“We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!” the kids shouted in unison.
Alka-Seltzer had nothing on the relief bubbling up inside Sara as she got her first glimpse of the small town.
“Whoa, look!” Trevor pointed out the window as a large body of water came into view. The surface of the blue water shimmered as the midday sun bounced off of it. As she stared at the serene vista, a sense of complete peace settled over her. It took her a moment to recognize it, since it wasn’t something that she felt often. Her mind quieted, which was a rare phenomenon for her.
From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, until she closed them at night her brain was a flurry of activity. If it was a computer, she’d have at least ten tabs open at all times with a running tally of to-dos like the stock market ticker constantly scrolling through. She’d tried meditation, several times, but she’d never been able to master shutting off her brain.
Until now.
Sara felt her eyes watering as she pulled into a parking space at Goldilocks Gas N’ Go. They were here. In Whisper Lake. They’d all made it in one piece, and Sara still had a tiny sliver of sanity left.
“Is that a castle?” Trevor asked, pointing across the street as they piled out of the SUV.
Sara’s heart lodged in her throat as she glanced over her shoulder and saw the structure that was the very one she’d seen featured in the background of Grandma Betty’s picture. “It is.”
“That’s so cool!” Trevor enthused.
“Does a princess live there?” Charlotte’s eyes widened as she spoke with a hushed reverence.
“Maybe.” She gave her patented mom answer. In her experience it was better not to deny or confirm anything. Ever. “Okay, guys. Let’s go. Bathroom only, no snacks. And sorry, bud, you have to come in the ladies’ room.”
“No, Mom!” her son protested. “Come on!”
She ignored his objection. She knew she was overprotective. She just didn’t care. Her babies were her whole world, and she would rather err on the side of safety.
“I want gummy worms,” Charlotte whined.
“No snacks. Right after this, we’re going to go get lunch.” She pressed on as she reached across the console to grab her purse.
Sara always made it a point to lay down ground rules and expectations before going into any public place in hopes there would be less of a chance for breakdowns once inside. Did the plan always work? Nope. But it had a higher success rate than going in blind.
“But Mom, I’m starving! Please!” Trevor begged.
“I want gummies!” Charlotte cried and started kicking her legs against the seat. “I can’t get my buckle off.”
“Just wait. I’ll help you.” Sara opened her door, but before she made it back, she heard more screaming.
“No, don’t touch me!”
“I was helping!” Trevor yelled.
“Mommy’s helping me!”
Sara closed her eyes for a moment and reminded herself that once her kids got out, stretched their legs, and got some real food in their bellies, they’d be back to being her angels. Well, maybe angels was pushing it, but at least they’d be back to their normal semi-angelic selves.
She opened the back passenger-side door and reached in to unlatch Charlotte’s booster-seat buckle as Trevor continued to tug at her seatbelt.
“Stop,” Sara barked, then inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth and tried to soothe the sting of her harshness. “Thank you for trying to help, Trev. I’ve got it.”
“Fine!” He huffed as he opened his door and slammed it shut.
Sara flinched at the loud sound as she helped her daughter out of her seat. When she’d gotten out of the SUV to get Charlotte, she’d noticed a sandwich shop across the street. Mentally, she made a list of next moves for the day. Sara lived her life by lists and rules. She always had a game plan. Which was why this spur-of-the-moment trip was so out of character for her.
Bathroom. Food. Lodging. Lake. Dinner. Showers. And then finally…bed. Her shoulders relaxed the way they always did when she had a solid game plan. Things had been a little hectic during the road trip, and schedules had been a joke, but now she could get things back on track. She took a deep breath when she heard her son’s voice going a mile a minute.
“My dad has that tattoo, but his letters are different. His say U.S.A.F. He doesn’t live with me. He’s going to have a new wife. She’s not going to be my real mom, though. I have a mom. I don’t know the lady yet, but she’s going to be my stair mom—”
Stepmom, Sara mentally corrected her son.
“Trevor Paul!” She called out his first and middle name, hoping to get his attention as she rushed to pick her daughter and purse up and stop her son from spilling their entire life story to some unsuspecting passerby, which had happened more times than she could count. Trevor had come out of the womb friendly and outgoing. As much as she tried to drill into him the concept of stranger danger, he still spoke to almost everyone he came in contact with.
It didn’t surprise her that her full-name warning went unheeded, and she heard her son explaining, “That’s my real mom! She’s getting my baby sister ’cause she’s cranky. We’ve been in the car forever. We’re going to have lunch so we can’t get snacks.”
“Trevo…” Sara’s voice trailed off as she rounded the back of the SUV and saw her son pointing to a tattoo of hanging dog tags with the letters U.S.M.C. beside them. The tattoo was on a muscular arm that belonged to a very tall, very sexy Marine.
Being rendered speechless was not something Sara Kellan experienced often, or ever. But that was exactly what was happening now. When her gaze traveled up the sculpted forearm and biceps and along the chiseled chest, she worked to form a cohesive thought but was unable to. As her eyes continued north over the sprinkle of scruff along the strong jaw of the man that had sent her into the unfamiliar state of muted lust, and her gaze met an emerald green stare surrounded by a thick bed of inky lashes—a jolt of awareness shot through her.
Yep. This stranger was definitely danger…to her.