Page 104 of Crossing Every Line

She nodded, her phone clenched in her hand as she curled her arms around her knees. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

The tension in the car slowly grew as the thruway clogged to a standstill. Instead of the stony gray, the air went orange.

“What is up with the sky?”

She laughed. “Welcome to New York, Shane Justice. The sky gets iridescent like this when we’re really going to get slammed with snow.”

Wednesday blurred away into gridlock traffic and the increasing potency of snow. He’d been in a few storms at ski lodges over the years, but nothing like the pummeling force of the Northeast. His windshield wipers couldn’t cut the ice-and-snow mix fast enough, and his headlights made the chaos of the flakes even harder to see through.

Cars pulled off to the side of the road, and he was past an exit before he could even make out that one had come up. His shoulders were locked as tight as his grip on the wheel. It was two a.m., and they were still in central New York.

“We need gas, Kendall.”

She sat forward in her seat. “I think the next rest stop is in fourteen miles. Is that okay, or do we need to get off at the next exit instead?”

He looked down at the needle. “Shorter would be better.”

“The next exit is Rome. About five miles ahead, I think.”

“Rome?”

She smiled faintly. “Not even close to impressive.”

“Well, if they have a gas station and a restroom, I’ll be happy.”

SIXTEEN

They did indeed havea gas station and restroom. A small diner sat across the street with three cars and lights blazing. Kendall had about all she could stand on the highway. What should have been ten hours had lengthened into sixteen, and they still weren’t close to home.

The early nor’easter wasn’t surprising. In fact, she’d been expecting them to hit weather far more than they had. But here in her backyard, Mother Nature was giving her a hard time. As if she weren’t already a mess about Shane seeing the Heron for the first time.

Maybe a blanket of snow would cover up the dingy landscape and turn it into a winter wonderland.

She barely stopped the snort as they left the truck at the gas station and trudged across the street. The snowdrifts came up to her knees, and the whiteout was complete. There was no way they could drive anymore tonight.

“Maybe we can make it in by the afternoon.”

She nodded. “It’s okay. I’ll just give my mom a call. Who says we can’t have Thanksgiving on Black Friday instead? Not like we’ve got the funds to go shopping, right?”

He frowned; she wrestled open the door against the wind and the quickly piling snow. “I’m kidding.” The blast of heat in the diner felt amazing. The rich scent of turkey and gravy and all the fixings cramped her belly. “Oh my God.”

Shane took a deep breath as well, his eyes lighting with interest. “Is the diner taking pity on us?”

A redhead came around the register. Her hair was just as wiry as she was. It stood out around her head like a singed dandelion with a reindeer antler headband pushing it all back. “Yes, we are. Come in out of that snow. We couldn’t get home, so we figured we’d bring the Thanksgiving dinner to anyone that managed to get in here.”

Kendall stomped her feet on the mat inside the door and shook the snow off her hoodie. “Hi.”

“Hello, hello. Welcome to Benny’s. I’m Benny. Sit where you like.”

There were a dozen people scattered around the room in various booths. The only thing they all had in common was the pile of food on their plates and the hungry clink of silverware. Oh, and they all looked whipped.

She collapsed in a booth by the window and put her head down on the table. “Everything hurts.”

Shane sprawled into the seat across from her, his long legs invading her space. His knee bumped hers. “We’ll get back on the road as soo—”

“No, we’ll just blow through another tank of gas idling on the highway. It’s stupid.”

He covered her hand with his. “I’ll get you home.”

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