Damn. Damn. Damn. She brushed at her cheeks and took a deep breath. This was fine. She would simply deliver the line about a family emergency to his face instead of in a note and then be on her way.
She opened the door and plowed into her story without giving him time to say another word. “I’m sorry Kaeden. I can’t talk now. I have a family emergency. I need to catch a flight out of here in an hour.”
He raised a brow. “The nearest airport is 70 miles away so I don’t think you’re going to make it.”
She didn’t answer him. She had become a very adept liar in the last two years but him catching her like this had flustered her beyond words. She’d been so concerned with giving him a timeframe that wouldn’t allow her time to talk to him that she’d forgotten that the airport was so far away.
She went to her bag and continued throwing things into it.
He stepped into the room and stood behind her. Too close. So close she could feel the heat coming off him and wanted nothing more than to sink into his arms and let him tell her everything would be alright. That he would help her in this. That she didn’t have to keep carrying the weight of her mother’s safety on her own.
“Joy, tell me what’s going on.” His words were soft and low, but forceful just the same.
She shook her head, zipping up her bag.
He went to her drawers and started to pull them open. They were empty.
“You’re taking everything,” he said.
She nodded. “I don’t know when I can make it back.”
The words nearly broke her. She could see the sun beginning to break through the windows, soft and muted the way it was at first daybreak. Evelyn would be waking up now. If Joy didn’t leave, she was going to have to face more than just Kaeden, and looking into his eyes and saying goodbye was going to be hard enough.
Why did he have to come? Why did he have to push her like this?
He came and put his hands on her arms, his chest pressed to her back, strong and tempting.
“Talk to me. Tell me how I can help.”
She did the only thing she could. She pulled away and lashed out. “You can help by getting out of my way so I can leave. I need to get out of here.”
She grabbed her bags, the two small suitcases that held all she had left and walked to the door. If she didn’t leave now, she wouldn’t make it. She wouldn’t be able to walk away and everything in her was screaming that she needed to go.
The thing was, she still didn’t know where to go. Her gut was telling her to go to her mother, to protect her, but she was terrified of leading Turner there. And terrified he was already there.
She pulled open the door. She needed to run. Needed away from this man so she could think. So she could figure out her next move.
As her foot hit the porch, Kaeden spoke.
“Jane!”
She didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Maybe she’d misheard him. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her.
She felt him come up behind her but he didn’t put his hands on her this time.
“I want to help, Jane. I want to help with whatever it is that sent you running two years ago. With whatever it is that has your mom in hiding.”
Her shoulders slumped and she let her bags fall to the floor. And then she broke as sobs wracked her body.
Kaeden’s arms came around her and he pulled her in close, shushing her as he held her.
She didn’t know how long they stood there. Long enough for the sun to come fully up in the sky, for the world to come alive around them. When the first cabin door opened somewhere down the row and the sound of children’s laughter broke the air, Kaeden pulled her inside and shut the door.
“Tell me everything, Jane,” he said, pulling her down next to him on the small couch on one side of her cabin and taking her legs to drape them over his lap.
She took deep gulping breaths and tried to settle herself enough to talk. It took time and a lot of tissues before she was ready.