Page 8 of Nailed

We navigated Cruella back into my parking spot with the two of them pushing and me behind the wheel. Once in place, I pulled the emergency brake. But I didn’t get out. I needed a minute to gather my thoughts. But the two men would probably think I’d lost my mind if I just sat here, so I popped the hood and got out, ostensibly to peer at the engine. My embarrassment was replaced with despair when I saw melted black ooze, still sizzling. Cruella had broken down before, but not like this. This was her death knell; I knew it in my bones.

Sam appeared next to me. I turned away to hide the tears burning in my eyes.

“You okay?”

Too late.

“Yeah,” I said. “Just the end of an era.” I gave him a quick smile.

He smiled sympathetically. “You know, I thought I’d never leave my life down in Guatemala. I loved the agency I was working with and the friends I’d made down there. I’d been thinking about coming home, but I’d been gone so long, and I was scared as shit to start over. But then I got robbed at gunpoint.”

I gaped at him. “What?”

“Yeah. It was shitty as hell. They didn’t get much, but I was rattled. Only now, I’m grateful. Because all I could think about when I was looking down the barrel of that gun was that I didn’t want to die yet. I hadn’t done half the shit I wanted to.”

He must have seen the alarm on my face, because he shrugged. “All I’m saying is sometimes it takes a shitty thing to knock you out of your routine, you know? To make a change.”

I couldn’t help it; I laughed. “I guess you’re right. Not that I saw my life flash before my eyes just now.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend that.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Sam. I appreciate it.”

I did, too. He was good people. And he was right. Cruella dying made sense—it was time for the next chapter in my life. I’d get a new car to go with my new town and my new job. I’d leave Jamie and my confusing mess of feelings for him behind. It would be great. It was all going to be great.

Just then, a thud startled me. I stepped out from behind my hood to see Jamie had flipped open the lid of a giant stainless box in the bed of his truck and was swinging my hard-side suitcase inside with another thud. For a moment, I gaped. That case had to weigh seventy pounds—I’d been sweating by the time I wrestled it down the stairs and through the snow to my car. Then alarm hit me.

“Hey!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing?” I wasn’t riding with him to the conference. There was no way.

But Jamie didn’t even do me the courtesy of throwing me a glance. Or an option. He’d already slammed the lid of the box and was latching it shut. “What are you going to do, Cooper? Take the bus?”

That sounded preferable, honestly. But I needed to be there this afternoon, especially having lost the opportunity to practice my presentation. It was critical to the next steps of my career that this weekend went off without a hitch.

“No, I…” I glanced back at Sam, my mind spinning. I couldn’t ride with Jamie. Six hours in the car with him? He’d throw me off my forward momentum. My future was away from him. As far away as possible. And after this weekend, I’d be able to have that thought without that irritating tugging at my chest.

“Sam’s going to the conference, too,” I blurted. “I’m going to ride with him.”

Sam’s mouth fell open, but I threw him an eager smile, like I’d been thinking this all along.

“Really,” Jamie said. It wasn’t a question so much as a single word of skepticism. “He’s with a builder now?”

My stomach twisted. This was an industry invite-only event, and Jamie knew I knew it. “He’ll be my guest.”

I expected Jamie to have some kind of snap-back at that, but he only shot a glance at Sam as he walked toward Cruella’s passenger-side door.

Sam now looked deeply uncomfortable. I’d backed him into a corner. If he said he didn’t need to go, I’d have to ride with Jamie, which it was clear I didn’t want to do. If he said he did want to go, he’d be dependent on us to get him in, which I knew he’d think was an imposition.

“Are both those going, too?” Jamie asked, ignoring my needs as usual and glancing at the two backpacks in Cruella’s passenger seat.

“Jamie, I already said I’m going with Sam.”

His jaw worked. “So when were you going to tell me? Because except for a few standby tickets, guests have to be sponsored by an outside company. Or approved by the conference committee. But I’m sure you knew that.”

Heat swirled in my chest. Of course I didn’t know that. NowIwas trapped. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just be nice to me for once?

Like he had been by coming by to check on me? Like he was being now, loading all my stuff and giving me a ride?

“It’s okay,” Sam said. “Jamie’s right. It was a crapshoot.” His eyes went to mine, apologetic.

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