Page 6 of When We Had Forever
“No, ma’am. I’d never disobey a direct order from a nerd.” He mock salutes me. “But just so you know, I’m leaving at eight tomorrow. From Seaside House. Just...don’t come if you have nefarious intentions. A guy can never be too careful, these days.”
Darlene makes a sound of protest. “I don’t think your mother would like you getting in a car with someone you just met, Mina.”
“Definitely not,” I murmur, in what amounts to the understatement of the century. My mother would handcuff me to the bed if she thought I was evencontemplatingcatching a ride with some muscle-bound Seattle architect I’ve known for five minutes.
Lucky for her, I’m not the sort of person who’d do that.
Then again, I’m not the sort of person who’d move to another country on a whim, either.
My brow furrows as I weigh my options. Briefly, I consider telling Kate she’s off the hook for the ride, but I have no desire to deal with the nuclear falloutthatwould prompt.
“Mina?” she ventures. “I don’t even care if you hit him anymore. He obviously just wants attention.”
Michael Drake doesn’t refute that. He just holds my gaze, waiting to see what I’ll do.
With a rueful smile at my own cowardice, I say, “I think you’re right,” and throw the pie.
This time, it’s a bull’s-eye.
BEFORE
In the morning, an incoming call pierces my awareness, yanking me from a vivid half dream. I bolt upright and fumble my cell off the nightstand, then croak a greeting.
“Oh god, Mina,” Kate jabbers breathlessly in my ear. “Please don’t hate me, but I can’t take you to Seattle today. I’m so sorry.”
“What?” I rub grit from my eyes. “What’re you talking about? Why not?”
“This is so stupid, but I left my dome light on last night, and now my battery’s dead, and... Well, I was just leaving to come get you, but I’m stuck. And I know you have to leave like,now, and—”
“Wait, what do you mean, now?Nownow? What time is it?” Not waiting for an answer, I pull the phone away. The numbers on the screen slap me across the face. “What? Seven thirty? How’s that possible? I set my alarm for six.”
Or maybe I didn’t. I don’t actually recall. I just remember climbing into bed, filled with enough excitement that I couldn’t sleep for hours, and now...
“Shit,” I say. “Shitshitshit.”
I jump from bed and race to the bathroom, where I toss the phone onto the counter. I scrub my teeth and yank a brush through my waist-length hair.
“I’m so sorry,” Kate wails, on speaker. “I don’t want you to leave, but I never would’ve done this on purpose.”
“I know.”
“Are you mad?”
“How could I be mad?” I spend all of four seconds wanding mascara onto my lashes, then another three dusting blush onto my cheeks. There. Done. “I should’ve been up already, and I should’ve had a backup plan.”
“What’re you gonna do?” She sounds miserable. “Can you call Patrick and explain?”
I zip back to my room and pull on the clothes I laid out last night—a collared shirt and dressy slacks intended to show that I take the responsibility of rehoming Rosalie’s possessions seriously. My cousin is family by marriage, not blood, and he has no obligation to keep this job open if I don’t show up as agreed. Especially since we’ve never actually met.
“I’ll just have to find another ride,” I blurt.
“Ugh.” Kate swears under her breath. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”
My heartbeat churns as I scan the screen again: 7:34. That gives me twenty-six minutes to cover the three miles to Seaside House. Running is my only option—the closest cab company operates out of the next town, and the last Uber I called took forty-five minutes just to show up. “Of course not.”
“Oh, thank god.” She expels a breath. “Are you gonna ask your mom, then? She can take the day off work, right?”
Only then do I realize Kate’s asking whether I intend to catch a ride with Michael Drake.
