He walked faster.
Of all the people he could’ve imagined running into at the airport today, Isabella Whitley would’ve been the last person to cross his mind. Of course, he knew she was coming for the wedding and Eight Days of Christmas, but he assumed she would’ve made it to Pineridge by now. Not very shocking she would wait until the last minute, though.
That’s what selfish people did.
Isabella hadn’t always been so self-centered. As a kid, she’d been the complete opposite. She was the brave girl who saved a bat trapped underneath the Whitley’s wood deck. The generous girl who brought her mom’s famous stew to the homeless guy who sat on the corner of Oak and Third every time he caught a cold. And the attentive, lovestruck girl who huddled on the ice-cold metal bleachers every Saturday during hockey season to support him. She’d even somehow convince her family to join her. Isabella was persuasive like that.
Until she wasn’t. Until she’d given up on him.
Onthem.
After watching her harass poor Ben, Leo suspected Isabella had lost those skills of persuasion. More importantly, something told him she’d lost a critical quality that went along with being persuasive. She’d lost the sweetness he’d loved about her.
They reached the car rental kiosk and Leo took his place in the long line, dropping his duffel at his feet, and searched on his phone for the best route from the Omaha airport to home. He’d made the drive a few times over the last couple of years but never in winter—never in the middle of a snowstorm.
Isabella stomped up behind him and exhaled loudly, but he ignored her. He didn’t owe her anything. Especially not a conversation. That was thelastthing he wanted. Unless she was finally ready to offer up an excuse for leaving him and never coming back.
When he didn’t take the bait, she grew impatient. “So what exactly is your plan here?”
Leo didn’t pull his attention away from his phone to bother glancing in her direction—she didn’t deserve it—even if his hungry eyes craved to take in every inch of her.
Izzy—as a woman. It was something that, no matter how much he’d prepared himself by looking at pictures of her on Norah’s Instagram, still took the breath from his lungs. She was gorgeous. But he’d had no doubt that she would be.
“Like I said, I’m going to rent a car and drive. I suggest you do the same.”
They moved up a few spots in line, and he pushed his duffel bag forward with the toe of his boot. He took a couple of screenshots of the route in case he didn’t have cell service along the way. He felt Isabella’s impatience behind him, radiating like flames from a fire, but he forced himself not to look at her. Allowing her beauty to complicate his feelings for her wasn’t an option. He hated this woman.
“How long do you think it will take to drive the six hundred miles?” she asked.
“Depending on the weather…eight to ten hours.”
“Eight to ten hours?” she repeated, agitation in her tone. “And you expect me to rent my own car?”
“Yep.”
“You don’t find that a bit ridiculous, us renting two cars when we’re going to the same place?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her, gritting his teeth. “No.”
“You’re probably right. We wouldn’t last twenty minutes in a car together.”
“Agreed.”
The customer service rep called, “Next!”
Leo slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and shuffled to the counter. He slid his wallet from the front pocket of his jeans and handed his driver’s license and credit card to the guy behind the counter.
“Afternoon, sir. This is your lucky day,” the man wearing a navy-blue sweater vest announced.
Leo stared at him, incredulous. His flight had just made an emergency landing, putting him in an entirely wrong state, and he’d just ran into his high school sweetheart who had gutted out his heart six years ago. How lucky could he be?
“You just snagged our last car available.”
Leo arched a dark brow. “I was actually hoping for a truck. Or anything with all-wheel drive I guess would be fine too.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” The rep tapped the keyboard, glancing at the computer screen. “But like I said, we have one last rental. It’s not all-wheel drive but I can assure you it has all-season tires.”
The way Leo saw it, he had two choices—pass on the rental and hope he got on another flight in the morning or take his chances on the tin can on wheels.
