The following morning, Jessica woke with a bit of a sore head and the feeling that she could drink a gallon of water and still be unbelievably thirsty. She clutched her forehead as she tried to slowly open her eyes, and she pushed herself up in bed and looked around her room.

She barely even remembered Kiara leaving, but she knew that they had had a wild, fun and hilarious night as always. She smiled as she remembered the discussion surrounding Tank, Ella and Jacob, and then she slowly lifted herself out of bed and wandered into the bathroom.

She splashed her face with some cold water, pinned her hair high on top of her head and climbed into the shower. With each beat of steam and water she felt revived and awake, and finally, her headache began to subside.

She wrapped herself in a towel and moisturized her entire body, before she pulled on a pair of jeans and a black, cropped Bardot t-shirt and she slicked on some pink lip gloss and let her blonde hair flow in waves down her back.

“There,” she sighed as she finally felt more human. “That is much better.”

She threw open her curtains and quickly made her bed before she skipped down the stairs and wandered into the kitchen. Thankfully, she had had the peace of mind to tidy everything away the previous evening when Kiara had still been there, and she laughed to herself as she saw the two wine bottles by the door.

“I hope we didn’t drink all of those,” she whispered. “I hope I tipped at least half of each down the sink.”

But the headache she had experienced when she had initially woken told her another story and she crunched up her nose in disgust.

She opened her laptop and made herself a coffee, and as she read her emails she remembered back to the day before and couldn’t help but think about what Ella and Jacob must have been up to. They were such good kids, and she was beginning to wonder which school in town they went to. There were two elementary schools in Slate Springs, and she had the feeling that Tank would have sent them to the most popular one, rather than the smaller one on the less desirable side of town.

She stretched and yawned and saw an email ping into her inbox from the big boss in the city and she wished she just had the day free to play with as she wanted.

She opened it, dreading seeing the long list of things he had planned for her, but to her complete surprise, she was delighted to see just a few lines of text…

 

I’m on top of things and heading home for the day, I’d like you to take the day off too. Full pay for a morning’s work! Catch up with you on Monday before I head to Boston. 

 

Jessica couldn’t believe her luck and she grinned as she slammed the lid of the computer down and jumped to her feet. It had been a while since she hadn’t had to spend the morning working, and so she was determined to make the most of it.

She wandered into the hallway and threw open her storage cupboard and pulled out her gym bag. Inside, she gave a quick look and could see that she had a clean swimsuit, towel, and leggings and sports crop for the gym itself. She slung it over her shoulder, grabbed her sunglasses and headed toward the front door.

“Time to make up for all of those wine calories you consumed last night,” she smirked to herself as she slammed the door behind her, locked it and began to walk down the driveway.

 

Her health club was dated, much like many things in Slate Springs were, but she still loved it all the same. She enjoyed the feeling of walking into somewhere and knowing people’s faces, the same men and women had worked there since it had opened, and it was always nice to be welcomed by name.

The building was stationed on Main Street, and it took up a huge corner of one block and was several stories high. She wandered through the big, double glass doors and into the cool air-conditioned lobby. The familiar smell of chlorine hit her as she walked through and found her fob to let herself in through the gates. 

The girl at reception was chatting on the phone, but Jess still waved to her with a smile and headed through to the long corridor that led her down to the changing rooms. All around her music was blasting, and she tapped her foot along to the music when she opened her locker and started to unpack her bag. She decided she was going to swim rather than work out. Her mind was still groggy, and she still couldn’t keep a thought together for a long period of time, so the idea of trying to calm herself and wash away the stress was more appealing than getting sweaty and hot upstairs in the gym.

She changed quickly and then put her bag in her locker and closed it tightly before she jumbled up the built-in code. Her swimsuit was black and simple with a racer back and she always felt like she was going to compete in the Olympics when she wore it. It wasn’t the kind you would wear at the beach, but she didn’t mind. She wasn’t there to impress anyone, she was there to work out and feel good.

As she walked through to the other side of the changing rooms that led out to the pool, she pinned her hair up and checked her reflection out in the mirror once more. She hadn’t been for some time and she promised herself that this would be the last time she left it so long.

“You should be here every week,” she told herself as she opened the door and stepped onto the warm tiles around the side of the pool.

For a Friday morning, it was relatively quiet, and she could only assume it was because most people would be out at the community pool or at other more exclusive health clubs that were out in the middle of nowhere in the desert, sunning themselves outside and drinking green smoothies.

She lowered herself into the cold water and gasped for a moment until her body had a chance to acclimatize, and then she pushed off the back of the pool’s edge and began to swim. She set herself a goal of fifty lengths, and then she would get out, get changed and head home to do some housework.

 

She left the gym feeling fantastic, and it wasn’t until she was walking down Main Street that she realized she hadn’t checked her cell phone. She reached into her bag and dug around until she found it. When she tapped the screen to life the first thing she saw was that she had a missed call from her father which had happened around an hour before.

She pressed redial and held the phone to her ear. He answered on the third ring.

“Hi, Pop,” she said cheerfully. “Sorry I missed your call, I was at the gym.”

“Morning, love,” he said. “Not working today then?”

“No, I’ve been given a rare morning off. I couldn’t believe my luck.”

“Must be nice,” her dad said without a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, it is. Is everything alright?” she asked.

“I was just wondering if you could pop on over to the shop?” he asked, and Jess had the terrible feeling that something was wrong.

“Of course, I can, I’m just around the corner. Are you there now?”

“Sure am,” her dad said cheerfully.

She furrowed her brow.

“Okay,” she said almost in a whisper. “Well, I’ll see you soon then.”

Her pop hung up and she looked down at the cell suspiciously.

He rarely called her like that and asked her to go over there without any kind of explanation, and now her mind was racing even more.

But then she remembered, her father wasn’t there alone.

Tank.

He should have been working the day too.

Suddenly, she wasn’t as worried. She smiled and picked up her pace and headed toward Durrett’s.

 

The collection of motorcycles seemed to have gone down from the previous evening, and she felt relieved for her dad that it at least appeared that quite a few of the jobs had gone out the door.

She instinctively scanned her eyes around, looking for Tank and his truck, but there was nothing to be seen and she felt a sag of disappointment.

She approached the big sliding doors with caution and looked inside, where she could see her dad sitting on his big chair at the back in the office.

“Hey, Pop,” she called to him as she stepped inside. “Is everything okay?”

Her dad looked up and waved at her through the glass, and she continued walking toward him.

“Everything’s fine,” he said as he slowly got to his feet and gave her a hug. “But I’m afraid I think I’m going to have to ask for your help again.”

“Where’s Tank?” she asked as she looked around and her dad sighed and nodded his head.

“Ella’s had to come home from school, she’s not very well and was crying all morning.”

“Oh no,” Jess said, genuinely upset for her. She didn’t like to think of that lovely little girl suffering in any way.

“So, in a nutshell, Tank had to take off. But the thing is, we’ve got so much to do around here and he’s anxious to get it boxed off just as much as I am. It’s for the club, you see.”

“The club?” Jess asked with trepidation.

“Yes, Jessica,” her dad gave her a warning look. “It’s for the Forsaken Riders.”

She swallowed and felt her stomach dip.

They really were in deep.

“Do you think you could go and take over? And let Tank come back here?”

Her pop’s eyes were wide and expectant, and she felt relief wash over her as she realized she wasn’t going to be asked to anything more taxing or completely undesirable.

“Of course, I can,” she beamed. “I would love to go and look after Ella.”

Her father seemed to sigh with relief and he patted her affectionately on the back.

“I knew I could count on you. And as it turns out, Tank said he would only leave her if it was with you. Apparently, both of the kids are smitten and talked about you all night!”

Jessica felt her heart swell and she felt warm and full.

“Really?” she asked with a wide grin. “That’s so cute.”

“Yes, you were a hit,” her pop said as he leaned over to his computer to look at the screen and then he started to scribble something down on a post-it note. Jess watched him, but behind her eyes all she could think about was the fact that Tank had said those words… he would only leave his kids if it was with her…

It was almost like being given the highest honor and she felt a pang of want.

“This is their address,” her dad said as he interrupted her thoughts and passed her the post-it. “I’ll call him and let him know you’re coming.”

“Okay,” she smiled as she swung her gym bag back over her shoulder and turned on her heel to leave. “You know, Dad, I can look after them anytime… I have more free time than anyone around here and I’m happy to help.”

Her pop smiled at her warmly.

“I know you would, sweet pea,” he said.

He lifted the receiver of the office phone and held it to his ear.

“Now, come on, get out of here, I need my worker back!” he laughed and so did Jess, and then she headed back out into the desert sun to find her way to Tank’s.