen. He should have taken her with him, but if he had her by his side, he would have ended up kissing her endlessly and never would have been able to do any work.
He let himself in, and in case she’d loaned her car to someone, called her name. “Damn it, Sky. Couldn’t you follow orders just this once?” he mumbled.
She’d done a bang up job lasting as long as she had on that sofa, doing an amazing job of withstanding his brand of torture a lot better than he ever could. She’d followed his orders then, so what had changed?
A note sat on the table next to her phone, and his gut churned. She always kept her cell with her. She must not want him to be able to contact her. He read her note: When I heard what you said on the phone this morning, I realized you didn’t want me the way I wanted you. With things being so heavy in town, together with my suspension, I’m going to follow my dream and be a detective in the big city.
He had to read the message twice, and each time he did, the pain was like a saber through his heart. He let the paper float back to the table. What had he said on the phone to make her think that? Kane replayed his discussion and realized what had happened. “Oh, shit.”
She was wrong, so very wrong.
The worst part was that he had no way to contact her. He’d seen her standing there when he called his friend, but damn it, he wasn’t talking about Sky. Kane wanted to go after her, but he had no idea which big city she was talking about.
Harriet. He bet she knew what was going on. He dialed the police station, but no one answered. Okay, that wasn’t good.
Kane rushed out to his Jeep, jammed the engine into gear, and raced toward Savory, not caring if he broke every goddamn speed limit. He parked in the NO PARKING ZONE and marched up the steps to the police station, but when he stepped inside, the place was deserted.
Well, shit.
* * *
“I’m good.”
The farmer eased Sky out of the car. “You sure? You don’t look so good.”
She wasn’t going to complain about a little neck injury. “How are the animals?”
“They’re scared, but okay.” The cows were standing on the side of the road watching her.
The metal trailer seemed to have protected them, but the impact must have broken the lock allowing the animals to escape.
“That’s good. I need to get to the airport. I have a plane to catch. Let me see if I can drive my car.” Thankfully, the engine sat in back. She turned the key and the engine fired up. For once, something seemed to be going her way. Sky waved, but as she edged forward, the grill scraped against the tire. Damn. She wouldn’t be able to drive it like this.
Slumping against her seat, she blew out a breath.
The farmer tapped on her window. “I can give you a lift once I round up my animals.”
Other than her plane crashing on the way to West Virginia, the day couldn’t get any worse. At least this wasn’t the government’s doing. “Thanks.” She got out and checked the damage. “I’m hoping my mechanic can fix it.”
“I’m sure of it. You want to call him? How about I push your car to the side of the road and then drive you to Page?”
That was so sweet of him, but in all honesty, her hair must be a sight and she smelled of perspiration from the trauma. She needed to head on home and fly out later. Hell, she hadn’t even called Jessie to see if the timing worked for her.
“Can I borrow your phone? I’d like to call the mechanic.”
“Here ya go. Take your time. I need to gather my animals.”
“Thanks.” She called Richie at Morton’s garage, knowing he’d give her grief.
While the farmer coaxed his animals back into the trailer, she slid into the passenger side of the VW and closed her eyes. She ached—ached for Kane and ached for what could have been. She probably shouldn’t have run away without talking to him. It was one of her many flaws. She sucked at confrontation, but what could he say? He didn’t believe things could work out between them anyway.
Forty-five minutes later, Richie pulled up and whistled. “Man, girl. You sure are hard on your cars. You should marry Ole man Jespers.” He owned the used car lot.
“Funny. Just tow the car, please.”
He saluted. She waited by the side of the road, and while he put her car up on the back of his truck, she exchanged her insurance card and information with the farmer.
“I’ll drop you back home on my way to town,” Richie said.
Home. She wasn’t ready to face Kane, but maybe he was still out doing his errands. If there was any luck in the world, he hadn’t read her note. If he had, she didn’t know if he would be furious or happy that she would be out of his hair for good.
“Can you drive me to Jespers instead? I’ll need a loaner.”
“The cruiser’s nearly fixed. You want that?”
She laughed. “I couldn’t afford the repair bill if anyone else ran me off the road.” Besides, she wasn’t technically with the department.
“You got it.”
Once she picked up a loaner, she decided she deserved an Area 51 coffee from EBE’s before going home. Not only that, she needed to see some friendly faces. She parked in front, checked the mirror, and gasped. Her forehead and cheek were black and blue. The seatbelt had cut into her shoulder, and a few flecks of blood had seeped through her shirt. The crowd might stare, but at this point, she didn’t care.
As she walked in, she didn’t look around as she headed to the side of the café where she always sat. Chair legs scraped, and she looked up.
Oh, shit. Her dad was sitting with Kane. Both faced her. Kane’s eyes widened, but her dad’s brows were pinched. She straightened, winced, and then slouched again. Taking a full breath, she marched up to their table and faced Kane. It didn’t matter that the note said it all. “I can explain.”
The entire café seemed to come to a screeching halt. Blood pounded in her ears as sweat pooled under her arms. She was about to bear her soul in front of the entire town—a town that used to care about her. A strong chance existed that after her confession, they wouldn’t. Kane pushed back his chair and stood, but she held up her hand.
“I take it you read the note?” He nodded. “Let me tell you why I really left.” She sucked in a big breath, hoping for the courage to tell him.
Before she was able to say she loved him and that she’d made a big mistake, someone slammed open the café door, and both Kane and her dad faced the newcomer. She turned too. It was the Chief. Really? He was the last person she wanted to see. Now, it might have been better to be on some crashing plane.
The Chief looked straight at her. “Thank God, I found you. Harriet’s missing.”