Face to Face Read Free Page B

was. “Thanks, mister.” She took off for her car as fast as she could
without running. She had to get away in case Ash walked to the back of the lot
to make sure she got to her car, which i s something
she knew he would do.
    Ash’s
voice carried across the parking lot. “You better get out of here, before
someone calls the cops. Don’t try to follow her either. I’ll be waiting for you
to leave.”
    “I’m
going, asshole. The bitch isn’t worth my time anyway.”
Dan stormed off to his car, gunned the motor as he started the engine, and then
quickly tore out of the lot.
    Jess
tried to get her hands to still so she could get the key in the ignition of her
v ehicle. They wouldn’t
cooperate . “Shit, come on, get yourself together. If he sees you, tonight is only going
to get worse.” Talking to herself seemed to work. She slid the key into
the slot, turned it smoothly, and the motor started immediately. With a quick
look in her mirrors, she put the car in reverse.
    Bam! The sudden stop confused her at first.
Looking into her rearview mirror again, she saw the rear end of a truck
illuminated in the red glare of her taillights. “Where did he come from?” There
hadn’t been anyone behind her when she put her car in gear .
    “Perfect!”
She dropped her head to the steering wheel. “This is just wonderful. What else
can go wrong?”
    Tap, tap, tap . “Ma’am, are you okay?”
    Oh my God, there is what else can go
wrong. She had been in such a hurry she didn’t notice him backing out. She could only nod her head at his query. Her heart seemed to
hit the bottom of her stomach when she realized there was no way to get out of
this. He would hate her for sure, but she had created the situation all on her
own. She should have told him exactly w here her new
job was located and where she would be moving.
    Keeping
her head down, she gave him a thumbs up, hoping that would be enough. When Jess
glanced out the corner of her eye, he was still there. She rolled down the
window just enough for him to be able to hear her.
“Yes, thank you.”
    Jess
slowly sat up and looked at Ash through the window. His eyes widened slightly
before he frowned at her. “Jess? What are you doing here?”
    “Well,
I had a date with a colleague. Guess I should have known better.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me you’d be in town?”
    “Um…I
think some people want out. You should probably move your truck.”
    As
he turned, he lifted his head to look at the parking lot. “Fine, I’ll move so
you can get out, then I’ll follow you to where you’re staying so you can tell me what’s going on.”
    He
walked to his truck, not giving her a chance to say no. She hadn’t even
bothered to check for any damage she might have caused backing into his truck.
Of course, she’d pa y
for any repairs needed ,
if he’d let her.
      “Terrific, I should have just let Dan
grope me all the way to my car so I could have dealt with him myself.”
    Now what, genius? She knew Ash was probably thinking she
had a room at the local hotel. How would he react when she pulled into her
driveway?
    As she pulled out of the parking lot and turned left
heading to the house, she couldn’t stop tapping her fingers on the steering
wheel. Her nerves were getting the better of her.
    The
drive to her house didn’t take as long as she would have liked. She had to f igure out how to tell him the truth fast. Her driveway was
just ahead on the right.
    Will he hate me? His disappointment was one of her
biggest fears. She hoped she hadn’t lost his friendship. The turn signal chime
sounded loud in the small confines of her car when
she flipped it on, showing Ash where they were going.
     
    *
* * *
     
    “Jess,
where are you going?” He wondered if she was lost until he saw her turn signal
flash. This is the Cramer place. She must be
renting it while she’s here. He’d always enjoyed th e quiet of
the property at night when he’d spent time here as a kid. The Cramers ’