Page 50 of Relentless

Oakleigh glanced in the rearview mirror, unable to hide her irritation. Maeve returned a gesture, indicating that everything was fine.

Their unspoken understanding reignited Harper’s jealousy.

“Why on earth did you choose aJeep,Oakleigh?” Harper scoffed. “How pedestrian.”

Oakleigh’s eyebrow shot up as she stepped on the gas and steered the Jeep down the snowy driveway. “I seem to remember having a much nicer car at some point, but — ”

“Oakleigh,” Maeve interrupted, intent on keeping the fragile peace. “Keep your eyes on the road, and take it slow.”

“She knows how to drive, Maeve,” Harper cut in again, attempting to exchange a quick eye roll with her daughter, who did not reciprocate in the slightest. “Oakleigh, remember when I taught you to drive?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Oakleigh replied, giving Harper a glance from the corner of her eye. “Mom, you’ve got to be freezing.”

“I’m not,” Harper declared, hoping to conceal the shiver that had traveled into her voice. If she were honest, every part of her body felt like it was being stabbed by a million tiny icicles. Her hands were completely numb despite being tucked tightly under her armpits. “Honestly, Maeve. Why would you ever choose to live here?”

“I have an answer to that,” Maeve stated, focusing out the window at the white powdery landscape. “But I don’t think you’re ready to hear it.”

Even if Maeve had no intention of opening the old wounds, she had.

“Well, congratulations, Maeve,” she hurled back. “You’re finally right about something.”

“Mom, enough,” Oakleigh pleaded. “Just stop.”

“I’ll stop,” Harper snarled, flinging her hand into the air.

The rest of the drive was tensely silent until Oakleigh turned off the highway. When they reached the snow-covered bridge that led into town, they were met with a wall of bright red brake lights.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Oakleigh whispered.

Maeve shuffled into the middle seat, studying the line of cars through the windshield. “Oakleigh, have you been posting?”

“Like maybe — once?” Oakleigh said, her tone went high in a way that incriminated her.

They inched down Main Street until they finally reached Ruth’s Coffee. Oakleigh pulled into her reserved parking spot and stepped out onto the pavement.

Harper pushed her door open, nearly falling from the height of the lifted Jeep. She composed herself, sweeping her hands over the pantlegs of her jeans.

Oakleigh examined the long line of shivering customers that wrapped around the shop.

“What are you all doing here?” she announced. “It’s winter!” As if their lips turning blue in the sub-zero temperatures hadn’t alerted them to that fact.

Despite their frozen fingers, her young fans still fumbled with their phones to capture a quick selfie with the ever-trending influencer.

Oakleigh swiped the phone from a fan and stuffed it back into the pocket of the woman’s puffy jacket.

“Go home,” she ordered.

A young man with an icicle forming on his thick nose ring spoke up in a loud voice, catching Oakleigh’s attention. “You said the church is opening next week.”

“Wait,” Maeve chimed in, stepping forward. “She said what now?”

“Um, well,” Oakleigh stammered, her eyes widening as she appeared to be scrambling for a quick response to salvage the situation.

“Last week,” shouted another girl with pink hair, flipping around to snap a selfie with Maeve and Oakleigh in the background.

“Just look happy, Maeve,” Oakleigh deflected. Maintaining her forced smile, she edged toward the shop. “For thefans.”

Maeve was clearly not having it. She crossed her arms, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

---