The Long Road Home (13 page)

She looked around. Everything outside was business as usual. Cars around them continued ahead. But there was something different. For a few seconds, she couldn’t place it. Then she realized the sound of flapping plastic had halted. She glanced at the seat beside her. The hook lay empty. Vivian’s dress had disappeared.

Clarisse twisted around to see out the rear window. A black garment floated through the air like a large, monstrous bat. It landed on the windshield of the vehicle two cars down and in the next lane. Its wings hugged the window for a second and slid off, then caught on the vehicle’s antenna, held on for a brief moment, before twirling through the wind and across the bridge. The dress dove over the railing and disappeared.

Mouth gaping, Clarisse turned back in her seat. She closed her eyes and tried not to laugh. How ironic. Vivian had made such a point of protecting that dress, but all her concern had been for naught. She tried to sympathize but failed miserably. “Ah, Vivian. There’s a slight problem.”

“What?” Eyes sparkling with hostility, Vivian peered around the side of her seat.

“Your dress.” How could she explain without getting the woman too upset? She couldn’t.

“What about my dress?” she asked suspiciously.

“It flew out the window.” Clarisse didn’t have to wait long for the inevitable scene.

“What!” The redhead rose to her knees and frantically searched the back. When she couldn’t find her dress, she looked over at Clarisse. Her eyes turned to seething slits, while a dull flush crept into her skin. “You did it, didn’t you? You threw it out the window! Of all the vicious, childish things I’ve seen people do, this tops the list! How could you!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” John laughed. “Clarisse isn’t the type to do something like that.”

She met John’s gaze in the rear view mirror with gratitude. “When John swerved to avoid an accident, it flew out the window.”

“Well, we’ll just have to go back and get it,” Vivian insisted.

“I don’t think we can.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

Clarisse struggled for calm, though it was hard with Vivian sneering at her. “We were on the bridge crossing the
Rio Grande
when it fell off the side. It could be on its way to Mexico by now.”

Vivian slashed a hand through the air. “That’s it. I’ve had enough.” She sounded almost hysterical.

“Calm down,” John said. “It’s just a dress.”

It was the wrong thing to say. “Just a dress!” Her red mane whirled around her as she glared at John. “It’s not just a dress. It’s everything. Ever since I came on this trip, it’s been one thing after another. Well, I’ve had enough!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” John replied with a patience Clarisse admired, “but it’s not like you’re the only one that has had problems.”

“How far are we from the airport?”

“I don’t know, Vivian. Probably only a couple of miles. I think we might have to double back, and I’d have to check the map to make sure,” John said. “But is going to the airport necessary? You can always find another dress in San Diego.”

“That’s not the point!” A dark flush mottled Vivian’s cheeks, and perspiration trailed down her hairline. She looked as if she was going to rupture a blood vessel. “I want out. Come with me, John. Forget the wedding. Come back to New York with me.”

“I can’t do that. I’ve already made a commitment. Clarisse’s sister is expecting me to shoot her wedding and reception. She’s a good kid.” John’s voice tightened with sarcasm. “Besides, what do you propose I do with my car?”

“Have Clarisse drive it!”

“Now, what a minute here. No one ever mentioned me driving,” Clarisse interjected.

Still on her knees, Vivian twisted around and glared. “I didn’t ask you!”

Clarisse jerked back in her seat, while the dog in her lap growled a response. Obviously, the woman was at her wits end.

“See what I mean?” Vivian huffed. “The thing’s growling at me. I never asked for that. And no one said that I’d be driving around with animals or getting flat tires or having the air-conditioner break. I don’t want to stick around to find out what else is going to happen.”

“Have you realized you’re not the only person’s who’s had enough!”

The nasty tone of John’s voice silenced her, and she sank back in her seat. Clarisse closed her eyes in relief. Blessed silence. It seemed John had managed to shut Vivian up. But for how long?

It lasted until the airport.

“Come with me,” Vivian pleaded once John pulled into the departure zone. Exhaust fumes drifted into the open windows while horns honked sporadically.

“I can’t.” The weariness in his voice was unmistakable.

“Please? I’ll make it up to you.” A suggestive smile curving her lips, Vivian twirled her finger in a lock of John’s midnight hair.

“Sorry.” He shook his head and pulled away from her hand.

Clarisse shifted in embarrassment. She disliked listening to such an intimate conversation, especially when it involved John. And seeing Vivian touch him that way set her teeth on edge.

John stepped from the Explorer. As he pulled Vivian’s luggage from the back, she folded both arms across the opened window by Clarisse and leaned forward. Her lips curled into a sneer. “Don’t think this is over. Far from it. I told you John’s mine, and I’m not about to let him go for some two-bit woman in heat. If I hear you’ve made a move on him, I’ll make sure you pay. I still need John to photograph my portfolio. With his name behind me, I know I can make it as a model.” Her face twisted into an ugly mask. “Just wait and see if I don’t find out something in New York. You’ve been hiding something, and I know—given enough time—I’ll find out what it is. Maybe then you won’t be so damn pompous!”

Speechless, Clarisse watched her disappear from view. Well, really. Vivian had given everyone the impression that she wasn’t interested in modeling. And, she suspected, Vivian hadn’t yet confided to John that she wanted his help in launching her career. The question was, would she be able to talk him into putting together a composite? After all, he was out of the modeling business—or so he said.

“Go ahead and change seats while we’re gone. I’ll be back in a bit,” John called before snapping the hatch shut.

She didn’t hear Vivian’s good-bye, but then again she wasn’t expecting a fond farewell from the woman.

Mentally exhausted from Vivian’s tirade, she slumped against the seat and decided not to concern herself with Vivian and John. As to Vivian’s motives, he would find out soon enough, and when that happened, the redhead was in for an unpleasant surprise. John hated being manipulated.

Closing her eyes, she let silence, devoid of tension and animosity, enfold her. She tried to relax under its calming influence, but now that there were no added diversions around her, she became conscious of her leg. Pain shot out from her knee in deep, rippling spasms.

Unable to ignore it, Clarisse rummaged in her purse for her painkillers. She should wait another hour as the prescription directed, but she took two anyway, then nearly gagged as they went down her throat.

When would it all end? She was so sick of her leg, the pain, the pills, but most importantly she was sick of her disfigurement and acting as if it didn’t exist. Impatiently, she wiped away tears. Self-pity wasn’t the answer.

She should look on the bright side, Clarisse berated herself as she absently scratched behind Toto’s ears. Vivian was gone. She looked down at the dog’s big brown eyes and gave him a wobbly smile. “But I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that she left. Now it’ll be John and me. Just the two of us with no distractions…other than you, of course.”

She eased out of the back seat and scrambled awkwardly into the front. The dog joined her, curling up on her lap.

John slipped into the driver’s side, his long legs stretching out in front of him. His broad shoulders swallowed the limited space between them, pressing in on her. She inhaled the clean woodsy smell of his aftershave, and closed her eyes against the desire that unfurled deep in her belly.

She blinked back new tears. She didn’t know how she would get through the next couple of days alone with him. Just sitting beside him sent her pulse racing, and they’d been alone in the car for less than a minute. The next hours rolled endlessly ahead.

No. Her chin inched upward. She would get through these next two days, and John would never suspect she was falling for him all over again.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

She met his raised brow with a determined smile. Even though he appeared relaxed, she sensed the tension in his corded muscles. In the smoky depths of his eyes, she read weariness and a touch of sadness. Vivian’s departure must have hurt.

“Can you grab the map in the glove compartment and tell me what interstate to get on?”

She pulled out the map and folded it on her lap. Red and blue lines melded together. She squinted and rubbed her forehead. The pills, heat and fatigue were getting to her. She found Albuquerque and slapped a finger on the paper.

“Go ahead and go north on 25.”

“Are you sure?”

The paper rattled as she flattened out the creases. She squinted at the spidery lines. So many of them, all colored in blues, grays and reds. “It says it right here.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. Then you want to take 44. You need to keep on that past 4. It will take us to Farmington.”

“I don’t remember Farmington.”

She smiled confidently to ease his doubts. “Probably because it’s a small town.” She refolded the map and put it away, then sank lower in the front seat and promptly fell asleep.

“Clarisse?”

She mumbled something and slapped the hand shaking her shoulder. She wanted to be left alone and slink bank into sleep’s cozy cocoon.

“Clarisse. Wake up.” The hand on her shoulder turned persistent.

“Who—what?” She came out of her stupor and looked around. Desert sagebrush dotted hills touched gold from the setting sun. A brisk breeze flowed through the windows. She shivered and rubbed her arms.

“Grab that map for me.”

She pulled it out of the glove box and snapped on the overhead light.

“I’m trying to find out where I’m at. We’re still in New Mexico, and by now we should have crossed the border into Arizona. Something doesn’t feel right.”

A green sign flashed by. Farmington, ten miles.

Clarisse peered at the map and found Albuquerque. Farmington was a small dot north of it. She swallowed with difficulty. Oh, hell. She couldn’t believe her stupidity. And here she had thought the trip couldn’t get much worse with Vivian gone. Ah! “I think we’re on the wrong road.”

“What? I don’t think I heard you right.”

She tensed at John’s quiet, yet ominous voice. “We’re supposed to get on Interstate 40.”

“So what you’re trying to tell me is that I’ve been on the wrong road for a couple of hours now?”

She sighed, ignoring the heavy sarcasm in his voice. “That about sums it up.”

“Damn it! Do you know what this means? The delay—”

“Sorry,” she muttered tersely, squinting through the windshield at the darkening sky and graying hills. Tears burned the back of her eyes. “But you don’t have to take it out on me. It’s not my fault.”

“Then please—by all means—fill me in on who gave me the directions.”

She struggled for inner strength. “Okay. I can’t point a figure at anyone but myself. But there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“You’re right. We’ll have to stay the night in Farmington.” He shook his head, disgust evident in his face and voice. “This trip has been—forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

Tension gripped the muscles in her back, and she closed her eyes against tears of self-pity. But they came anyway, seeping through her lashes to roll past her cheeks. She looked down at her lap, letting her blonde hair fall forward to shield her face.

It was obvious he wanted to be anywhere but in the car with her. And who could blame him? She hadn’t been exactly the best traveler by dragging around a dog they didn’t need and possibly instigating a wedge between him and Vivian. Now because of her, they were stuck together for even longer.

After a lengthy pause, John said grudgingly, “Maybe after a good night’s rest, we’ll both be better in the morning.”

She wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. This was crazy, but she couldn’t get a hold of herself. The stress of battling Vivian, her feelings for John and the pain in her leg were finally catching up to her.

“Hey, are you crying?”

“Of course not.” She sniffed and looked determinedly out the window. The last thing she wanted was for John to see her in such a state and think of her as some blubbering idiot.

“Yes you are.”

In disbelief, she watched the landscape slow to a standstill. He pulled the Explorer to the shoulder. Fingers twisting in her lap, she struggled vainly to staunch her rising panic. She couldn’t handle prying questions right now.

She sensed his gaze boring into the back of her head. A tissue appeared at the bottom of her vision. She took it with trembling hands.