Chapter Eighteen

PAIGE

Sitting on the bus, Harley asleep beside me, I wondered how I got there. Everything had happened so fast that my head was still spinning. I looked down at Harley with her newly short hair. She was breathing softly, sleeping peacefully. Not having the time to go by a salon, I'd cut her hair in my classroom – and I'd cut it short enough that she could have probably passed for a boy on that alone.

But we needed to solidify the illusion, so her school outfit had been switched out for a tie dyed shirt from my class along with some gym shorts I stole from the gym class. Complete with a baseball cap, she looked like a little boy.

It was a little extreme perhaps, but it was also the only way to sneak her out of the school. Of course, I had to change my appearance as well. My red hair was now temporarily dyed black, thanks to some paint I had in my classroom. It was messy, but it worked. A quick change of clothes thanks to the theatre department and I was a whole new woman.

As we hustled out of the school, I remembered Chester, my cat. Because my place was being watched, I couldn't go back for him and my heart ached. But there was a key hidden for my mom to find. I couldn't text her and give her a heads up, but once she heard I was missing, I knew she'd go over there. She'd take my baby with her. She'd take care of him until it was safe for me to come back. My mom had a big heart and she knew how much that cat meant to me.

It killed me to abandon Chester like that. But, it wasn't like I had a choice. I had to leave everything behind. My car was still in the parking lot at school. My apartment was still as it was when I'd left that morning. It broke my heart, but I knew that if things went badly, I might never see my parents again.

Please, don't let things go badly, I thought to myself. Please, pretty please.

I had to trust in Elias. I had to trust that he'd figure a way out of this mess – even if he didn't even trust himself to do it.

Harley opened up her eyes and stared up at me, then out the window. Wiping at her little eyes, she tried to figure out where she was.

“Where are we, Miss Cleary?”

“Shhh,” I said, holding her close and looking around to see if anyone heard her say my name. Just in case someone had followed us. “We're headed somewhere fun. You're dad is going to meet us there. We're on a grand adventure, Harley. Isn't that exciting?”

She nodded but I could see a look of concern in her eyes – as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. But, that was okay, I wasn't sure what to make of it all either.

Our grand adventure was going to take us to Mexico. Eventually, that was. We had several more hours until we made it to San Diego. And from there, if we didn't hear from Elias, we'd head down across the border. But hopefully, we were going to hear from him and everything would be fine. Maybe we wouldn't have to cross the border. Maybe we'd be able to go back home and get back to our normal, everyday lives.

She yawned. “Daddy told me we'd be going somewhere fun, but he didn't say where.”

“San Diego,” I said. “Ever been there?”

She shook her head.

“It's in California,” I said, trying to sound excited. “We'll be able to see the ocean.”

Her eyes grew wide with excitement as she stared out the window. It was nothing but desert all around us at the moment. Nothing but boring, hot, desolate desert.

“Not yet, silly,” I said. “We still have a few hours to go. Have you ever been to the ocean?”

“No,” she said. “I've never been anywhere really.”

“Well, that's about to change,” I said. “I haven't been to the beach since I was a kid, but I always loved it. And I just know you're going to love it too.”

Her first time at the beach was a memory she should have been sharing with her father. Not me. There was still a lot of memories he needed to be there for. And once again, I felt myself slipping back into my little prayer, my plea to the universe that everything would come out alright in the end.

“Why are you coming with us?” she asked me.

“Because, well, your father and I are umm well, we're seeing each other.”

Harley flashed a devious little smile. “As in you're dating?”

“I guess you could say that,” I said, a small giggle escaping me. “Would it bother you if I date your father?”

“Not at all,” she said. “It makes me happy.”

“Good, because it makes me happy too,” I said.

Two weeks ago, I never would have dreamed of dating a man with kids – much less one of my students. But my life as I knew it was about to change in so many ways. Was I ready for it? I had no idea. But either way, it was happening. And it was happening faster than I ever imagined it could.

“Will you wake me when we see something interesting?” she asked me.

“Of course,” I said.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” I said.

She looked at me skeptically, so I crossed my heart for her just to seal the deal. Harley curled up next to me, pulling the baseball cap over her eyes to block out the sun, and fell asleep. Peaceful, calm and without a care in the world.

That's how life should be for her.

And I was going to do everything in my power to make sure it stayed that way.

ooo000ooo

Harley was watching TV, but I couldn't focus on anything she was watching. I kept pacing the room, checking the windows, the doors. I was terrified that someone had followed us. I was also waiting for Elias to show up. The plan was for him to meet us here if it was safe for him to do so. We were going to wait a day or so and if we hadn't heard from him, we were going to head across the border and wait for him at our secondary rendezvous point.

“Where's daddy?” Harley asked me again.

“He'll be here soon,” I said and checked my watch again.

We'd been there for six hours hours already. Although, truth be told, it felt like days already. And there had been no word from Elias. Nothing.

I was starting to get antsy and fear the worst.

I sat down on the bed and tried to watch Spongebob Squarepants with Harley. It was almost time for her to go to bed, even though she'd already slept most of the day away. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep though. I was too keyed up and anxious. Every sound caused me to jump out of my skin.

My entire life was on hold until I heard from Elias.

If I hadn't heard from him by some point tomorrow, I was going to have to take Harley into Mexico. After that, Elias knew where to find us in Tijuana. All was set up and ready to go, if needed. But I hoped it wouldn't come to that. I hoped we wouldn't even have to cross the border. I hoped that he'd get in touch with us and we'd be able to go back home sooner rather than later.

“Can we go to the beach tomorrow?” Harley asked.

I hadn't taken her to the beach yet. I'd been delaying it because I wanted that to be something she experienced with her father. But the poor girl was growing impatient, and I didn't blame her. Having never seen the ocean before, she was chomping at the bit to go play in the waves. And honestly, I would like to go do that as well. But I also wanted – no, needed – to wait and see what was happening with Elias.

“Sure, sweetie,” I said, biting my nail as I glanced over at the window.

A car had pulled up in the lot outside our hotel room. A bolt of anxiety shot through me as I heard the engine shut off. It was likely no one I needed to worry about. But then I hoped that maybe it was Elias. That hope was suddenly overwhelmed by dread though, when I thought that maybe it was the people after Elias. Only time would tell.

I looked down at my phone. No new messages. No nothing.

People got out of the car and walked past the room, their voices dwindling as they kept walking and allowed me to breathe once more. It was a man and a woman, both sounding drunk and laughing, probably enjoying their vacation.

“Okay, Harley, time for bed – ”

I cut myself off when the phone buzzed in my hand. It scared me, like legit scared me, and I jumped, letting out a small squeaking noise. Harley groaned and went into the bathroom, dragging her feet.

It was Elias.

I answered the phone, my hand shaking as I did so.

“Elias?” I said, almost fearing it wouldn't be him, fearing it would be one of the men who'd been after him who'd maybe killed him and taken his phone.

“Yeah, it's me,” he said.

Relief washed over me and I sat back down on the bed, finally able to breathe. The sense of relief was so overpowering that it left me trembling as I sat there.

“Is everything okay?” I whispered, hoping Harley wouldn't hear me or pick up on my stress.

“Everything is fine,” he said calmly. “I'm on my way to San Diego now, should be there in a few hours.”

“So you didn't have to – ” I stopped short of saying it, not wanting to say the words. Not wanting to believe that Elias was capable of it.

“No. Listen, it's a long story, but everything is fine,” he said. “We can come back home now.”

“Is that daddy?” Harley asked, coming out of the bathroom with a wide smile on her face and excitement in her voice.

“It is,” I said, feeling like I might cry with relief. “Do you want to talk to him?”

She rushed toward me and took the phone from my hands, happily talking to her father as if everything had always been fine.

“Where are you?” she asked. “We want to go to the beach, but we're waiting on you.”

I heard him laugh on the other end. I laughed too.

Everything was fine.

Everything was going to be okay.

When Harley was done talking, she handed the phone back to me.

“We are in room 104. Right next to the lobby,” I said.

“I'll be there late,” he said. “I can sleep in the car until – ”

“No, no, you better get your butt in here,” I said. “Just call me or knock and I'll let you in. Then we can all go to the beach tomorrow. We can make a day of it.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “And Paige, thank you.”

“You're welcome. I'd do anything for Harley,” I said, looking over at the little girl. “And you.”

There was a long pause on the line and I thought the call had been dropped. But then Elias spoke and I felt my heart literally skip a beat in my chest.

“I love you,” he said, taking me by complete surprise.

My heart felt like it did a complete flip flop inside of me. Had I heard him right? Had he really said what I thought he said?

I wasn't sure, but the rush of warm feelings that washed over me were overwhelming and I told him, “I love you too.”

Because life can be unpredictable sometimes, and I needed to tell him.

Even if that wasn't what he'd really said, I needed him to know that was how I truly felt.

As crazy as it sounded – and I knew it sounded plenty crazy. But it was the truth and it was how I felt. So, why hide it or deny it?