Chapter Eighteen
Taking a ride hadn’t helped Wyatt come to any decisions about Mia. He hadn’t really expected it to. After cooling him down, he led Wildfire, his favorite gelding, into the barn and tied him outside of his stall. He took off the cooler, the blanket that went over the saddle for cooling down in winter, then took off the saddle and carried it to the tack room. When he returned, Jack was there, having taken off the saddle blanket and started to rub down Wildfire.
“So, I hear you have a problem,” Jack said.
“Goddamn Dylan,” Wyatt said. Grabbing the blanket Jack had tossed over the stall door, Wyatt took it to the tack room, but not before adding, “I don’t need any big brotherly advice. Or younger brother advice, either. You and Dylan can both go to hell.”
“Touchy, touchy,” Jack said.
They worked on Wildfire in silence until Wyatt decided the horse was dry, put a blanket on him, and put him in his stall. “Fine,” Wyatt said, knowing Jack wouldn’t leave. “Give it your best shot and then go the hell away.”
“I need some coffee,” Jack said. “How about you?”
Grudgingly, Wyatt followed Jack inside, washed up and got a mug of coffee. He sat at the kitchen table, legs stretched out before him, booted feet crossed at the ankles.
Jack didn’t wait for Wyatt to speak. He knew Wyatt could wait it out with the best of them.
“Dylan told me what went down with you and Mia.”
“Surprise, surprise,” Wyatt responded sarcastically.
His eldest brother ignored him. He took a seat beside Wyatt, sipped his coffee and asked, “Do you remember when Brianna died?”
Brianna, Jack’s first wife. “Of course I remember. That’s not something any of us are likely to forget.”
“I loved Brianna. I thought we’d spend the rest of our lives together. When she died, it took me a long time to even want to go on. If it hadn’t been for Gina, God knows what I’d have done.”
Wyatt remained silent, even though he wanted to tell him to get to the point. But as pissed off at everything as Wyatt was, even he wasn’t that big of an asshole.
“I know how lucky I am to have Maya, Gina, Carmen and the baby. To have a second chance at that kind of happiness. I know, partly because I’ve had almost everything taken away.” He drank some coffee and half-smiled at Wyatt. “Yes, I have a point. If you’re lucky enough to have found something good with Mia, go after it. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Because he loved his brother, he tried to choose his words carefully. “What about the lie? Am I just supposed to forget that, like it never happened?” He wondered what Jack would have done faced with the same problem. He doubted he’d be so ready to blow it off as no big deal if Maya had lied to him.
“No, you obviously can’t forget it. I probably couldn’t either. But it looks to me like you can keep focusing on the lie and lose her, or try to work through it.” He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “I’ve got to go, but don’t take too long to figure out what you’re doing.”
“Why?”
“Glory took Mia to the airport.”
“What?” He sat up. “Mia’s gone? When did they leave?”
“Forty-five minutes, maybe an hour ago. Glory says Mia’s flying standby. No way of telling when she’ll get on a flight.”
“Shit. Why didn’t you tell me this first?”
“Because it would’ve taken you this long to figure out what you wanted to do. I probably saved you time.”
“Like hell.” Ignoring Jack, he dialed Glory’s cell. She answered on the first ring.
“Wyatt, where have you been?”
“Never mind that. Have you dropped Mia off yet?”
“Yes, but—”
“Did she get on a flight yet?”
“No, but—”
“What airline is she flying?”
“If you’d shut up for a minute I’ll tell you.” Wyatt gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything. “Mia decided not to fly. She rented a car.”
“She’s driving to Denver? Today? Now?”
“Yes. She left not too long ago. You might be able to catch her.”
“I’ll call her.”
“You can try.” She sounded doubtful.
“You think she won’t answer.”
“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t. You broke her heart, Wyatt.”
Other way around. He called Mia and sure enough, she didn’t answer. Whether she was in a dead spot or she didn’t want to talk to him, he had no way of knowing for certain. According to Glory, the latter was more likely.
Jack had been looking at his phone frowning while Wyatt was on the phone. “There’s a blizzard forecast for Wyoming. Along I-25, north of Casper,” he added.
“Great, exactly where she’ll be traveling. What do you want to bet she didn’t look at the forecast?” She was driving into a blizzard, in a rental car that might not even have four-wheel-drive. And she was upset.
“Mia’s pretty levelheaded,” Jack said. “I’m sure she’s keeping an eye on the weather.”
He could follow her to Denver. But he didn’t know if she’d take him back. Hell, he didn’t know if she’d even want to talk to him again if he let her go back to Denver without even attempting to stop her.
His chest hurt. When he thought about life without Mia, it made him ache. It made him crazy to think about never touching her, never kissing her, never making love to her again. Worse, Mia was his best friend. Even more so than his brothers. What would it be like to never be able to talk to her, have fun with her, just be with her?
Damn lonely, that was what.
Mia had messed up. She’d made a mistake and she’d owned it. He’d had his share of fuck-ups. Having sex with Loretta in the first place was a biggie.
“Right. Completely levelheaded right now, I’m sure.” He went to the mudroom, retrieved his heaviest coat, grabbed another coat and returned to the kitchen for his keys. “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” he told Jack.
“Be careful. And good luck,” Jack said.
“Thanks.” He had a feeling he’d need it.
Wyatt made it as far as Kaycee, Wyoming, before he had to stop. It had been snowing lightly since before he left Montana, continued to snow more heavily past Buffalo, and had turned into a blizzard before he reached Kaycee. He hadn’t seen a sign of Mia, but he’d picked up a stranded family along the way. He didn’t know whether he or the parents wanted to stop more desperately.
He’d come upon Parker and Liv Crenshaw, their three kids, their half-grown Newfoundland dog, and their broken-down car about half-an-hour after he left Buffalo. In hindsight, he should have stopped in Buffalo, but at the time the weather had looked like it was improving. That only lasted long enough to make it just as reasonable to go on as to turn around. With the snow blowing in near whiteout conditions, he’d slowed to a crawl and looked for a place to stop, but he was almost certain there was nothing until Kaycee.
He saw the dog first, pulling a child clinging to a leash, with a man chasing behind them. Next, he saw the car, and finally the rest of the family, who came boiling out of the car when he stopped. A short time later, the Crenshaws, their luggage, and yes, their very wet, very smelly dog named Jasper, had all piled into his SUV. They were all talking, or in Jasper’s case, panting. Wyatt liked dogs, but he could have done without Jasper hanging over the seat, laying his enormous head on Wyatt’s shoulder and panting hot doggie breath into his face.
He almost missed his exit due to the fog on the windows, courtesy of humidity Jasper and family brought with them. Even going full blast, the defroster wasn’t cutting it. He used his hat to wipe the windshield every few minutes. Thank God, he saw the exit sign for Kaycee before he had a nervous breakdown.
The desk clerk at the tiny Star Motel wasn’t surprised to see them. Jerry said they’d already had several travelers stop because of the storm. “Problem is, what with the storm and all, we only have one room available.”
“Of course you do,” Wyatt muttered.
“What’s that, sir?”
“Nothing.” Resigned, he sighed. “Obviously, the family gets the room.”
Jerry beamed at him. “I knew you’d understand.”
“Oh, now, we can’t take the only room,” Parker said. “I’ll tell you what, you can stay with us.”
Wyatt felt the blood drain out of his face. “No, no. You’re very kind, but I’ll sleep out here.” He motioned to the short, and undoubtedly lumpy, couch. The last thing he wanted was to share a room with two adults, three rowdy kids, and a Newfoundland that had decided Wyatt was his new best friend. Wyatt looked down at Jasper, who’d been sitting on his foot for the last ten minutes, and tried to move. No luck. Damn, the dog must weigh a hundred pounds. And Liv had said he was still a puppy.
Finally, the Crenshaw crew left. Jerry gave him a pillow, a blanket, the remote to the TV and an offer of hot chocolate. He took them all, but when he asked about food, Jerry shook his head. “The diner’s closed. But we do have candy and snacks for sale. In the snack bar room beside the desk.”
Candy for dinner. Could be worse. He chose a couple of chocolate candy bars, a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels. Jerry had told him since there wasn’t a room for him, to help himself to anything there was, free of charge.
Wyatt decided to try one last time to see if Mia would pick up. He was about to hang up when she answered.
“There’s no point in calling me, Wyatt,” she said. “We’ve said everything there is to say.”
“We sure as hell have not. Where are you? Why did you take off like that? My God, I thought you’d been stranded in the snow storm.”
“I am. Sort of. I stopped at a motel before the weather got really bad.”
“Thank God for that. Every time I saw a stranded car, I worried it was you.”
“Every stranded car? Did you follow me?”
“Yes, I followed you.”
“Why?”
“What kind of a question is that? I wanted to talk to you. It didn’t occur to me you would take off without even a goodbye.”
“I thought it would be better that way.”
“In what universe? You can’t drop a bombshell on me like you did and not expect a reaction. That didn’t mean I wanted you gone.” The more he thought about it, the more irritated he was. “We should be able to talk about this like adults.”
“Gee, pardon me, Wyatt,” she said, dripping sarcasm. “I was just a tiny bit upset.”
So was he, but that wasn’t getting them anywhere. “Where are you? At the moment I’m stuck, but I can try to get to you tomorrow. Right now I’m holed up in a small motel in Kaycee, Wyoming.”
“Kaycee, Wyoming? What’s the name of the motel?”
“The Star. Why?”
Silence. “What room are you in?”
Her voice sounded odd. As if she were trying not to laugh. He didn’t see anything particularly funny about the situation.
“I don’t have a room. I’m staying in the freaking lobby. They’re out of rooms.”
“Come to room twelve. And bring your stuff.”
What stuff? She hung up before he could ask any more questions. But she’d answered his main one. How in the hell had they both happened to stop at the same tiny motel in the same tiny town in Wyoming? With close to three hundred miles of highway to choose from? The storm played a big part, obviously. But still, what a ridiculous coincidence. Or maybe it was fate. Not that he believed in that sort of thing.
Coincidence. Fate. What difference did it make when they were both stranded at the same motel? In a blizzard. Possibly for days.
Maybe fate had played a bigger part than he’d thought.