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“Better safe than sorry,” he grumbled. He got out of the car and ambled over to the grassy area in front of the washrooms where there was a water drinking fountain and a couple of trash cans. A big metal map on an upright frame showed the local area and places of interest. Jordan moved past them and took up a spot with a direct line of sight to the entrance of the brick building where Chloe had gone.
Finally, she reappeared. The mother and daughter followed close behind. Jordan took two steps toward the group but catching Chloe’s eye and the brief shake of her head, he halted in his tracks. She wasn’t in any sort of danger.
The young girl, who Jordan guessed was around ten years old, was beaming from ear to ear. She kept smiling at Chloe and saying, “Oh my god. Mom. Oh my god.”
His bratty pop star road-trip companion had met a fan.
Chloe made her way over to Jordan. She nodded at his phone, then handed her own to him. “Could you please take a photo of us on your cell, then take one on mine so I can share it to my Instagram?”
Jordan narrowed his eyes. “What?”
She turned and gave a finger wave to the girl and her mother, then came back to Jordan. “If you take one on my phone, then I can decide when it gets posted to social media, and I can tag Mandy and her mom. The other one, on your cell, well, that’s for you. I wanted you to have something to remember this trip by.”
“Oh.”
“I figure a happy roadside snap would be better than remembering how you spent the whole trip to Vegas silently hating yourself for the shitty way you treated me.” She leaned in close. “You know that bit where you walked out of my life and smashed my heart.”
Jordan’s phone slipped from his fingers. It landed on the stone edging near the water fountain with a horrible smack. He bent and picked it up. The screen was cracked all the way from the top left to the bottom right. It was broken, but still working. It was a small win, and after the past few months, Jordan would take any win.
I smashed her heart. Seriously? Was Zapp a figment of my imagination?
Fixing a smile firmly to his face, he righted himself. Chloe had already gone back to talk to Mandy and her mother, leaving Jordan with no other choice but to do as she had asked.
This is the gig, remember? Make the star of the Las Vegas show happy. Make Bryce, Dad, and the board of Royal Resorts happy.
The eyes of the young Chloe fan shone bright with delight. Even her mother looked more than a little starstruck. Jordan could just imagine their surprise at walking into the rest stop bathroom and finding a world-famous pop star at the basin washing her hands.
“Hi, are you Chloe’s boyfriend?” gushed Mandy.
Her mother had the good grace to mouth. “Sorry.”
Heat burned on his cheeks, kids certainly knew just how to skewer your pride. That question had Jordan drawing deep to find his best, award winning smile. “No, I’m just a friend of Chloe’s. We decided to go for a drive and ended up here. We will be heading back to LA now.”
The last thing they needed was for word to slip out and for people to get in their cars and start looking for Chloe on the highway.
He took Chloe’s phone from her, waiting patiently while she and her fans got themselves organized. For the next few minutes, Jordan took plenty of photos. There were pictures of Chloe and Mandy, Chloe and Mandy’s mom, Chloe, Mandy, and Mandy’s mom. And a dozen variations on poses, smiles, and kisses to the camera.
With his own phone, Jordan took a simple one of Chloe and Mandy hugging. Then when she wasn’t looking, he snapped off one of Chloe as she stood saying her final goodbyes. Jordan got Mandy’s address and gave a solemn promise that he would make sure to send her a signed copy of one of the photos. And a Chloe T-shirt.
Many ‘I love you’ and hugs later, Chloe finally said goodbye to Mandy and her mom. Jordan followed her back to the car, and after climbing in, gently placed his damaged phone into the center console. He pulled the SUV back onto the highway, feeling a touch guilty at having lied to Mandy about his and Chloe’s destination.
“Thank you. That was nicely handled,” said Chloe. She lay her hand on Jordan’s arm for a brief moment. His body stiffened at her touch.
All his brave notions of not allowing Chloe another second of living rent free in his head and heart now revealed themselves to be nothing more than a thin layer of hope. Her touch had torn his resolve to pieces.
There was only one thing he could do to stay sane.
Get to Vegas, and then create as much space as possible between me and her.
As the tires of the SUV gripped the highway, he was certain that the universe was gently laughing at him, waiting for the moment when it could throw his life yet another curveball.
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
Jordan decided he wasn’t going to wait for that ball to hit him smack in the middle of his face. A little way past the town of Baker, California, he turned off the highway and onto a dirt road. He drove a good half mile before finally pulling the SUV over and turning off the engine.
Chloe hadn’t spoken a word to him since their last stop and he couldn’t stand the silence any longer. The tension was killing him. An isolated road in the middle of the desert seemed as good a place as any to have things out with her.
But Chloe was one step ahead of him.
