Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s nothing to worry about.” His gaze wandered from her and fixed on Chris, assessing him. “You’re the mechanic,” he stated.
“Yes, Sir,” Chris acknowledged.
Hayley righted herself. “Daddy this is Chris. He brought me. He’s my....” she trailed off though.
“Your what?” her father asked.
“My...well boyfriend, I guess, but it’s not the right word. He’s so much more than that.”
“My name is Chris, Sir,” Chris offered. Just then the door opened and Mrs. Davis slipped in. “Well, I guess Hayley, Sarah’s, told you about me,” he said, addressing both of them. “She lives with me. We’re....together,” he announced, as though he couldn’t think of the right word for himself, either.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Davis practically gushed. “Thank you so much for taking care of her.” Her weepy gaze turned to her daughter. “Oh, Sarah.”
“Mom-” she began to admonish.
“No. We- so much is different. Daddy and I are so sorry. About everything.”
“It’s not your fault,” Hayley insisted.
Mrs. Davis just shook her head. “We didn’t think- didn’t want to believe. We just wanted it to be over. But you kept telling us it wasn’t. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry we couldn’t accept it. And then the letter came and you left. And that awful reporter showed up with all these files. And she kept talking about a multiple murderer and all I could think was that I didn’t believe you when you said he’d still try and hurt you. We could have left with you, sweetie. We could have sold the house. We could have-”
“No. Mom, no. Leave dad’s job? And grandma? Come on. That wouldn’t have worked.”
“Sarah, we could have-”
“No,” Hayley insisted. “Just...no. I needed to be on my own anyway. I-” She sighed. “It’s not your fault, honestly, but you were so adamant that I just move on and I couldn’t. So I had to go. Not just for you but for me, too.”
Mrs. Davis gripped her only daughter in a tight hug and cried again. “I’m so sorry for all he took from us. From you.”
The younger woman only returned the hug. “He didn’t take it all, Mom,” she whispered. “I swear to you. He didn’t get it all.”
************************
Hayley bid her parents goodnight with a promise to return the next night. She and Chris slipped out the hall again as Mrs. Davis once again distracted the night nurse. They took the stairs and then let themselves out of the side door. Chris kept an eye on their surroundings, searching for anything that might pose a threat to them. Satisfied there was nothing, he guided Hayley to the SUV and got into the driver’s side.
As he started the engine, Hayley leaned back against the seat and let out a long sigh. “I’m tired,” she declared.
“Me, too,” Chris agreed.
“But I can’t sleep,” she informed as he pulled out of the garage, checking the rearview for a tail.
“Me, neither,” he admitted.
Hayley pointed to the right at the end of the street. “Turn here,” she told him. Which was the opposite direction of the hotel. He swung right and pressed the gas. “Take the exit to the highway,” she said and Chris waited until the last minute to edge over to the on-ramp.
“What now?” he asked as he merged with the light traffic onto the Interstate.
“East,” she proclaimed. “Head east.”
“How far?”
“Til we run out of road.”
They arrived just before dawn and parked in the last public lot. Chris swiped his credit card at the meter and Hayley started up the boardwalk. He could just make out the dark shapes of dunes and a gentle breeze shook the reeds on either side of them. Hayley took off her canvas shoes and tossed them on the sand. She waded into the still-warm water, the waves were at her calves, but only barely splashing her shorts.
Chris could only watch her, with the .38 weighing down his ankle. She stood a few minutes in the water running her fingertips through the waves occasionally. When it was time, she turned and walked back to him, her toes making temporary patterns in the wet sand. He held her as they watched the sunrise over the Atlantic.
“Can we come back?” she asked over the sound of the gulls flocking to the empty beach.
“You mean tomorrow? Yes.”
She shook her head, which was nestled underneath his chin. “No. I mean later. In the future. Can there be a next time?”
Chris’ heart surged along with the waves as he realized what she was saying. She loved them. She missed them. But she was coming home with him.
“Yes,” he promised her. “We’ll come back.”
The next night, they slipped into the hospital again and Chris sat in the chair in the corner while Hayley told them as much as she could about her life in South Dakota, without ever mentioning the words South Dakota. Her father, if he survived his heart attack he caveated to the glares of the two women, had just gotten a promotion at work and her mother was thinking seriously about selling the house in a few years and moving to the beach. Chris was struck by how much of the conversation was blissfully normal.