"We have a special with eggs, bacon, and pancakes if that suites you."
"Yes!" she said too fast. Farrah cleared her throat and said a little quieter and a little less psychotic, "Yes, I'll have that please. And water."
Clara looked at her a moment longer and gave a little nod. "I'll get that in to the cook and bring it right out."
The waitress bustled back through the swinging door, and Farrah wrapped her hands around her stomach as if it would keep her hastily eaten meal of peanuts in her guts. Nausea was such an unfortunate part of her current journey. She'd give her snow boots if she could just feel better. Leaning her head on the countertop, she squeezed her eyes closed and pursed her lips.
"Are you all right?" Aanon asked in a deep voice. Now he was standing right beside her.
"I'm awesome," she muttered. What did she care what he thought of her? Aanon didn't even remember who she was. She'd be in here to eat breakfast and then never see the man again. Unless she was unfortunate enough that he still lived in Cooper Landing. But, no. No one had wanted to escape that small town as much as Aanon.
Except for maybe her.
"You look like shit," he observed.
"Sir, your flattery will get you nowhere with me." She rolled her head to the side and stared up at him. Pursing her lips, she sighed. He was even more beautiful from this angle. How obnoxious.
"You know, this isn't exactly a tourist stop," he said, taking his seat three down once again.
She wasn't even going to explain that she wasn't exactly a tourist. The longer he went without recognizing her, the more embarrassing it became. It wasn't like The Landing was a big place. The population had been holding steady at three hundred when she'd left seven years ago, and there weren't that many kids. Sure, they'd all gone to school a couple of towns over with more children their age, but everyone knew everyone in Cooper Landing. Well, everyone knew everyone but her, apparently.
"Hello?" he asked with an edge to his tone.
Clara came in and set a glass of water and a plate of steaming food in front of her. "You need anything else, sweety?"
"Actually the check when you're ready. I need to get back on the road."
"Sure thing." Clara ripped the check off her pad of paper and placed it on the counter.
Farrah pulled the bills she needed out and handed it to Clara.
"You need change?"
"Nope, it's all yours." So the tip was big for the size of the check. She didn't have money to waste, but after seven years serving patrons in New York bars, she'd learned that tipping karma always came back around.
Clara smiled brightly, transforming her entire face. She was a pretty girl, probably twenty years old or so with little need for make-up. "Thanks a lot."
Farrah smiled. "Sure. Food's real good."
Clara beamed and headed for the couple down the counter.
"You think it's a smart idea to be driving in this weather?" Aanon asked. "It's supposed to get even worse in the next couple of hours."
A tired-looking older man sat beside her and waved to Clara.
"Well," Farrah said, turning to Aanon, "it's a good thing I'm not driving. Excuse me, sir?" she asked the man beside her. "Would you mind giving me a ride?"
He cocked his head and looked her over with a frown. "Where are you headed?"
"The Landing."
"Sorry," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm headed the other way."
"Thanks anyway," she said, then started in on her breakfast with a single-minded tenacity.
Oh, she could feel Aanon shooting her sidelong glances, but the meal held her attention better. It had been a long time since she'd had more than a gas station snack to keep the sickness at bay.
All right, what was she going to do now? She chewed a bite of pancake and glared at the weatherman on the television. It was a two hour drive from here, but if she was going to escape this gas station diner, she had to leave soon before the snow doused the mountain. Weatherman estimated she had about three hours before the storm hit. She washed the last bite of breakfast down with the glass of water and waved to Clara. She hoisted the suitcase off the ground and didn't even offer Aanon a have a nice life as she passed.
Something about him made her want to clam up and flee. He was too interesting for his own good, or hers. And what kind of sniveling wuss would make friendly conversation with someone who couldn't remember her after years together in the same small classes? Not her.
Fighting the urge to look behind her and see if he was, in fact, watching her, she shoved out the front door and headed for a truck pulling in to get fuel.
That trucker wasn't headed the right way, and the next said he didn't pick up hitchers as a rule, which left her standing in the middle of the parking lot collecting snowflakes on her eyelashes. Okay, now what?
She could've asked Aanon to give her a ride, but she'd rather walk than ask for help from that obnoxious, sexy oaf. Walking wasn't actually a terrible idea. Up the road, little log shops and houses dotted the mountainside. Surely she would have better luck hitching if she cast her net a little wider. She huffed a big steamy sigh and trudged toward the main road. It wasn't until she was shaking and chugging breath that she realized her idea would have been a much stronger one if she was conditioned to the altitude.
The rev of an engine sounded behind her, and she turned with a ready smile, one that left her lips almost immediately when she saw who it was. A beat up old Chevy pick-up with heavy chains on its oversized tires pulled up beside her, and Aanon Falk leaned over the passenger seat to roll down the window lever.
"Get in," he said in the most agitated tone she'd ever heard from another human.
"Polite decline." She proudly dragged her too heavy bag behind her through the snow and Aanon followed in his truck.
"You'd rather walk up the damned mountain than accept a ride? Look, I'm headed to Cooper Landing, and I'm not a psychopath." He looked around dramatically. "And I don't see other offers piling up around you. Get in. Preferably before the weather hits us like a sack of rocks."
The dark, roiling storm clouds did give her some sense of anxiety, and he was right about no one else offering to tote her the final way to her destination. Still, it was a shot to her pride to accept a ride from someone who really should've known who she was. Their last names started with the same letter, so she had sat beside him in most of their classes growing up.
"Fine," she growled out.
He threw open the passenger door, and she pushed her luggage into the bench seat between them.
Tugging a thick glove from his right hand, he offered it. "My name's Aanon."
This was it. She'd tell him her name, and he'd finally recognize her and feel like a douche for being so blind before. It wasn't as if her name was common, after all.
She gave his hand a firm shake. "Farrah."
Nothing.
Not even a spark of recognition that said the name sounded familiar to him.
She might as well have never existed in Alaska before this moment. Instead of responding, he threw the truck into gear and hit the gas. The tires whined against the ice for a moment before the chains caught traction and off they went.
In an acute desperation to escape any kind of awkward conversation that was headed her way, she leaned her cheek against the cold window and closed her eyes. If she went to sleep, the two hour trip would pass in no time at all.
She didn't have a clue what she'd do when she got there. And goodness knew, she had more decisions to make than was fair for any one person. But if she was going to rescue her own life, it would have to be done in the home she fled all those years before.
Chapter Two
Aanon's gaze arched to the woman for the tenth time before he focused on the icy road again. She was pretty. Even without make-up, any red-blooded man could see she was a beautiful woman, but he had exactly zero space in his life for another half-crazed female. One was more than enough.
Still, it was hard to keep his eyes away from the dark tresses of hair that fanned her shoulder and looked shinier than wet seal's fur. Or how her face had relaxed in her sleep, and her full, petal-pink lips had crooked up in a smile like she was having a good dream. Her eyes had been a stunning shade of green, like rain engorged moss on the north side of a tree. Even her dark eyebrows arched perfectly and gave away every emotion she experienced. And why was it so damned attractive that she was put off by him? Went out of her way to ignore him, even. Was it the challenge in her frustrated looks that had him basically begging to give her a ride?