* * *
Three Hours Later
When we returned to the tourist zone, the only sign of life was the guy at the ticket booth. All the cars that were in the parking lot—including ours—were long gone.
What the…
“What happened to our car?” I asked Asher.
He didn’t answer.
He strolled toward the stand where we’d checked it in and held up his keys. “Where the hell is my car? I paid you fifty dollars for parking.”
“Ah, yes. I remember you, Mr. Brooks.” The guy smiled. “I’m Omar. Nice to see you again.”
“I won’t be able to say the same until you tell me where my car is.”
“I see how it is.” Omar nodded, then he looked at me. “What exactly is his problem, Miss?”
“We actually have the same one today.” I cleared my throat. “We arrived here in a car and it seems to be missing.”
“It’s not missing,” he said. “I loaned it to a friend so he could run a few errands in town. It’ll be back before sunset.”
“You didwhat?” we yelled in unison.
“No worries, no worries.” Omar smiled. “I told him to bring it back with a full tank of gas. Go enjoy some activities until then.”
We stared at him.
“I’ll give you a great discount on snorkeling.” He pulled out a brochure. “You’ll pay half price.”
“We’ve had enough activities this week,” Asher said. “We need to get back to the Excellence Resort.”
“Oh.” He tossed the brochure into a bin.
“Is there another sentence coming after that ‘Oh,’ Omar?” Asher asked.
“Yeah…” He nodded. “I can have my friend drop off your car there as well. So, if you’d rather not wait, you can walk to the bus station.”
“Where is it?”
“Down there.” He pointed as if there was something in the distance other than a winding road. “See?”
“No,” I said. “Are there signs we can follow?”
He shook his head. “You’ll know the stop when you see it. Blue and white, right in front of an old coffee warehouse.”
“Okay…” I held back a sigh. “How far of a walk is it?”
“Eh, six miles, give or take, if you cut through that walking path instead of walking alongside the road.” He smiled. “But for two young folks like you? It’ll probably feel like just one.”
Twenty-One
PRESENT DAY
KATIE
It didnotfeel like one mile. At all.
