But I didn’t. If I started kissing him, I wouldn’t be able to stop, and out in the open, we were vulnerable. We had to keep going.
For our first break, we slumped against a tree and each other. Blake cradled my head in his arms, while I smiled at nothing in particular.
After a few peaceful minutes, Blake’s worried voice came as an unwelcome slap back to reality.
“Claire, you didn’t take your phone out of airplane mode, right?”
“Yeah, I did. Why?”
“Oh. Just...turn it off now, would you? By the sound of it, your husband has quite the arsenal of resources at his hands, and I wouldn’t want to give him any chance of tracking us.”
I took my phone out, turned it on, and then set it back to airplane mode. After I turned it off, I stared at myself in the black screen for a minute. My reflection was frightened, and for good reason.
Something told me this mistake was going to cost me.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The rest of the way back wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t all that hard either. Walking downhill proved to be much easier, and when I got too tired, Blake gave me a piggyback ride. Soon the trees grew sparser and the air heavier, and it wasn’t too long before we saw the distinctive red stone of downtown Aspen.
“Okay, so you said you parked your car at a plaza?” Blake said.
I nodded. “My passport photo printout should be in the glove compartment, inside my sunglasses case. We just have to grab that and meet your friend, wherever he is.”
“His name is Paul, and I don’t know his phone number. I haven’t had a phone in years now. I know where he works though, so once we’ve got your passport photo we can head on over.”
I nodded again and tried to smile, but I couldn’t absorb the calm surety in Blake’s voice. I knew Angelo. He was determined and he was relentless. He would find me if he hadn’t already.
Seeing my worried face, Blake took me in his arms. “Hey, Claire, it’s going to be okay. I’m going to protect you.”
I closed my eyes, inhaled his musky pine scent, and tried to calm my pounding heart. But I couldn’t quite calm myself down. Blake might protect me, but who was going to protect him?
Walking through downtown was surreal. It seemed a century since I’d been in civilization, seen people other than Blake. Everyone looked overly uptight and upset, either lost in their own sad world or glaring out of the corner of their eyes at everyone else.
I felt like an alien, and people shot me and Blake looks like we were ones. I glanced down. Our clothes were admittedly pretty lived-in looking. Still, I thought it was more than that. It was something that was felt rather than seen. Our hands clasped, a skip in our step, Blake and I were happy, truly, genuinely happy. I guessed that in itself was something pretty remarkable.
Passing by the Grateful Deli produced another uncanny sense of déjà vu. There was a lady there who almost looked like me, her brown hair in the same low, lazy ponytail I liked, her face as drawn on as mine probably had been when I’d sat there.
I almost wanted to tell her, “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”
Because it was. I was walking here beside this good man who would protect me, and even if he weren’t here, it would still be fine. I would be fine, because I was different. I knew what I wanted now, and I knew what I had to do.
When we finally got to the plaza, I was surprised to see the car still there. I figured it would have been towed by now, but I hadn’t wanted to mention it to Blake until I saw for certain. But, at the edge of the lot, still parked sloppily in the uppermost part of the parking spot, there she was, my red Jag.
There weren’t many people around now; the only one was a bum by the bus stop who was ogling us queerly.
Something didn’t feel right about this, but I didn’t really have any choice but to go to my car. I needed that passport printout.
“There it is,” I told Blake.
He nodded, his face tense, probably from that same uneasy feeling I had.
“Be careful,” he said, although he walked beside me as I advanced to the car.
I stopped at the driver’s side, put my key in, and unlocked the door.
Blake didn’t say anything. He had his head cocked toward the car, like he was trying to figure out something. I pulled the door open and then put the key in the ignition.
“I should probably move it out of here to somewhere less out in the open,” I said, turning the key.
The next second, Blake was yelling my name and yanking me out of the car as it exploded in front of me. As Blake dragged me away farther away, flames devoured my car.