Second Chances(46)

"Fled?"

"Yes, that is really the only way to describe it."

Julie sat down at her desk. Her brow knitted in thought.

"Why would she do that?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

Julie shook her head.

"You got me. Who the heck runs from their security blanket? Are you going to bring her in?"

"That is another of the problems. We don't know where she is. We didn't have a tracker in place. And yes before you say it, I am aware that is because of me upping the timeline."

"Why would she run?" Julie asked.

"I think it has something to do with this man," he said, pulling out the picture he'd printed and handing it to Julie.

She took the paper. Unable to hide her surprise, her eyes went wide. She looked from the picture to Cameron and then back at the picture. Hope stirred within him.

"You know who that is?"

"Yes, and so do you."

He knew he'd been right, the man was familiar. He cursed himself for having to ask.

"Who is he?"

"That's her husband."





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR



They waited outside for what seemed like forever for the taxi to arrive. Nathan paced. He was certain that something was wrong. Why else would it be taking so long? They were on to them, whoever the hell they were. He tried to remain as calm as possible, not wanting to spook Paige more than she already was. Finally the taxi arrived. The driver exited the vehicle and took Paige's bags as they entered the backseat.

"Where to?"

"The airport," Nathan said.

The driver nodded and slipped the car into gear, pulling away from the hotel.

"No, wait, we need to make one stop first."

Both the driver and Paige looked at Nathan.

"Paige, I've been wearing the same clothes for two days now."

She nodded. The driver laughed and Nathan saw him wink at him in the rearview mirror. He didn't bother to try and explain, the man clearly had his own idea what his words meant.

"Any stores close by?" he asked the driver. He looked at his watch. When had it gotten so late? Where the heck had the day gone? He shook his head, debating with himself. He felt like they were on the run and yet he'd just insisted on a stop that would delay them even further.

The taxi driver nodded and turned right at the next intersection. A few minutes later the car pulled to a stop in front of a Gap. He jumped out while Paige stayed with the taxi. When he returned ten minutes later, Nathan was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a dark green button-up Polo shirt and a light blue windbreaker. Paige smiled at him as he got back into the vehicle.

"Better?"

"Definitely less wrinkled."

"I guess that is a plus."

"No bag? Where are your old clothes?"

"Tossed them. I can always get more, besides I don't think I want to check a bag of dirty clothes on the flight. Everything besides my shoes is new."

"You look good in green."

Nathan smiled. It was only small talk, but it felt good. It felt normal. It felt like old times.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip to the airport, partly because it just felt right and partly because they didn't want to talk in front of the driver.

They entered the airport and moved off to the side out of the flow of traffic.

"Okay, so we are at the airport. Where to now?"

Nathan was silent. She looked at him, waiting for a response, hope in her eyes. He was quiet for several minutes. He paced in a slow circle until he noticed that he was being watched by some of the security personnel and then he forced himself to stop.

"So where?" Paige implored.

"I'm not entirely sure. We both have so many questions."

"You can say that again."

"So where do we go for the answers? Who can we ask?"

"Well I thought Linda would be..."

"More importantly, who can we trust?"

Paige frowned. "Until today, I would have said Linda. What about you? Who do you know and trust? Who knew...well us? Even if I do not believe I was apart of your us. Did that make sense or am I just babbling?"

Nathan let out a short laugh and smiled.

"No, I understood you perfectly."

"So who? Your parents maybe?"

His smile was instantly gone.

"No. Like you, both of my parents are gone."

Paige shivered. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No. I'm sorry. I know you said you hate me doing that. I didn't mean to."

She knew what he meant and nodded.

"I know you didn't mean to. So, anyone we can turn to for help? We had friends right? I mean you and your Paige did, didn't you?"

He frowned.

"You didn't have friends?"

"No, we did. Well kind of. We were well liked, but honestly we were each other's world. We did everything together, spent almost every minute together. We made friends wherever we went, but..."