“I wouldn’t dream of it. I still have some left over from my lunch bill today.”
“How much?”
“Why do you sound so skeptical?”
“Because you are fairly vibrating with distress. Now tell the truth.”
“It’s less than two dollars.”
He whistled through his teeth. “That won’t even cover your hotel room.”
“The room was already paid for by my sponsors. The remaining money is for meals and such.”
That was a pitifully small amount for a multi-day trip. “I’ll loan you the money, then. You can pay me back when we return to Seattle.”
“Thank you, but no. If needed, I’ll wire the Society for more funds.”
“And skip a meal in the meantime? Not a chance.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “I can take care of myself, you know.”
“I never said you couldn’t. I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable when you don’t have to be.”
“Mr. Donnelly, enough.”
She could protest all she wished; the moment she needed money, he would be ready.
“These are fresh wheel marks,” he said instead. “This must be the main road.”
He shouldered their baggage, not missing Winnie’s small sigh of relief. Despite her admirable determination, she was wilting, and her pinched lips made him suspect the missing heel was more uncomfortable than she let on.
“We’ll be there soon.”
But his optimism waned to a sliver as the scattered rain clouds that had shadowed them all afternoon converged into one menacing mass, and gusts of wind whipped down the country road, driving them backward. Worst of all, when he looked around the surrounding fields, he didn’t recognize a thing.
A half hour later, Winnie stumbled to a halt. “Admit it. We’re lost.”
Mack resisted the urge to snap back at her irritated tone. “It appears so.”
“I don’t understand. How many roads are there to Oak Harbor?”
“There’s the main road, and then there are the smaller roads that lead to individual farms. We’ve somehow been pulled into that labyrinth.”
Just then, fat, cold raindrops fell from the sky.
“For Christ’s sake.” Whathadn’tgone wrong on this cursed leg of the journey? So much for his good intentions.
“It’ll stop soon,” Winnie said over chattering teeth.
Not for the first time, Mack got the sensation she was trying to prove something. To herself, him, or the world, he didn’t know. But in the deteriorating elements, her blind determination could lead to disaster.
“We have to keep moving.” He transferred both valise handles to one hand and hooked a bracing arm under Winnie’s shoulder. “Keep an eye out for any lights that might indicate a farmhouse. We’ll ask to board for the night.”
“What about that one?”
Mack followed her finger. “I don’t see anything.”
“There’s a reflection over there. Maybe it’s a window?” She shimmied out from under his arm and limped into the fields.
