“Jared!”
But it’s no use. He is headstrong, as always, and he has gone into the wind and rain to confront the Merc driver. Knowing Jared, there will be a fight. And the driver might be from this new community they are going to. What’s the point of antagonizing people from a small town you are going to try living in?
Where the hell else can they both go?
Jared is a shape out there in the elements, and from the gesticulations of his arms, he is having an argument with the driver.
Shit.
Wrenching the passenger door handle, Shannon bolts out into the rain. The wind immediately seizes her hair and the rain comes down in torrents upon her head. Her teeth start to chatter as she runs as quickly as she can in her high heels to the arguing pair.
“Jared!” The wind tears her words from her lips and hurtles it onto the cliffs.
The driver of the white Merc sizes her up. It is a horrible situation to be out in the cold and rain, and it is probably not the most conducive environment for a discussion on whose car cut whose off first, but she manages to note that the driver is a young man.
A very young man, probably not much older than her.
The rain obscures much of her vision, but she can see how muscled his exposed forearms are, and how tightly he is built underneath his soaked shirt. His wet face is handsome as well, with a rugged cast to his clean-shaven jaw and plastered blond hair. He is extremely tall. Far taller than Jared. She would put his height to be above six feet five inches.
“So you’re both OK,” the driver shouts above the din. “That’s all there is to it. Don’t you go accusing me of cutting into your lane when you knew you were driving well above the speed limit on that bend.”
She hugs her thin coat closer to her chest.
“We should get out of here,” she says. “There might be cars coming down on either lane and we’re blocking their path.”
“I’m not accusing you of something you didn’t do, buddy.” Jared jabs a finger on the guy’s chest.
Uh oh.
The guy bridles, expectedly.
“Did you just touch me?” he demands.
“Please!” she shouts again. She wonders if any of them can hear her. “Don’t let us fight here. If we must sort this out, let’s go somewhere warm and dry and safe!”
The man looks at her again, as if evaluating her words.
“Stay out of this, Shannon,” Jared says curtly.
She bristles at this. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
The man seems amused.
He says, “Your girlfriend seems to be making the most sense of all of us. We can settle this at Pine’s Bluff twenty miles down the road, or we can forget about it and move on with our lives.”
The way he is looking at her makes her think he doesn’t want to forget about it at all. In fact, he is half-smiling at her, as if he is thinking that it would be nice to carry on this conversation with her.
She finds herself saying, “I’m not his girlfriend!”
“Oh?” The man smiles quizzically.
She holds her breath. He is very attractive. But remember, you are not here to start a new relationship. You are here for a specific reason.
“We’ll see you at Pine’s Bluff,” Jared blusters.
She is amazed that no vehicle has come by as yet. Imagine – if they were to go over the cliff – there would be no one who’d know for ages and ages.
“Yeah, I’ll see you there.” The man’s gaze lingers on her and she feels a delicious thrill despite the super-wet conditions.
They all return to their respective cars. The Merc is the first to pull away.
“Fucker,” Jared says grimly. “He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”
Both of them are soaked to their skins, and she is shivering.
“Jared . . . you are not going to start this. No one can know who we are here.”
“I know, I know.” He sees her shuddering violently and relents. “Let’s get off this road and go to Pine’s Bluff, wherever the hell it is. Then let’s get out of these clothes.”
It’s the wisest thing he has said all day and she warms to the suggestion.
“Remember not to draw attention to ourselves,” she cautions.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He rolls his eyes.
She knows she nags him sometimes, but with Jared, you have to say the same thing over and over to pound it through to his thick skull.
They rev off into the rain, which is lessening, thank goodness. It is as though the sky has decided to give them all a respite.
And now they have to find Pine’s Bluff, wherever the hell it is. She seriously hopes Jared is not going to make a scene.
PINE’S BLUFF
They pass a sign welcoming them to ‘Dolphin’s Bay’, though Shannon doubts any dolphins have come up to Oregon’s coastline, as inhospitable as it is. A painting of a deep blue dolphin splashing out of the waves accompanies this sign. Maybe there’s a real dolphin mascot somewhere in the aquatic zoo here, she can’t tell. If the place even has an aquatic zoo.