Chapter One
Hailey
Hailey stifled a yawn as she drove through the closing darkness, making sure to keep her eyes on the road. The red glow of taillights popped up sporadically as she passed other drivers. The roads were quieter than usual, most people already having made it home for the holidays.
She pressed her lips together and swallowed hard.Home for the holidays. The words conjured the perfect image of a perfect family sitting around a tree, passing out gifts as they laughed and joked and enjoyed the festive season together, and— She swallowed hard, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.
No. There was no point dwelling on how things could have been. It was pointless. Fantasizing would only distract her, and she couldn't afford that.
Not right now.
Hailey palmed her damp eyes and then clamped her hand back on the wheel. Damn Michael for pushing her to this. Damn him for—
The single mother flicked a glance in the rear-view mirror to the back seat, where Riley slumbered peacefully in his booster seat. The sight eased the tension in her chest, as it always did. Never mind about Michael. Riley was all that mattered. He was here, and they were doing just fine on their own. And if Christmas was going to be a frozen meal in a cheap motel room this year—well, at least he would be too young to remember it. And maybe next year, they wouldn't need to be running anymore.
In a few more hours, they'd be tucked up in another anonymous town, their third one this month, and they could stay there until the new year. It was the longest they could risk staying anywhere. But at least they wouldn't be moving around during the holidays. The last time she'd pushed it and stayed too long, Michael had shown up, and... well, that wasn't important now. She'd learned from her mistakes.
She pulled out to pass a truck, and then dropped back to the inside lane, watching idly as the car behind her tucked in again. It had been a long day—a long six months—and she'd be glad to make it to their motel, booked under a fake name. Another mistake she'd had to learn from.
It wasn't the sort of thing she'd envisioned having to learn. This wasn't the sort oflifeshe'd envisioned having. Worse, this wasn't the way she'd envisioned having to raise her son.
He deserved better than this...and he deserved better than the way his father had treated them, too. She would find a way to give him the life he deserved. But for now, she just had to focus on keeping them safe.
She glanced in the rear-view mirror again and blinked hard, momentarily dazzled by the lights of the car behind. Hailey frowned. What sort of moron drove that close? Idiots...
Anxiety raked at her stomach. Come to think of it, that same gray sedan had been following close behind her for quite a while now. It could just be a coincidence—shewastaking the most time-efficient route—but experience had taught her that she could never be too careful. Just to be sure, she should probably...
As soon as she could safely do so, Hailey shifted lanes, watching to see if they would pass her by. The car whizzed past without incident, and she blew out a breath as the taillights carried on into this distance.
Just a coincidence, then.
Relief hollowed her gut and she shook her head, blowing out another bitter breath. It wasn’t fair that they had to live with this constant fear. It wasn’t fair that fear was robbing Riley of his childhood. And if ‘fair’ was some fairytale that she should have been too old to believe in, well, she could have lived with having just that one bit of naivety in her life. That, and the hope—no, the knowledge—that one day things would be better. She’d made Riley a promise, and if she had to go through a rough time before she could keep it, then fine.
Paranoia had become like a second skin to her. Even the slightest bump in the night was enough to startle her awake; her rapidly beating heart making it difficult to fall back to sleep. It meant she was constantly on edge, making it difficult to socialize and get to know anyone new—as if moving from place to place hadn't made it hard enough. Hailey hadn't made a single friend in the half a year since she'd left her partner. Her two-year-old son had been her only constant companion.
Hailey's lips twitched upwards into a rueful smile. It wasn’t like it was all bad. Riley was the most perfect companion anyone could ever want, and she would gladly go to the ends of the earth for him.
It was fully dark outside now. The lines of white paint outside her window disappeared past at an even, hypnotic tempo. Her vision blurred with the effort of keeping her eyes open. She flicked a glance at the radio, but pulled her hand up short. She didn’t want to risk waking Riley. Poor kid’d had a long enough day as it was.
Another yawn slipped past her lips. She shook herself awake, trying to stay focused. A quick glance at the glowing green clock on her dashboard made her groan. It would be another hour before she reached her destination.
Perhaps she should try to find somewhere closer to stay, at least for tonight. It would be dangerous to continue driving in her current state. She could end up putting the car in a ditch, or worse, drifting into oncoming traffic, not that there was much traffic around now. There had to be somewhere closer with vacancies.
Her eyes burned at the thought of resting her head against a cool, soft pillow. Eventually, the fantasy proved too tempting to ignore—especially when she passed a sign announcing the entrance to a small town at the next exit. Alabaster Grove. It sounded perfect. More importantly, it was far enough in the middle of nowhere that they were bound to have at least one room vacant.
She took her foot off the gas and eased it onto the brakes. The exit was long and winding, giving her ample time to slow down. Tall pine trees towered over her on either side as she moved further and further from the main road, seeming to block out any light coming from the highway, and leaving her in total darkness.
It was peaceful, but also eerie. Like she and Riley were all alone in their own little icy world. She smiled to herself in wry amusement. Now there was a perfect metaphor for her life right now.
Still, she was more than a little eager to return to civilization. So much so that she didn’t notice that another car had snuck up behind her until it was too late. It smashed into the back of her with a sickening crunch and a jolt, sending the car into a spin. A swirl of red and green lights danced across her vision as Hailey lost control of the car. A yelp burst from her lips and she pumped her foot hard against the brakes, but the car plowed on, skidding across the icy road. Panic squeezed her chest so tight she couldn’t get a breath. Riley was in the back. Riley.
The car lurched over the curbside and shunted into a steep embankment of snow, stopping its movement dead.
She stared wide-eyed into the wall of white for a long, shocked moment, then twisted round, her eyes frantically hunting out the small shape in the back. The band around her chest didn’t start to lessen until she saw him still strapped safely into his seat, and, somehow, still asleep.
She could have had the radio on, after all.
A laugh bubbled from her throat and then she couldn’t stop. What a ridiculous thought!
