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“It’s just another eight hours. I’ll grab a coffee at the next stop.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re tired, O.”
“Don’t call me that.”
She pushed the palm of her hand against her forehead. Calling him O like the rest of his family came natural to her. Even after years apart.
“Sorry.”
She glanced up just in time to see him nod.
He sighed. “I’m not wasting any more time by stopping at a—”
“Mommy… I have to go…”
Tara turned in her seat. “Hi, sweetie. Did you have a good nap?”
“I really have to go,” Frankie said as she wriggled in her seat.
Tara gave Owen a pleading look that he immediately picked up on as he said, “Okay, the next stop is two minutes from here. Can you hold it up for another two minutes, Fluff?”
He smiled at Frankie through the rearview mirror, and Tara felt an irrational sting in her heart. He used to smile at Tara exactly like that.
She remembered the first time he smiled at her. It had been her third day in Winter Peaks and her mother had finally found a job as a chambermaid in a hotel in town. Tara and her mother went into the town’s bistro to celebrate the good news with a caramel sundae.
Normally, her mother never celebrated anything so Tara had been excited to go. The moment they stepped into Jenny’s Mountain bistro, Owen looked up from aiming his pool cue. She would never forget his cheeky grin and how it made her knees wobble.
Tara had been seventeen and still in her awkward phase when she instantly crushed on the most popular guy in town. She had no clue if he was just checking her out because she’d been new in town or if he was actually interested in her.
She’d glanced over her shoulder to check if he was watching her walk out of the bistro with her sundae and smiled at him when he did. This went on for about a week before school started and she stepped into the school bus to attend Almida High School. Owen sat down next to her on the bus on her first day of school after the summer.
She had felt safe with Owen. There was just something about his stupid boyish grin and his all American good looks. He’d made her feel welcome in a way that nobody ever before him had ever done. Like he couldn’t wait to be around her and talk to her.
He asked her out on a date two days later and took her out on a bicycle trip. He never once complained about her huffing and puffing, since she had never rode a bike before—let alone over the steep mountain hills. Owen helped her with his characteristic blinding smile on his face, like nothing she ever did or didn’t do would put him off from her.
Thinking back to that time of her life, she realized that she had never been happier than she was that year as Owen’s girlfriend.
“I’ll try to hold it. But Mommy says it’s not good to hold in your pee,” Frankie said.
Tara snickered. “I say that because you much rather do other stuff like reading your books, so you hold it in even though your tummy hurts.”
Owen’s hint of a smile evaporated the moment their eyes locked.
Yep. He was never going to forgive her.
“Ah, there’s another rest stop. I think there’s even a motel with a nice bathroom and comfy beds,” Tara said, not caring to throw in a little help of her daughter to persuade Owen to rest for a few hours.
“Can we go to the motel? Please…” Frankie said.
Owen’s jaw ticked, as he must have figured Tara out. She pulled a brow at him, silently daring him to call her out on her shit.
“You’re not playing fair. I don’t even know why I’m still surprised.”
She pushed away the hurt his words caused. Tara grew up knowing that she needed a thick skin to survive. Her parents had made sure of that.
The exit sign came up and Tara said, “We could rest for just a few hours before driving the remaining eight hours. I could also drive after I had some sleep, so you don’t have to drive everything.”
Without acknowledging her, he turned on his signal and headed for the exit.
