Page 75 of Hauling Ashe

Julia’s gaze swivels from Mae to me and back to my reluctant driver. “Are you staying at the resort?”

“No,” Mae says again while I command, “Yes.”

Again, Julia glances between us. Her mouth opens and then shuts. “How will you get home if Mae doesn’t stay?”

The question is legitimate. I’d already cancelled the car service despite not having assurance Mae would return me—us—to Chicago.

“I’m afraid I was a one-way ticket,” Mae says. I step forward, ready to argue with her, but Julia’s unexpected hand on my arm stops me.

“I’m just glad you’re finally here. I was getting worried.” The softness in my daughter’s voice reminds me that she has already suffered a great loss, and I hate that I’ve caused her additional concern, especially as this weekend should be a highlight in her life. Hopefully, she’ll find the happily ever after I didn’t have.

“I should…” Mae hitches both her thumbs, one pointing more aggressively at her car covered in dust and splattered with bugs. Bird feathers are still caught in the grill at the front. I fight the smile caused by memories from our trip. Sadness also fills me. I don’t want her to go.

“Stay,” I whisper, breaking from Julia’s hold.

Mae’s eyes shift from me to Julia behind me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she mutters.

I know her concerns, but my hands clutch at her shoulders. Our eyes lock, and I soak in the warmth of her looking at me, while reluctance laces those bright eyes.

“Dad?” Julia’s tender voice is like an ice bath, reminding me why I’m here.

“Congratulations,” Mae states to my daughter, slowly slipping her arms from my grasp. “You’re very pretty, and you’ll make a beautiful bride.”

Glancing back at my daughter, I note her red hair and pale skin is nothing like her mother’s, and yet every feature is somehow one-hundred percent Rochelle. After Rochelle died, I boxed up all her photos, sending what I thought Julia might like to her and storing the rest. Mission number one upon my return home will be to get rid of those images.

Mae makes her way around the car.

“Where will you stay?” I question. We fought almost every night we stopped for lodging, and I paid the bill. As she opens the driver door, I call out her name, “Mae.”

“I’ll find some place nearby for the night.” Her voice drops, and I circle the car.

“Don’t do this.” My own voice lowers as I near her open door, positioned like a shield between us. Cognizant that my daughter is watching me interact with this stranger to her, I struggle with what my heart wants most.

“Mae,” I warn again. She can be so stubborn.

“Enjoy your wedding and congratulations,” she says glancing over the car, addressing my daughter before slipping into the driver’s seat and tugging the door closed. Firing up Louie, the engine purrs to life, and I want to throw myself against the hood to stop her from leaving me.

Instead, I step back, and Louie glugs forward.

“Dad, who was that?” Julia asks, stepping up to me as I watch Mae pull away.

“She was…” My cross-country driver? My new friend? My whole heart?

“Dad?” I blink at Julia’s voice. Turning to face her, I fight the sudden ache in my chest and the desire to lash out, calling Mae a mistake.

“She’s nobody,” I lie, wrapping an arm around my beautiful girl, who has grown into a confident woman. “Now, where is that future son-in-law of mine?”

The term is strange on my tongue, although I’m hoping in time, I might get to know a little better the man who has captured my daughter’s heart.

“He’s inside with a few of the others.” Julia hesitates. “Daddy, I have a surprise for you.”

I’m not certain I can handle any more surprises after the week I’ve had. Mae was the surprise of a lifetime. Peering once more at the now-vacant spot on the drive before the entrance, I exhale.

“What’s the surprise, Jellybean?”

She smiles at the endearment. “You’ll see.” Her anxious smile does nothing to reassure me, but she slips her arm around my waist and leads me forward. Everything in me fights the pull to take one more glance over my shoulder. I release one final hope into the universe, wishing on geraniums and rainbow-arched bridges, that Mae might change her mind. She might come back to me, but as we cross into The Vineyard Inn lobby, I accept that Mae is gone.

And my heart just drove off in a vehicle named Louie.