Paradise Peak (New Americana 5)

“Is there another town nearby?” he asked.

“Sutter Gap is thirty miles west of here. It’s the only town I can think of that the detour hasn’t closed access to. All the other roads are blocked off.”

Car horns honked on the traffic-jammed streets surrounding them and the wind picked up, carrying a stronger scent of smoke and rain across the hotel’s parking lot.

“Another storm’s brewing.” Travis slid his hand down her arm and threaded his fingers between hers. “Let’s go back to the motel until it passes. I’ll drop you and Blondie off and find us all something to eat. Then we’ll head to Sutter Gap and look for them there.”

Hannah nodded and reached for Blondie. On the way back to the motel, she tried to hold on to that small lift of hope still lingering in her chest, but every mile they traveled stretched on endlessly amid heavy traffic and frantic pedestrians searching for loved ones, and by the time they reached the motel’s small parking lot, the world looked bleaker than ever.

Hannah stared out the truck’s windshield at the closed door of their motel room. Rain sprinkled across the windows of the truck and thunder sounded.

She hugged Blondie closer to her chest. “What would we do without them?”

Travis’s hand left the steering wheel and squeezed her knee. “Hey, let’s not talk like that right now. For all we know—”

“They’re tucked safe in a big-ass hotel bed?” A sound, half laughter and half sob, escaped her lips as she faced him. “You already mentioned that, and they weren’t there.”

“I’m just trying t—”

“To help,” she said. “I know. But we’ve checked every parking lot, hotel, and business in Crystal Rock and they’re nowhere to be found.” Her throat tightened. “They’re nowhere, Travis.”

His brown eyes, solemn, strayed from her face and looked over her right shoulder. The rain grew heavier, slapping against the windows of the truck with each push of the wind, and t

he parking lot, devoid of streetlights below the dark cover of clouds, seemed desolate.

“I mean, they should be here—somewhere in Crystal Rock,” she said, her voice shaking. “I can’t imagine them driving all the way into Sutter Gap with the kind of chaos there was last night, so they should be here. Something has happened to them.”

Travis, still staring over her right shoulder, narrowed his eyes. “You sure about that?”

“Oh, Lord, I don’t know.” She dragged a hand over her eyes, then faced him again. “And I’m sorry for taking it out on you. I’m just scared, and have no idea what to—”

Wait a minute. Was he . . . smiling?

“You . . .” Heart skipping, she touched a fingertip to the dimple forming beside his mouth as his smile widened. “Tell me you’re looking at them right now.”

His dark eyes met hers; then he bent his head and kissed her, his lips warm and gentle as he whispered, “Look in your side mirror.”

She did, and there, right above the phrase OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR, Red’s reflection jogged across the parking lot toward the truck, his gray head ducked against the rain and wind. Margaret trailed close behind him, clutching her high heels in one hand and holding them over the top of her head as she splashed through puddles.

Hannah squealed, then laughed as hot tears poured down her cheeks. “They’re okay!”

Blondie jumped, her ears perking up as Hannah scrambled for the door handle.

“I’m sorry, Blondie.” Hannah opened the door, then hesitated as rain splashed against the seat. She glanced at Travis. “Could you . . . ?”

“Got her,” Travis said, transferring Blondie into the seat as Hannah exited the truck.

Four swift strides across the wet pavement and Hannah was swept into one of Red’s bear hugs, his arms banding tightly around her.

“Dear Lord!” Still laughing and gasping for breath in Red’s tight embrace, she shouted above the heavy fall of rain, “I thought we’d lost you!”

“Not a chance!” Red hugged Hannah tighter, then released her and stepped to the side so Margaret could embrace her.

“Oh, my dear girl. We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Margaret sobbed, her hands gripping Hannah tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Hannah hugged her back. “Same here.” She laughed and smoothed her hand over Margaret’s wet, tangled hair. “But your hair’s getting soaked, and your shoes—”

“Oh, forget the shoes.” Margaret’s arm jerked behind Hannah’s back and Hannah heard the high heels thump against the pavement. “We’ve found you, and that’s all that matters. And we’re not alone.” She gestured over her shoulder toward the other side of the parking lot where her car was parked. Another car was parked beside it with the headlights and inside dome light turned on, and three faces, their features blurred by the rain, looked back at them. “We ran across Gloria and Vernon not long after we made it out of Paradise Peak.”