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“Mom, don’t worry. Bear has a bone to pick with Tanya.” He looked down at the eager-to-leave dog. “Right, boy?”
Bear gazed up at him with his big brown eyes and gave an affirmative bark. Before I could stop them, they were out the door. And on my next ragged breath, I was too.
The air outside was bitter cold. The biting wind stung my cheeks as quarter-size snowflakes danced madly around us. Shivering, with our arms folded around us, our breaths coming out in puffs of steam, Will and I stood at the entrance to the hotel with Bear, who didn’t seem to mind the brutal weather one tiny bit.
In less than one freezing minute, Will spotted a candidate.
“Mom, go for it!” he shouted.
With him and Bear close behind me, I loped up to a middle-aged woman who’d just gotten out of her white Highlander. The driver’s side door open, she was waiting for someone to valet her SUV. I had other plans.
“Ma’am, I have a dire emergency. I need to borrow your car.”
“Excuse me?” She shot me a perplexed look. Bear barked at her, but she wasn’t intimidated.
“You heard me,” I said.
“Don’t you dare touch my car.” Her face as rabid as Bear’s, she yanked me away from her vehicle by my elbow.
I shook myself free of her, and with all the muscle power I had, I gave her a forceful shove. With something between a groan and a shriek, she landed on her big butt on the icy gravel. Rage burning on her cheeks, she snagged her phone from her purse and snapped a photo of me.
“I’m going to report you to the management! File an assault charge! Plus another for grand theft! My husband’s a lawyer. You won’t get away with this!”
With not a moment to lose, Will, Bear, and I clambered into the vehicle. Will in the front seat next to me, Bear behind us. Clamping my seat belt, I shifted into drive and stepped hard on the gas pedal.
“Mom, that was so badass!” blurted Will as I peeled out of the driveway. “Just like Wonder Woman!”
Thanking him, I couldn’t help a smile, but it faded quickly. Wonder Woman me had a much bigger mission ahead of her. To save his sister’s life! Turning onto the 18, I tossed him my phone.
“Will, I need you to help me. Click on the Find Me app and let me know where Paige is.”
A breath later… “Mom, it looks like she just got off the 18 and is heading toward Green Valley Lake.”
In retrospect, I was so glad Will had come along; I couldn’t have done this without him. He was the yin to my yang. My Top Gun wingman. While I kept my eyes straight ahead, he programmed Green Valley Lake into the GPS. Normally, it was a half hour drive away, but with the blizzard it could take well over an hour to get there, driving at only ten miles an hour. I checked the gas gauge. Thank goodness the tank was full as I sure wouldn’t want to run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere in a raging blizzard. I then glanced at my son, who was still holding my phone.
“Will, try calling her.”
“Okay.”
Again, no answer and her message box was still full. I swallowed back my despair, and with my heart ticking like a time bomb, I powered through the storm as fast as I could. I was the only car on the dangerously slippery, snowy road. Even with the windshield wipers swishing like hypersonic metronomes, my lights and defroster on, I could barely see two feet ahead of me. We were in the middle of a whiteout. A life-threatening blizzard. I prayed we wouldn’t get into an accident. Skid off the road, hit a tree, or fall off a cliff.
And I prayed I would get to Paige in time.
“Will, where is she now?”
“She’s still on Green Valley Lake Road. The same spot. Not far from the lake.”
“That means she hasn’t moved, right?”
“Yeah. Maybe she escaped and left her phone behind.”
I felt a glimmer of hope. It was quickly washed away by a tidal wave of fear. Paige could be in the car or out of it. In either case, injured. Or worse, dead! Oh God, had Tanya shot her? Was I too late? I’d lost one child; I couldn’t bear to lose another.
And if something terrible did happen to her, it would be all my fault for bringing Tanya into our lives. How could I live with myself? I hated myself more than I ever had before.
A horrible, sick feeling gathered in the pit of my stomach. My eyes prickled with tears. Not wanting to freak Will out, I kept my deepest, darkest fears to myself and prayed again. Please, God. Let her be okay!
My heart hammering, I turned off the 18 onto Green Valley Lake Road, and five minutes later we came upon an abandoned, snow-covered vehicle. A Jeep Cherokee. Will saw it the moment I did. “Look, Mom! Paige’s car!”
