She wanted to be sick. Quickly she held down the button to turn off her phone. At the entrance to the loading bay, the mustang crept past. She held her breath and curled into a ball, praying it wouldn’t stop. The car turned, its headlights illuminating the loading bay.
The rain came down harder, the sound like thunder on the roof making it impossible to hear anything else.
Was Tan getting out of his car?
Was he walking towards her?
Tess didn’t dare move.
After a long minute, the light shifted as the mustang backed up and drove away.
Tess exhaled. She was safe.
For now.
Chapter 2
Ed Stokes sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the cold glass window. Windscreen wipers swished through the splattering rain. Mornings sucked. He especially hated getting up before the sun. It was a particular type of torture, which was why he’d delayed waking as long as possible. With no checked baggage, he only needed to be at the airport thirty minutes before departure.
His head thumped against the glass as Sheridan drove over a bump. “You’re not going to sleep on me, are you?” his house mate asked.
“Maybe.” Ed yawned. Hopefully, all this rain wouldn’t delay his flight.
“I swear you’re allergic to mornings,” Sheridan said. “You’d never cut it as a shift worker.”
He shuddered. “Lucky I’m not one.” He’d discovered from an early age that anything too physical didn’t match his strengths, much to his family’s disappointment. A farm boy who didn’t want to farm was unfathomable in his father’s mind. Ed rubbed his chest. Not that his father had judged him for it; he just hadn’t understood. Ed would give anything to be able to try and explain it to his dad again. But that would never happen. He couldn’t believe his parents had been gone for three months.
He blinked away the tears. “We there yet?”
Sheridan laughed. “Almost.” He turned into the airport drive. “I really appreciate you lending me your car while you’re gone.”
Ed shrugged. “I won’t be using it. Better you drive it than it sits in the long-term car park for a fortnight. Cheaper for me too.” He grinned.
“I would not have coped on public transport,” Sheridan said. “Seriously, who would think a little mechanical problem would take two weeks to fix?”
His friend had never lived in the country, particularly not somewhere like Retribution Bay, which perched on the north-west peninsula of Western Australia. There you had to wait for everything. “Couldn’t have you breaking down,” Ed said. “Otherwise you’d never do my share of the work while I was away.”
“Might not anyway. The software roll out is going to be a killer. You’re a lucky bastard to get out of it.”
Ed agreed. It would be a long, tedious process. He’d have to thank Amy and Brandon for the timing of their wedding.
Sheridan pulled into the drop-off zone of the airport, slamming on the brakes as a young Asian woman ran in front of the car. Her eyes widened, hands hitting the bonnet. She was drenched, water dripping from her long dark hair and clothes, backpack sagging, but the terror in her brown eyes turned to relief when she met Ed’s gaze, almost as if she was expecting to see someone else.
“You OK?” he called.
She took a breath before nodding, raising a hand in apology and running away.
Ed rubbed his shoulder where the seatbelt had bitten in. “She’s in a rush.”
“I think she took two years off my life,” Sheridan said.
The rain continued in a steady, pouring stream. No point waiting for it to let up. He’d get soaked. Damn it. “Pop the boot so I can get my bag.” Ed shoved open the door.
“Yep. You’ll call with your arrival time?”
“Sure.” More than once. If he didn’t, Sheridan would forget to pick him up.
He shut the door, ducking his head against the rain, and swung his backpack over his shoulder. He stepped onto the pavement, under a shelter, and waved as Sheridan drove off.
