Chapter Fifty-Two
In the morning, Sam woke alone. The other side the bed was still made, which could only mean Garrett hadn’t slept in the bed with her.
The silence in the house unnerved her as she sat up. No water was running in the bathroom. No coffee perking in the kitchen. No sounds at all.
She slid out of bed and pulled on her sweatshirt to go search for him.
He wasn’t anywhere.
“Garrett?”
She climbed the steps to the loft where his workout room was. It was dark and empty. She went out onto the front porch, pulling her sweatshirt closer against the cold.
“Garrett?” she yelled louder.
That was when she noticed the truck was gone.
She froze, shock electrifying her body, and then betrayal swept in. “Oh, hell.”
He’d left her.
Since the first day they started this journey together, that had been her single biggest fear. For a multitude of reasons.
Her heart seized up, and she turned to go back in the house.
Just then, Garrett emerged from the door that led to the garage. “Did you call for me?” he asked.
With an effort, she calmed her heartbeat back to a normal pace. “I didn’t know where you were. I thought you’d left me,” she confessed.
He came closer and kissed her forehead before touching her lips with his. “Never.”
His promise was reassuring, but…untrue. Someday he would leave her, and there wasn’t anything either of them could do about that. She watched as he walked back into the garage where he was working on the truck. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to see him walking away that final time.
Her heart would break. That was inevitable.
Something was off when Garrett came in later. He washed his hands quickly and ripped a paper towel from the roll. “Pack up your clothes. We’re going out today.”
“We’re leaving?”
“No, just a trip to the store. We need more food.”
They’d gone through this before. They always packed and took their things with them, in case something happened and they couldn’t get back. Standard operating procedure, he’d said.
She nodded and packed up her clothes. When she picked up the game of Risk they had started and never finished, he stopped her.
“Leave it. We’ll be back. This is only a precaution,” he assured her.
She nodded and took a deep breath. Everything was fine. They just needed food.
Although she knew for a fact they still had food in the freezer.
Doubt began to twist in her stomach as she got in the truck. She put a smile on her face in an effort to quash her suspicions.
They listened to the radio on the hour-long trek to the store. There was a store closer, but he said he didn’t want to stop so close to the safe house. It made sense.
He had a nice singing voice. She smiled as she listened. Every once in a while, he would kiss the back of her hand and smile. Her earlier unease nearly vanished.
Nearly.
Until he leaned over and kissed her, still keeping the truck on the road, and whispered, “You are amazing,” then turned the radio up and started singing louder.
That was when her heart felt like it might burst with happiness. She was still smiling when they stopped for gas.
He circled the gas station, twice looking for cameras before he pulled up to the pump and got out.
“Do you want a drink?” she asked.
“Sure. Something with caffeine.” He unscrewed the fuel cap, his eyes moving around the parking lot, scouting for danger.
The bell on the door dinged as she entered the small store. The place smelled like gas and the hot sausages that were rolling back and forth on a mechanical grill. She used the restroom then headed for the case with the soft drinks in the back of the store.
She took a moment to study the colorful bottles for the one with the most caffeine. The bell dinged again as she made her way to the register by the front entrance. She was halfway up one of the three aisles when she froze.
The cashier was short and skinny with peroxide blonde hair. And she looked terrified.
Sam ducked down at the end of the aisle by the slushy machine, and drew her Glock.
There was another series of dinging, and then talking. There were two men standing at the register, both wearing flannel shirts and ball caps. One man was pointing a gun at the cashier and motioning for her to come out from behind the counter.
From where Sam was crouched, she could see the other man point in her direction and say something to the first guy.
Sam was trapped. She couldn’t get to the door.
Then again, she didn’t necessarily have to. The whole side of the building was glass.
But what about the terrified cashier? The first guy now had her by the throat. Sam couldn’t just leave her.
Now she knew what Garrett must go through, having to look out for her all the time.
She took a steadying breath, and shot the man holding the cashier. He went down. The woman screamed.
Sam ducked behind the rack just as the second man spun and fired at her.
Bullets peppered the glass behind her. But it didn’t explode into the escape route she’d expected. Instead, tiny holes appeared in the glass with a few spidery cracks radiating from them.
Ah, shit.
She heard gunshots coming from outside. A third man? She had to get to Garrett.
Where was guy number two? He was no longer at the counter.
She peeked out from behind the rack in both directions and didn’t see him. The gum and candy aisle was wide open. She stayed low and ran up the aisle.
Right to where the man was waiting.