No, wait-that wasnt wind. Trucks. It came to him that what hed been listening to for a while now was the sound of big diesel engines and a whole lot of tires churning past him down the on-ramp, one after the other. The rest stop was clearing out fast. A check of his mirrors showed him an empty parking lot, but for one nondescript gray late-model four-wheeler in the back row, over by the doggy-john. Somebody else having a nap forgot to leave a wakeup call, he thought.
He had himself a stretch to get rid of the kinks and cobwebs, then gathered up his junk-food wrappers and soda can and climbed out of his truck-one last stop at the rest room, he told himself, and hed be headin back out on the road himself.
The air was warm and soupy, but he was a Southern boy, and to him warm and soupy was the way it was supposed to be in the springtime. Wet dogwood petals dotted the grass and sidewalks and the roof and hood of the parked car, and the air smelled of crushed leaves and mud, with a sweetness from some sort of plant he couldnt identify, and maybe a hint of something rotting off in the woods somewhere. Smelled just right to him. Like spring.
Spring wasnt C.J.s favorite season of the year, though. Spring can break your heart, was the way his momma, Betty Starr, put it, stoic after a late freeze had wiped out her saucer magnolias and flowering crab apple trees for the umpteenth time. C.J. preferred fall, with sky so blue it made your eyes ache, and that indefinable touch of melancholy in the air.
Then he had to laugh at himself like any Southern-raised boy would at such thoughts-even though he knew the momma whod raised him wouldnt have laughed. Betty Starr was a schoolteacher whod brought up her three daughters and four sons to enjoy books and reading as much as they did hunting and cars, and to have an appreciation for the softer aspects of nature that was at least on a par with a fine deer rifle or the inner workings of a gasoline engine.
In spite of that, given the circles in which hed grown up and spent most of his life, C.J. had gotten in the habit of keeping poetic notions to himself.
Excuse me, sir
Lost in his musings and shaking water from his hands as he emerged from the restroom, C.J. damn near jumped out of his skin when the slender form stepped out from behind the wall that screened the entrance, blocking his way. She had both hands tucked in the front pocket of her sweatshirt, and her neck looked fragile as the stem of a flower rising out of the folds of the laid-back hood.
Whoa! he said, rocking back and putting out his hands in the exaggerated way people do when they almost collide with somebody, but at the same time turning on his smile, full wattage, to let her know he wasnt put out about it. Maam, I believe youve got the wrong door. The ladies is around there.
He would have gone on his way, but she seemed inclined to stay where she was. Though she didnt return his smile.
Im sorry to bother you-
Hey, no bother-what can I do for you? C.J. was radiating charm from every pore. And that didnt have anything to do with the discovery hed just made that the woman was a whole lot prettier than hed first thought she was, in a strange, almost fairy-tale sort of way, with a ballerinas neck, little delicate chin, soft lips and skin so fine it seemed lit from the inside. But hed have turned on the charm in equal measures for a freckle-nosed kid or a ninety-year-old with a face like a road map. That was just his way.
I need to ask you a favor. A reallybig favor. A smile flickered briefly, as if some distant voice had prompted her to mind her manners. It struck him how tense she was, like a deer in that last instant before she figures out youre watching her and bolts for the bushes.
Ill be glad to do what I can, maam, C.J. responded automatically. But he was beginning to feel uneasy now, too, just a faint Uh-oh whispered in the back of his mind. The last thing he needed right now was more delays.
My car wont start. Im afraid it might be the alternator. I was wondering if you-
Be glad to take a look for you. Relieved that what she wanted was something he could give her without taking up too awfully much of his time, he was feeling confident and was already walking off toward the only remaining vehicle in the parking lot. That it over there? He spun back and held out his hand. Got the keys? Wont take me but a minute-
No. There wouldnt be any point in you looking at it. She was standing where hed left her with her hands stuffed deep in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She was shaking her head, and her voice was a hard, flat monotone. Im sure its dead. What I wanted to ask you was-
No. There wouldnt be any point in you looking at it. She was standing where hed left her with her hands stuffed deep in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She was shaking her head, and her voice was a hard, flat monotone. Im sure its dead. What I wanted to ask you was-
Did you call Triple A? Really uneasy, now, he was remembering the cell phone, and the anxious way her big-haired friend had watched her make the call. Not wanting to, he also remembered the little girl with the haunting eyes.
Theyre backed up-a lot of accidents, they said. Because of the storm, I guess. Those get priority, so they said thered be at least a two-hour wait. That was an hour ago.
Well then-
I just called again. Now they tell me its going to be another two hours. We cant stay here that long. We cant.
It occurred to C.J. that her voice might be easy on the ears without that edge of tension in it. As it was, its very quietness gave her words an urgency that set his teeth on edge and raised the volume of the warnings in his head to a holler.
He scratched his head and mumbled, Well, maam, I dont know what to tell you Truth was, he was stalling, because he was pretty sure he knew where this was heading and what she was about to ask of him and wanted to hold off disappointing her and her friend-especially that little girl-as long as he could.
At the same time he was beginning to resent the hell out of her for putting him in a position where hed have to.
If you could just give us a ride to the nearest-
Damn it. He elaborated on the swearing under his breath while he shook his head and rubbed unhappily at the back of his neck. Maam, I wish I could do that-I do. Im not allowed to pick up passengers, okay? I could lose my job. Which was sort of a lie-the part about losing his job, anyway. His brother might chew him out good, but he wasnt going to fire him. On the other hand, the no-hitchhikers rule was something all the Blue Starr drivers understood and agreed on, mainly because it made basic good sense. Picking up strangers was dangerous, especially the female variety. Those could complicate a drivers life in ways C.J. didnt even like to think about.
But because he was softhearted by nature and hated to let anybody down, he looked at this particular female and tried on his best smile, dimples and all. Unless its a matter of a life-or-death emergency, I suppose thatd be different.
It is.
C.J. narrowed his eyes and didnt say anything for a minute or two; shed caught him off guard with that, with the quiet tension in her voice and those silvery eyes never leaving his face. He felt a prickling under his skin, a kind of itchy-all-over, shivery feeling that made him think of the way an animals fur lifts up when hes feeling threatened. He couldnt have said why he should feel danger connected with such a fragile-looking woman, but right then he was pretty certain if hed had fur it would have been standing on end.
Are you in some kind of trouble? he growled without stopping to clear his throat.
She made a sound hed have sworn was a laugh, except her face didnt look like she thought anything was funny. She spoke slowly and deliberately, as if to a not-very-bright child. I thought Id made that clear. My car is broken down. I need you to take me-us-to the nearest town. Right now. As in, immediately. Do you understand?
The urgency in her was so palpable C.J. actually stepped backward. His mind was racing, looking for explanations that would make sense to him. Wait- Howis somebody-
She didnt wait for him to work his way through it. Closing her eyes, she gave a regretful sigh and withdrew her hands from the front pocket of her sweatshirt.
Momentum carried C.J. through. -hurt or someth- Then his hands shot up in the air without his brain even telling them to. A natural response to the gun in her hand. Aw, jeez.
Im sorry, she was saying in that same quiet but urgent way, I dont have time to explain. I said we have to leave here immediately. This- she gave the gun a little wave, a very little one, she wasnt being careless with it -is to let you know how serious I am about that. I will shoot if you-
She interrupted herself with an exasperated sound and a hissed, Oh, for heavens sake, will you please put your hands down? You look silly with them up in the air like that.
Not to mention what its gonna look like to anybody who happens to pull into the parking lot right about now, was C.J.s thought-his first coherent one since shed pulled the snub-nosed pistol out of her sweatshirt pocket.
He snorted and muttered crossly, Yeah, well, it seemed like the thing to do when somebodys pointin a gun at me. Sorry-guess I just dont know how to act. He did lower his hands, thoughslowly. Now that the first shock was fading, he was starting to get good and mad, and he ground out the rest of it between gritted teeth. Ive never had anybody threaten to kill me before.
She made a grimace, the first sign of honest-to-God emotion hed seen in that fairy-princess face. I did not threaten to kill you. I said shoot-I meant in some nonlethal place, of course. A leg or a foot, maybe. Anyway, I promise you wont like it. Plus, although Im a fairly good shot, theres always a chance youll move and make me nick something important, like an artery, oryou know. So I suggest you dont start weighing your chances. She paused, then added, And I can really do without the sarcasm. I dont do this sort of thing every day, you know.
Coulda fooled me, C.J. muttered. Youre pretty damn good at it. His heart was pounding and he felt sweat beginning to trickle between his shoulder blades.