Fighting Fate (5 page)

At his age, twenty-six, he wasn’t about to move in with his mom. However, he wasn’t opposed to having her nearby. She was his reason for coming back to town. Once he’d returned to Laurel last summer for a visit, and seen the state of the ramshackle trailer he’d grown up in, he’d moved her into an apartment building. It was one she couldn’t afford on her disability check alone, but he’d taken it because they had two units available. He was able to get her in on the ground floor. He was up on the third. The arrangement worked out perfectly. It gave him peace of mind to easily be able to check on her daily. It eased his mom’s mind to know that he was nearby.

At the moment, without a steady paycheck just yet, swinging two separate rents was a strain. But he was managing.

Possibly he should’ve held off on buying the bike until he’d gotten his mom settled. She was only in her mid-fifties but having been a heavy smoker all of her life, she was now suffering from emphysema. Over the last few years, her health had been deteriorating rapidly. He worried about her constantly.

Now that he was back in town, he was able to check on her frequently. Most of the time, that meant daily.

He eased his bike through the lot, parking it in one of the spaces assigned to his apartment. Next to it was his battered truck. He didn’t care to drive it often but it served its purpose when he was working odd jobs.

The apartment building wasn’t upscale but it was nice enough. Lord knew he’d lived under conditions that were a hell of a lot worse. At least this place was in a decent part of town. He didn’t have to worry about his mom the way he had when she’d lived in the sketchy trailer park on the edge of town. 

“Hey, Ma! It’s me,” Cole called out as he let himself in. The front door of the small apartment led straight into the living room. It was empty and Cole frowned momentarily. Then he heard muffled noises coming from the kitchen. He followed the sounds.

Karen Montgomery’s frail body was hunched over the countertop. She turned to her son with a small smile on her face. “I was wondering if you were going to find the time to stop by today.”

“Today was a light day at work,” he said. “Alex likes to hit up Lucky’s on Tuesdays. Since he’s the boss he always cuts my workday short so he can drag me along with him.

“Hey,” he said as he realized what his mom was up to. “Why don’t you let me do that?”

With a little nod she gave one last stir to the contents of the bowl in front of her. Cole grabbed a hold of her elbow so that he could guide her to the kitchen table.

“You know, I do get along just fine all day when you’re not around. I can make it to the other side of the kitchen on my own,” she scolded.

“Yeah, well, when I’m here, I like to help.” He released her after he’d assisted her to her usual chair.

“I’m not an invalid,” she muttered. “Not quite yet, anyway.”

He could’ve pointed out that he could hear her wheezing already but he chose to ignore her comment. He knew from experience that would be in his best interest.

“How many sandwiches were you planning on making?” he asked as he went back to the counter. “You’ve got a lot of egg salad in here,” he said as he glanced into the bowl.

“I like having leftovers. Makes less work for later. I only need one sandwich but why don’t you make yourself one? Keep your mom company for a bit? Unless you have other plans,” she said.

He’d just gorged himself on hot wings, courtesy of Alex, but he decided he had room for a sandwich. Even if it was egg salad, one of his least favorite things.

“Sure. I’ll stay for a bit.” He pulled two plates out of the cupboard and then began to rummage around for the bread.

“Why don’t you tell me about your day?” It was a question she’d been asking since he’d come back. It had taken some getting used to because when he was growing up, she’d never taken the time to ask him such a thing.

He turned to her with an enamored look on his face. “You’ll never guess who I ran into.”

“Well I’ll be,” Karen said. A smile tugged up her lips and her eyes twinkled in a way they usually didn’t anymore. “You ran into Sarah.”

His mouth dropped open. “How did you know that?” he finally managed to ask.

“Your expression, it gives it away. She’s the only girl I’ve ever known to make you get that sappy love-struck look,” she said with a smirk.

No poill="+0">Nnt in arguing with his mom. There was no doubt about it. Sarah had managed to take a little piece of his heart years ago. After seeing her again, one thing was certain. She still held it.

“I’ll bet she was awfully happy to see you,” Karen said.

Cole deflated a bit in front of her. “Uh, not exactly. We didn’t end things on the best terms, you know.”

“I do know,” Karen wryly replied. “That girl deserved a heap more than what you gave her.”

“Yeah,” Cole said with a sigh. “You both did.”

Karen sat up a little straighter in her chair. She worked at putting on an impervious air but it fell a bit short. Cole knew that his disappearance still stung even though she said, “Well, I forgave you for taking off the way you did. Maybe one of these days, Sarah will too.”

He owed a lot to Sarah. He had done a poor job of letting her know that. Sure, he’d had his reasons. They were damn good ones too. But Sarah didn’t know that. Because of circumstances mostly out of his control, he’d had to let her slip away from him once. Now that he had found her again, he was going to make damn sure he didn’t let her slip away a second time.

He realized he was getting ahead of himself. First, he had to win her over again.

As he recalled their recent reunion, he knew without a doubt that it wasn’t going to be easy.

*
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Moving back to Laurel and living out in the country had seemed like such a good idea. The farmhouse was secluded. Like a lot of houses in the area, the farmhouse was located out of town. It was down a seemingly endless gravel road. The gravel driveway that led off of the road was long and winding.

It was privacy at its best.

Or so Sarah had thought all of those weeks she’d been debating her move back to town. Now that she was here, she was second guessing herself. During the day, she loved the house. At night, she found herself wishing for an apartment in town.

The house creaked and groaned in the most disconcerting fashion. As she burrowed herself a little deeper under the covers she tried to ignore how unnaturally quiet the night was—other than the creaking, of course. Not a single car had passed by since she’d crawled into bed. The night was cloudy so the presence of the shining moon and stars were absent.

Her bedroom was far too dark and quiet. She found herself missing the sounds of neighbors’ dogs barking, distant car alarms going off and the occasional siren wailing in the distance. She even missed the wan, hazy glow of the streetlight that had taken her so long to get used to when she and Aaron had first moved into the house they had shared.

For just a moment she entertained the idea oo bd the if asking Gretchen to move in with her for the summer. She knew her sister would agree in a heartbeat. But she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She knew Gretchen meant well but she hated how she kept such a watchful eye on her. Sarah needed her space and if Gretchen moved in, she would no longer have that.

Instead, she would just have to learn to deal with the ridiculously quiet nights.

Well
, she thought,
quiet other than the sound of the house settling and swaying on its foundation
.

She had been determined not to think about Cole. Now, as she lay curled up in the darkness, she couldn’t stop her memories from washing over her in waves. One after another they crashed into her, wearing her down, pulling her back in time.

Chapter Four

The past…

The blood smeared across her bumper was making Sarah’s stomach flip in the most unappealing way. She took a step back. The wet grass was soggy beneath her feet. It was late in the evening. The sky was too dismal and gray to make out what remained of the sun. In fact, the sun had been hiding all day. It was late March and the weather couldn’t decide if it wanted to continue with a winter snowfall or a spring shower. She hunched her shoulders up against the wind and the cold. Squinting against the biting sleet, she assessed the damage.

The dent that resulted from where the deer was struck was considerable. Yet it was nothing compared to the treeing that was now lodged firmly up into the hood. Her car was totaled, of that, she was sure. She crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to still her trembling hands as her gaze scoured the woods. She couldn’t get the sound, the horrible
thud
, of the deer being struck out of her head.

Even though it had managed to stagger away, she was certain it wasn’t going to make it. She couldn’t help but wonder how far it had managed to drag itself.

The tree line was dense this far out of town. The foliage was thick and for all she knew, the deer was still close by. Possibly taking its last dying breath. Or maybe it was already dead. Her stomach clenched in that squeamish way again. With a little whimper, she took another step back. Her eyes were prickling and it had nothing to do with the damage to her car. She’d never killed anything bigger than a bug before.

The feeling was awful.

The accident was a blur in her mind. It had come out of nowhere. Darting from one side of the thick woods right into her path. There was the horrible thud of the collision. The grating of tires against the unstable gravel. The frantic feeling of losing control behind the wheel. She’d slammed on the breaks though it hadn’t helped in the least. In fact, it had simply made matters worse. Not only had she hit the deer but she’d careened into the shallow ditch, inevitably colliding with one of the many trees that skirted the edge of the ensuing forest.

The impact had knocked the breath out of her. She’d sat there for several long moments, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. As her heart had hammered painfully in her chest, she’d realized her car had stalled. When she couldn’t get it to start again, she’d gotten out to see just how bad the damage was.

She took a few more steps away from the wreck. A twig snapped against her face, snapping her out of the memory of the accident and back into the present. The adrenaline rush was wearing off quickly. Her body was beginning to tingle and become numb as the unpleasant high created by fear quickly decelerated into numbness.

“Fantastic,” she muttered under her breath.

She’d dropped off her best friend, Cassie, several minutes ago. Several minutes meant several miles. She made her way up the slight embankment. It was more work than it needed to be because her knees had gone weak. She glanced back the way she’d come. There wasn’t a car in sight.

Suddenly, the deer—which may or may not lie dying nearby—stopped being her main concern. It was getting dark. She and Cassie had stayed after school to help in the Tutoring Center. Somewhere in the middle of her sophomore year, she had decided it was time to add some extracurricular activities. It was never too early to start padding her college applications.

Whole lot of good that was doing her at the moment.

She scrambled back into her car in order to get out of the icy rain. In seconds she was rooting through her purse, then her backpack, confirming what she already knew: Her cell phone was in her locker.

Knowing it was a vain attempt, she reached for her key once more. The engine rolled over but the sound wasn’t normal. It was somewhere between a groan and a grind. It gave a few sputters but they didn’t amount to much. It probably didn’t matter. Even if she could get the car started, she was pretty sure it wasn’t drivable.

Feeling defeated, she leaned back against her seat. For the first time she noticed a dull ache across her chest where the seatbelt had done a good job of restraining her in the crash. Fat, icy raindrops splattered across her windshield obscuring the dingy gray sky beyond. They streamed down the glass. She swiped at a frustrated tear that streamed down her cheek.

Even with the door shut, blocking the wind, she began to shiver. Her clothes were damp and the air was frigid. She reached for her backpack again and began to rummage through it. She pulled out the pair of balled up, pink knit gloves that she still kept in there. Sliding them on, she glanced in the rearview mirror, trying to assess how far back the nearest house was. Maybe a ten or fifteen minute walk she decided. Maybe longer since her legs were so shaky. She knew from memory there were no houses from here to the main road. Even still, she could always head that way. The main road was closer than any house.

Or not.

She wasn’t sure what she would do when she got there. Flag down a stranger?

She realized the chances of flagging down a kidnapper, mass-murderer or some other type of questionable character was probably unlikely. Still, the very thought of standing on the edge of the road, taking chances with her fate was incredibly unappealing.

With that realization firmly in place, she decided she’d opt for the longer, miserable trek back to the last house she’d passed.

After the rain let up a bit.

She shivered again against the cold. She knew full well the lecture she would receive from her parents would likely be brutal. Not because of the accident. She was fairly sure they would understand that. What they weren’t going to be pleased about was the fact that she’d forgotten her cell phone. Again. It was a notoriously bad habit of hers. She was likely to forget it, lose it or simply let the battery wear down. They were always on her case about it because they assured her one day she would need it and not have it. Sarah found it very annoying. She also, unfortunately, realized they were right.