Savannah snuggled into her mom’s arm. “Do you think they’ll like me?”
Trista smoothed a few strands of hair away from Savannah’s face. “Honey, they are going to love you.”
A knock on the door startled Trista. “Go ahead and get ready. I’ll get the door. It’s probably Frank wanting to let us know that he’s going to get the tire fixed.”
Trista made her way over to the door and paused. She turned and watched as Savannah disappeared into the bathroom. A warm feeling came over her. It felt good finally connecting with her little girl. They had spent months fighting, and now it was as if a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Another knock on the door brought Trista back to the moment. “I’m coming,” she said.
She opened the door and froze as the weight found its way back onto her shoulders, nearly bringing her to her knees.
“Aren’t you gonna at least invite me in, darlin’?”
Chapter 17
Seth
Seth looked at Frank and then back at the snow-covered car. The hope he had felt when he saw sunlight pouring through his window this morning had faded as he stood amidst about twelve inches of snow. “How are we going to get out of this?”
Frank took his hands from his pockets and blew warm air into them. “I’m sure there’s an ice scraper in the car.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Seth said, pointing to the unplowed powder that covered the road.
“Oh, that,” Frank said, staring at the road. “I bet the plows will be by any minute now. Let’s focus on the car and hope for the best.”
Hope for the best. That was easy for him to say. Seth watched as Frank used the sleeve of his jacket to remove snow from the driver’s side door before disappearing into the car. Seth felt bad keeping Frank in the dark about Tuck, but he knew what Frank would want to do. Spend the day in some Podunk police station telling Barney Fife about some insane, love-obsessed tow truck driver who was stalking the crazy woman they had picked up on the side of the road in the middle of the worst storm Nashville had seen in more than a decade. No one would believe the story. Besides, Seth didn’t even know who Tuck was. And how on earth would Tuck ever find them anyway in this small town?
Frank started the car and then leaned out and waved for Seth to get in.
“Be right there.” Seth walked over to the car and knocked inches of snow from the passenger door, sending it smashing onto the ground. He opened the door and watched as more snow cascaded down onto his seat.
Frank laughed as Seth tried to brush the snow back out into the parking lot. “Yeah, it’s real funny,” he said, not bothering to hide his frustration.
“That’s why you have to knock the snow off above the door opening.” Frank continued laughing.
“I can see that now. Thanks for the tip, Frank.” He sat down on the seat, the snow beneath him soaking into his jeans.
“What’s eating at you, Seth?”
He looked at Frank and frowned.
“Nothing. Why are you asking me that?”
“I don’t know. You just seem wound up all the time. I get the feeling that you’re not enjoying life too much.”
“Enjoying life! Are you serious? Look around us, Frank. We’re not exactly going to get out of this country bumpkin hole we’ve found ourselves in anytime soon.”
Frank sat back, his smile gone. He studied Seth for a few seconds.
“What?” Seth insisted.
“I know I’m not hip to what’s going on in the world of music, but based on Savannah’s reaction and a few of the people we’ve run into on this trip, you’re some kind of celebrity.”
“What’s your point?”
Frank paused before answering. “How does someone who has accomplished so much with his life fall so far down?”
Seth looked away, rubbing his tattoo as he stared out the window. He thought about Faith and the look on her face the first time she realized what snow was. She couldn’t have been more than two years old. She had pointed at the flakes that had fallen on Lexi’s hair and called them sugar. Seth had thought Lexi was going to fall over from laughing. He looked up at the bed and breakfast and wondered how things could’ve gotten so messed up. His jaw tightened as he bit back tears.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Frank said. “I see so much pain in you. You should talk to someone about that. It would help.”
“Really?” Seth said, turning to Frank. “Well, let me ask you something, Frank. Are you a married man?”
Frank nodded.
“Imagine this, Frank. You lose your wife to a horrible accident. And it’s all your fault.” Seth wiped a tear from his cheek. “And then you have to tell your little girl. Your
innocent
little girl, who’s done nothing bad to anyone in her entire life. And you have to tell this perfect little girl that her mommy is gone. Never coming back. And that she’d be here now if only I had…” Seth lost control. The tears he had been holding back for the past year came, and there was no stopping them.
Frank placed a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, Seth. That’s…I’m so sorry.” Tears were in Frank’s eyes now as they sat in silence.
A few minutes passed. Seth looked over at Frank, this strange man who had given him a ride when all hope had been lost. And now they sat together in a rental car in a town whose name he couldn’t remember, and they were crying. Seth couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Frank joined in, and before he knew it, they were both laughing aloud.
“I bet that’s the last time you ask a stranger that question again,” Seth said, wiping his eyes.
“Let’s consider it a lesson learned,” Frank said, smiling. Then he pointed at the rear window. The defroster had melted the snow, and Seth saw a snow plow truck clearing a path to the main road. “Looks like we’re getting out of here after all.”
Relief fell over Seth. “It’s about time something actually started working out for us.”
“Come on,” Frank said, slapping Seth on the shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. There’s a little girl who’s depending on you. And speaking of little girls, we should probably let Savannah and Trista know that we’re leaving.”
Seth swallowed. “About the girls. There’s something I should probably tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s about that Tuck guy, and it’s not good. Last night I couldn’t sleep. I went down to the bar to…let’s just say it was to talk to the bartender, and Trista wandered down there.” Seth paused, but Frank didn’t say a word. His eyes remained focused on Seth. “Anyway, she told me a little about the Tuck guy she mentioned earlier when she thought Savannah had been taken. She said that he was her ex-fiancé. And he sounds like the bad news type of ex if you know what I mean.”
“I had a feeling that he was someone close to her, but I didn’t expect an ex-fiancé.”
“Yeah, I guess he started a business using almost all of Trista’s savings to fund it.”
“That’s awful.” Frank turned and stared out the windshield. “What kind of business?”
Seth rubbed his stubbly chin. “She said it was a tow truck company, but I guess he did mainly repo jobs.”
“What’s the name of the company?”
Seth shook his head. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. Why?”
Frank was silent as he stared out the window. Seth followed his gaze and found a large white tow truck with the logo T & T on the side. The same logo he had seen on the baseball cap on the man in the lobby yesterday.
Seth swallowed. “Frank, I think we need to get inside right now.”
Chapter 18
Trista
“You don’t look so happy to see me, baby.” Tuck released a smile that sent chills down Trista’s spine.
She tried to shut the door, but he put his steel-toed boot inside, making it impossible. “Aw, is that how you treat your fianc
é
? After all, I traveled all this way to find you. Just like I said I would. Remember?”
“You need to go! It’s over. We’re over. And if you don’t leave, I’ll call the cops.”
“You do that, baby. In fact, maybe I’ll call the cops. And when we’re talking to them, let’s tell them all about how you drugged me and then stole ten thousand dollars from me.”
“That’s not your money. That’s mine. I saved that money.”
Tuck forced the door open and let himself inside. “Your money? I don’t think so, baby. That’s the business’s money.” He pointed at his chest. “
My
business.”
“You are so crazy, Tuck. You know good and well that that money is from my savings. Money that you’ve been using to fund that black hole of a business and your strip club dinners.”
“Hey, that hurts. Startups take time, baby. And those strip club dinners are part of doing business. I can’t help it if my clients pick those places to eat.”
“Clients! You go there with your slimy brothers and cousins.”
Tuck took a few steps inside. “One and the same, baby. And let’s not drag family into this. At least I have family.”
Anger fueled her blood. Tuck knew exactly which buttons to push. “I have family.”
“Sure you do, baby. You’ve got me.” He pointed at his puffed-up chest again. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and bounced a few times. “This looks comfortable.”
“What are you doing?” Trista walked back to the door and opened it. “You have to go. I don’t want you here.”
“Now that hurts me, darlin’. I traveled through that horrible storm to find you. To rescue you.”
“You’re the one I need rescued from. And how did you find me here, Tuck?” A question she’d been wanting the answer to ever since she had found his hand-drawn note on the window.
“Are you seriously asking me that?” he asked. “I’m offended. I repo cars all the time. It’s my job to find people who don’t want to be found. It’s what I do. And it also helped that Savannah has a GPS on that smart phone you bought her.”
Trista instinctively turned toward the bathroom and then back to Tuck. “Please go. I’ll meet you downstairs at the restaurant, and we can talk there.”
“Talk? I’m way past talking, baby. I just want what’s owed to me.”
“Okay, I’ll bring you the money. Just please go.”
“Now I’m insulted. You think I only came here for the money?”
Trista shifted her weight to her other foot and placed both hands on her hips. “Do you really think I’m coming back? If you do, then you’ve got another think coming. Because I’m not ever coming back to you.”
“It’s just a request, baby,” he said, smiling.
Just a
request.
Just the word sliding out of his slimy mouth was enough to make her stomach coil. She took a breath and gathered her courage. “I don’t care about your
requests
anymore.”
“I had a feelin’ you might say that, baby. So I came prepared.” With a wink, Tuck reached into his khaki-colored Carhartt coat and pulled out a gun.
Chapter 19
Seth
“I wish you had said something to me first thing this morning,” Frank said, getting out of the car. “We have to tell her what you saw. And we have to go to the police.”
“And what are we going to tell them? That we saw a tow truck that may or may not belong to her psychotic ex? Then what?”
Frank shook his head and headed toward the front door of the bed and breakfast. Seth turned toward the road and looked at the path that the snowplow had cleared. No matter how badly he wanted to leave, he knew that Frank was right. He shut his door and ran after Frank. “Wait up!”
They walked into the lobby and headed straight for the stairway. Frank didn’t say anything as they walked up upstairs. Seth wanted to apologize, but he knew that now wasn’t the time.
After reaching the third floor, they headed for Trista and Savannah’s room. A scream sent them running the rest of the way. Seth reached their room first and stopped when he found their door slightly open. Adrenaline pushed through his veins, but nothing could prepare him for what he found when he entered the room.
Savannah and Trista sat on a small couch with a large man standing in front of them waving a gun. It was the man from the lobby. Seth knew now it was definitely Tuck. Frank took a step forward to get a better look, and the wood creaked beneath his feet, causing Tuck to glance over at them.
“Looks like the cavalry has arrived. Come on in, boys. Join the party.” He pointed the gun in Seth and Frank’s direction.
Seth walked in slowly. His heart pounded.
“Now who do we have here, Trista?” Tuck walked over to Frank. “What’s your name, old timer?”
“Frank. And I’m guessing you’re Tuck.” Seth had to give it to Frank. If he was scared, he was doing a good job covering it up.
“You’d be right.” Tuck turned to Trista. “Looks like I’m quite the subject of conversation.” Then he turned back to Frank. “What has she told you about me?”
Frank didn’t respond.
“I’ll bet she didn’t tell you what she did to me. Or what she
stole
from me. Hmm? I bet you didn’t tell that part did you, baby?” He turned to Seth. “And who do we have here? What’s your name, pretty boy?”
Seth didn’t respond. It took every bit of restraint he had to keep from punching Tuck in the face.
“Not much of a talker, are you? Well, you were sure talking good last night at the bar.”
Seth looked him in the eyes.
Tuck nodded. “That’s right, pretty boy. I saw you two.”
“Why don’t you just leave? This isn’t going to end well for you.”
“So he does talk,” Tuck said, holding up the gun. “Let me tell you how this is going to end, pretty boy. I’m going to get my money. Then me and the family,” he said, pausing to wave his gun in the direction of Savannah and Trista, “are gettin’ out of here. No one has to get hurt. This is all just one big misunderstanding as far as I’m concerned.”
“We’re not going with you,” Savannah demanded.
Trista pulled her daughter close. “Shh. Don’t say anything.”
“Listen to your mother, dear. She’s givin’ you some sound advice.” Tuck waved his gun at Seth and Frank, motioning for them to stand next to Savannah and Trista. “Look at you four. You look like a bunch of pathetic losers.”
Frank placed his arm around Savannah. “It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry.”
“Aw, you’re like the grandpa she never had.” Tuck leaned in close to Savannah and whispered, “I bet your real grandpa would have thought you were a little brat.”