Page 44 of Love in Overdrive

“I forgot about that.” Her face fell.

Cade took a good, long look at her. His gaze scanned her from the top of her head to the tips of her tennis shoes. Then he wondered why she was dressed incognito. She was acting very strange when she all but dove into his car as if the bats of hell were after her.

“Oh no. Don’t even think it. I had nothing to do with this.”

Cade looked at her hood and glasses and cocked his head. “You are dressed suspiciously.”

“What? Hell no! I may have started my midlife crisis ten years early, but I’m not a criminal. I…” She hesitated. Then let out a gush of air. “I went to the bank to confront my ex’s lover who works there as a teller. I dressed so no one would recognize me, because Pete, my ex, is the bank manager.” Laney hung her head. “I couldn’t do it.”

Laney looked to be on the verge of tears. A breakdown was imminent. Cade pulled her into his arms, and she let him. “We need help. I have a plan. Trust me?”

From the look on her face, Cade didn’t think she did, but she nodded. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Not that he was confident, but fake it ‘til you make it. Or in this case, get arrested.

He picked up the phone again and dialed Nash. He’d have to send the lady some money for the long-distance call. No way he was taking one dollar from the bag. When his friend picked up the line he said, "It's Cade."

“Where are you? Are you okay?” Nash’s concern carried through the phone.

“Yeah, we’re okay. Laney’s with me. Don’t tell anyone yet. Can you come get us?”

“Send me the address?”

“I can’t. I’m on a landline. Hang on.” Turning to the woman who just walked back into the room, he asked, “Can you tell me what road that is out there?”

After getting their location, he relayed it to his friend. They picked a meeting place, and he hung up.

“Thank you. Do you mind if we hang out for a while? We had some car problems and our friend is coming to get us, but it could be a bit.” That was the nice way of saying they were carjacked.

“Sure. Shep and I don’t get many visitors this time of year. I’m one of the only year-round residents on this part of the lake.” She offered them some water while they waited.

“What lake is that?” Laney asked.

“That little thing? It’s more like a pond than a lake.” The woman said the name and started into the history of the small lake and its connection to the local Native American tribe.

The woman was hospitable, but staying here any longer made Cade’s back itch. He wanted to take Laney and disappear until Nash got here, but he couldn’t do that. They were lucky they hadn’t frozen already. No way would he put her through another three hours in the cold waiting to rendezvous with their ride.

At least he knew where they were now.

When the woman wrapped up her story about the lake, Laney said, “What a lovely afghan you have on your couch. Did you make it?”

Her question started another animated conversation about the types of stitches. Who knew there were so many kinds of needles? Not Cade. But he did now.

He smiled at the woman as she pulled out another blanket she was making. Cade cut his gaze to the clock on the wall. Two hours and fifteen minutes until they would meet Nash.

He sucked in a breath and remembered his training. He’d been in worse situations. Picking up his water, he scanned the windows. All was quiet outside. As long as they didn’t have any more news reports on them, they would be fine.