“So?She always tells her dates that in advance.Didn’t my mom tell you that we came as a package deal?”Huffing, I try to laugh it off.“Lucky for you I’m leaving.”
Another sigh as Ben shifts back to stare ahead through the windscreen.He doesn’t get my little joke.
“The man settled the bill, walked your mom to her car, and told her he would message her soon.”
Interesting.My mom has a trick for when that happens.She waits for the man to begin walking back to his car and then follows him, pretending to want to give him something.
A business card or a phone number.Anything that will allow her to leave the man with a lingering impression of her fabulous ass as she sashays away from him for one last time.
“Amelia got out of her car to give the man the diner’s contact details in case he wanted to come by for a coffee.”
Bingo.Thank God the apple fell far from the tree with me and Mom.
“But he didn’t go to his car.He was meeting up with someone who was waiting for him around the corner.And when your mom saw who it was her date was meeting up with, she knew she’d been conned.The man had been a front all along.”
The interior of the truck is stifling.It’s got no AC, and the dust from the road seems to be settling in a cloud around me.
There is only one person who would go to all the trouble of setting up a sting to entrap my mom.
Piers Jordan the Third.
I think I must have said the name out loud, because Ben agrees.
“Ay-yuh.The same.She didn’t mean to be indiscreet, Aila, but what’s done is done.”Ben risks giving me a side glance.“Now, do you begin to see how awkward this is?Your mother says that will have put him back on your track.”
That has to be the understatement of the year, Ben, but by all means spell it out for me.
Ben starts to count the facts off using his fingers.“This Piers fella might know where you are.And if he knows you’re on Landslide, all he has to do is post someone to wait for you when the ferry docks on either side of the lake.Amelia says this is the closest he’s come to locating you since college.”
Well, that’s a lie.But it’s a lie I prefer to keep to myself.
When Ben lays it all out on the line like that, my future doesn’t look so bright anymore.
Bye-bye to all those lovely dreams I had of being able to travel and have a career.This is what it feels like to have a sword hanging over my head when the thread holding it up is about to be cut.
I have made a huge mistake.
“Ben, can you please take me back to my mom?”
“No, Aila.Not if you are going to cause a fuss.Amelia had no idea that man was a decoy.You can’t blame her.I won’t let you.”
How sweet it must be to have someone in your corner, ready to defend you.
“N-no, it’s not like that.I just want to be with my mom.For a hug.”
I’m right back to being that scared little teenage girl with hidden bruises and low self-esteem.Goodnight moon, and all.
“Brave girl.I told Amelia that you would understand.Here’s Mr.Steele with the hayride.The holidaymakers catch a ride with the hay wagon, and I transport their luggage.Nothing like a hayride on a balmy summer evening to set a nice tone for the rest of the vacation.”
Jerry Steele is sitting atop a tractor pulling a wagon lined with hay bales behind him.It’s a cute touch, but I’m in no mood to appreciate it.
Hopping out of the truck, Ben waits for Monty to let down the back of the ferry to form a gangplank.In the deepening twilight, I see a large group of people begin trooping down it.When they reach the wagon and hay bales, they begin to separate into smaller groups, chatting excitedly with each other.
For one crazy moment, I am tempted to grab my bags and make a dash for the ferry.I am sane enough to realize that would only give me the illusion of escape.
Four people are still waiting on the ferry for the crowd to thin so they can disembark.
A woman is pushing her young kids forward, telling them to be careful because it’s slippery.
