Page 11 of Flare
On her way out of their gated community, she kept glancing in the rearview mirror, half-expecting to see Andrew’s BMW headlights barreling down the street to stop her.
Or worse, a giant bear loping behind her.
There is no place you can go that I won’t be able to find you.
Emily drove blindly for a few miles until she’d put a safe distance between her and Andrew’s house.
She pulled into the Cascada Taquería parking lot and killed the engine. Then she let her forehead drop to the steering wheel.
Plan. I need a plan.
What now? She realized she had no idea where to go next. Would Andrew be able to track her if she used her ATM card?
She didn’t have any friends close by, at least not the kind you could call to say,“My fiancé is a monster and I need somewhere to hide.”
Hell, she could barely say the words even to herself.
She fished her phone from the purse sitting next to her on the passenger seat and scrolled through her contacts. A former coworker who’d moved away, the Bearpaw Ridge friends she hadn’t spoken to since Mom died, the old university roommate who’d married and vanished into suburbia.
And then there were the numbers Andrew had blocked, of course. She couldn’t believe she’d let him get away with it for so long.
I was so busy trying to get Andrew’s family to like me, I let him drive all my friends away.
She stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror and tried to remember who she’d been before coming to work at Brunborn Holdings & Estates. Before Andrew.
She kept scrolling until she reached“Maggie Swanson.”
Emily hesitated, her thumb hovering over the number.Andrew’s going to be so angry if he finds out I unblocked her.
Then she reminded herself that Andrew’s feelings didn’t matter anymore. She’d left him.
She took a deep breath and hit“Unblock.”
A fresh set of worries instantly took over.
What if Maggie didn’t answer? What if she’d taken Andrew’s curt brush-off last week to heart? What if she thought Emily had turned into a stuck-up snob?
Bearpaw Ridge. It used to be home.
Emily couldn’t chicken out now. She typed a message. She frowned, deleted it, then typed another.Keep it simple, Emily.
Emily:Maggie, I’m so sorry about last week. I’m in trouble, and I need help. Can I stay with you for a while?
She stared at the words for a long minute, then sent them before she could lose her nerve. The dots popped up almost immediately.
Maggie:Em? Holy crap, yes. Been worried about you. You okay? Where are you? Text me the deets. You come straight to the ranch, got it? I’ll get a guest cabin ready. You can stay as long as you need. We’ve got your back.
Emily’s eyes stung and then tears were streaming hot and sudden down her face.
Emily.Thank you. I’m okay, but I need to get away from Spokane. Will tell you everything when I get there.
Feeling dizzy with relief and sudden hope, Emily drove over to the gas station on the other side of Cascada Taquería, topped up her tank, and set her GPS for Bearpaw Ridge.
It would be a six-hour drive, but it felt like the right thing to do.
There is no place you can go that I won’t be able to find you.
She didn’t know if she’d be safe with Maggie’s family at the Grizzly Creek Ranch. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to trust anyone, or even herself, again.
