“You’re right,” I said as I carefully laid my hands on her arms. “It’s not a game. For me, it’s my livelihood. I have to prove it’s legitimate. That’s not a game to me. But I don’t give a shit about that right now. If you’re going to travel by yourself, I’m putting you on a plane. But if you’re insistent on driving after that kind of news, then I’m coming with you.” I cupped her cheeks and brushed away her tears. “You can send me home when I know you got there safely.”
Willow closed her eyes and leaned in to my touch. “I’m scared of flying. I have to take a pill to keep from having panic attacks, and I don’t have any right now.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Then where are we driving?”
“Manhattan.”
I pulled back and gave her a curious look. “Baby, I don’t know if you know this, but you can see the Empire State Building right outside your window.”
Willow cracked a slight smile. “Manhattan,Kansas.”
9
AUTUMN
VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS
“Icannot believe I agreed to this,” I grumbled as we finally broke free of the New York State line.
Ryan was wearing a Cheshire grin as he navigated through the midnight traffic. He had stayed with me while I finished packing and checked out of the hotel. We drove to Queens, where he took my car to a mechanic who, apparently, “owed him a favor.”
While the mechanic looked it over, topped off the fluids, and checked the tire replacement job Ryan had done, Ryan walked me to a small, two-bedroom house. I curled up on a couch in a tidy living room while he rummaged through his bedroom and packed what he needed. We took naps through the evening, woke up, ate sandwiches and chips, then hit the road.
I traveled light. The upside to this impromptu change of plans was that my storage unit was in Kansas. I’d be able to swap my summer clothes for winter ones if I was there for the three months I had intended to spend lakeside in Michigan. Ryan, however, was not used to my kind of minimalism.
He had stuffed his three suitcases and backpack into the backseat right where I usually slept when I was doing a long solo drive and needed to pull off the road for some shuteye.
There was a benefit to traveling alone. I didn’t mind sleeping in the backseat, which meant I saved money on hotels. I could listen to whatever music I wanted to. I could blast a raunchy audiobook as loud as the speakers would go, and no one was around to judge me. I could stop and get whatever I wanted to eat without taking someone else’s preferences into consideration.
But now, Ryan was in the driver’s seat, and he was driving me crazy.
He reached across the center console—thank God for that—and squeezed my knee. “Thanks for letting me come with you.”
“Don’t make me regret it, Ford,” I clipped as I rested my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes.
I was exhausted. Never in a million years did I think I would get the call from Lisa saying Shep had died. Never in a million years had I planned on picking up my life and driving through the night to Kansas. And never in a million years did I imagine I would be making that drive with Ryan Ford.
“You doing okay?” he asked in a gentle rasp as his thumb worked back and forth across my leg.
His touch was . . . nice. It was comforting. I let out a sigh. “Yeah.”
Ryan gave my knee another squeeze, then put both hands on the wheel. “Good. Keep hanging in there.”
I immediately missed his touch.
I watched the little arrow icon move along the digital road as Ryan drove, following the GPS. We made it through Newark and had just crossed Allentown when the rain started.
Ryan flipped on the wipers and eased into the left lane. Puddles sprayed onto the shoulder as the tires sped over the rain-drenched road.
Rain.
Shep.
Skidding across wet roads and flipping down an embankment.
Oh god . . .
I shut my eyes and tried to breathe, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to cry in front of Ryan. Not again.
