Chapter Twenty-Three
Nathan
We'd been in the car two hours, and Bree still hadn't smiled. I flipped on the used car's ancient radio and found the oldies channel. Bree cringed but I saw the corners of her mouth start to curve up.
"Come on, sing along. You know you want to." I reached over and tickled her knee.
Bree tugged down the hem of her sundress and shook her head. "Not really my song."
"Bet you know every word," I said.
Bree let me squeeze her knee before she shoved my hand away. "I don't hear you singing."
"Challenge accepted." I deafened us both with my off-key accompaniment to the radio, but, by the time we pulled into a roadside diner, Bree was smiling.
I turned off the car and pocketed the keys as I got out.
Bree sighed and rolled down her window. "Coffee's on you?"
"We've got about a hundred miles to cover if we want to hit New Mexico," I said.
"Get extra sugar," Bree called after me.
I caught her humming when I returned with two tall coffees and a handful of sugar packets. "Ready for another sing along?" I asked.
Bree groaned. "How far is it to New Mexico?"
"Honey, we're going all the way to El Paso. Better buckle up."
She swatted my arm with a sugar packet and laughed. It was a relief after the quiet morning we'd had. Bree had softened in the night, in my arms, but when we woke up and hit the road, I could tell she was still fretting over where I had disappeared to the day before.
Bree waited, even sang a little, until we drove over the border into New Mexico. The big sign decorated with chili peppers had just flashed by when she turned serious again.
She shifted in her seat to face me and took a deep breath. "Nathan, why is there a gun under your seat?"
My foot slipped off the gas and the car behind changed lanes and passed us. I'd been waiting since the bank for her to ask me that question, and I still didn't know what to say.
"The gun?"
Bree frowned. "The big handgun under your seat."
There was nothing else to say but the truth. I didn't know much. "It was in the shoebox we pulled out of the bank safety deposit box."
"You've had it that long?" Bree slumped back into her seat and crossed her arms.
"And you didn't ask," I said.
"Nathan, we've already talked about this; you can't keep anything from me. We should be talking it all out. Don't you think that will help you remember? Keeping it all to yourself is not bringing your memory back," Bree said.
"I'm not keeping anything from you," I lied.
Bree threw her hands up. "Stashing a gun under the driver's seat of the car and not saying anything is the definition of keeping things from me."
"All right. You're right." I concentrated on bringing the car back up to speed. "Going over everything probably will help me remember faster."
She stared out her window as I bit my lip. My stomach churned over how I had remembered the one gunman. I was sure his name was Adrian and I knew him, but I had no proof. And there was no reason why I should know someone like him. How could I tell Bree that when it didn't make any sense? She must have already been worried I was losing my mind.
"You know what I remember?" I asked.
Bree smoothed back her hair and braced herself. "No. What?"
"I remember the first time I learned to drive, all I could do was dream about a road trip like this," I said.
"Minus the gun?" she asked.
"Come on. You never daydreamed about just taking off and driving until you found something new?"
Bree gave a dreamy little smile. "I used to dream of driving all the way to the ocean and then following the coast."
"North or south?" I asked.
"South," we both said at once.
I reached over and brushed back Bree's soft hair. "I'm more of a relax at the beach kind of guy than a hike the mountains type."
"Me, too. I've always wanted to camp on the beach and fall asleep to the waves," Bree said.
"Now you're talking my kind of vacation." I let my hand linger on her shoulder. "And I wouldn't mind if we were the only people around for miles."
Bree shot me a look. "You're just hoping that I'll like skinny-dipping."
"Who doesn't?"
"I remember that was the big dare in high school." Bree gave me another look. "I probably would have dared you."
I felt a rush of heat. "I would have tripped all over myself trying to impress you in high school."
Bree's description of her teenage self as a shy academic and quiet all-star athlete sank right into my heart. I was the smart class-clown and loud jock who would have spent all my energy on her and not cared a bit for my grades or scores.
"So, I dare you. If we ever get to the ocean, you're going skinny-dipping," Bree said.
"I can't wait."
In all our similar memories, neither of us had ever had a beach vacation and we spent the rest of the time in the car imagining huge beach umbrellas and brightly colored drinks.
"Slow down! This is our exit," Bree cried.
I had to drag my mind off the image of Bree in a tiny bikini before I swung the rusted used car across a lane of traffic, narrowly missing a camper, and made the exit. "Well, hello, Springer, New Mexico," I said.
"I hope they have a halfway decent restaurant." Bree clutched her stomach as it growled. "All that talk of fresh seafood has made me starved."
"Best ask a local," I said. "Besides, we need gas."
"And maybe someone has heard of Ginger Road Park," Bree said.
I nodded, regretting that our conversation had swung back around to serious. Bree got out of the car and stretched, and my mind longed to go back to visions of her naked in the warm surf. Instead, I followed her into the little gas station on the fringes of town.
The man at the counter tipped his hat when Bree walked by and then gave me a gruff nod. I had to cool down a spark of jealousy as the man's eyes traveled back to Bree. He watched her strolling down the candy aisle and almost licked his lips.
I knew she was delicious to look at, but I stepped firmly in his eye line and cleared my throat. "Gas on pump two," I said.
He looked suspiciously at my wallet full of cash. Not many customers came in the store since the pumps accepted credit cards. I watched him shift a few inches down the counter and knew he probably kept a gun there under the counter.
It bothered me that I was the suspicious one. When had that happened? Just two weeks ago I was standing in front of my squadron as an exemplary pilot and now I was the guy who made a convenience store clerk nervous.
"We're heading cross-country. She's worth it," I said.
It was a good thing that Bree was along because she peeked over a display of chips and gave the clerk a smile.
He softened. "Good weather for driving. Where you heading?"
I shrugged. "We're on a bit of a wild goose chase, trying to track down her cousin. Little runaway. Heard there have been some similar cases around here."
The man nodded, and I was grateful he took my loose fabrications at face value. "Mostly down south, closer to the border, but I guess there have been a few around here, too."
"Such a shame." I hoped the man might have heard of Maggie's case or at least a headline that would lead me in the right direction, but he wasn't inclined to chat.
Then Bree joined us at the counter with an armful of snacks. She dumped them out in front of me and gave the clerk another smile.
He gave her a wink. "Going on a picnic?"
"That would be heavenly. We've been in the car for days," Bree said.
The clerk nodded as he rang up the pile of snacks. "There's a nice spot down at Ginger Road Park."
I froze. "I'm sorry, did you say Ginger Road Park?"
"Yeah, it's about four miles from here. Take 10th Avenue straight from here and you can't miss it."
Bree finished up the transaction as I couldn't do anything but stare in the direction the clerk had waved. I recognized the name of the park from the postcard and couldn't believe our luck. I had been ready to pump the man for information and all it took was a smile from Bree and he volunteered the biggest break we'd gotten yet.
"Thanks a lot." Bree gave the man another smile and a wave then tugged me out the door. She aimed me at our used car and asked, "What is with you?"
"Ginger Road Park. Ring a bell?" I asked.
She nodded. "From the postcard. Guess I get a picnic, after all."
I got into the driver's seat and gripped the steering wheel with two hands until Bree bounced into the car. She leaned over and gave me a smacking kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" I asked.
"Don't look so tense," Bree said. "We're heading in the right direction. Maybe this will all be over soon, and we can get back to talking about our time on the beach."
My hands relaxed and slipped off the steering wheel. Bree was right there when I turned, and she caught me up in a delicious kiss. She tasted of strawberry candy, and I couldn't get enough.
We were blocked by the gas station pumps and I didn't care if the clerk could see us on the security cameras. Bree's optimism was almost as intoxicating as her taste, and I dragged her into my lap. The car horn honked, and she giggled but I kept my lips firmly to hers.
"Have I told you how much I love this sundress?" My hand skimmed up under the flimsy hem.
"Why do you think I'm wearing it?" Bree's lips curved against mine in a suggestive smile.
She shifted, straddling me in the driver's seat, and I felt my pulse jump from zero to sixty miles per hour. My hands swept under her sundress and grasped her tight waist. She rocked against me, the friction revving me up.
"I'm thinking maybe we should take a little detour," I muttered against her wet lips.
Bree rubbed her breasts against my chest. "What's wrong with right here?"
The only thing that could break through my haze of lust was an oversized pickup truck roaring up to the pump next to us. The driver grinned and slipped off his sunglasses to get a better look at Bree.
I groaned, not wanting to give her up, but we were at a busy gas station. Bree laughed when I nudged her back into the passenger seat. She put on her seatbelt but left her sundress hem hiked far up her thigh just to torture me.
"Maybe there'll be more privacy at the park." I started the car and peeled out of the gas station.
I drove the route the gas station clerk had described with one hand on the wheel and one hand on Bree's bare thigh. Finding out about Ginger Road Park was a huge break, but my excitement was divided. Without Bree, I would never have continued down this road but now I was starting to wonder if I should give it all up for her.