Brent took the phone from the death grip I had on it and set it on the counter. “I’m sure everything is fine, Claire. She’s probably in the shower or out taking a walk.”
“Yeah, she’s fine, Claire,” Reese agreed. “I took her to my parent’s lake house in Vermont. Why don’t we just drive there since it’s on the way back to Mass? You’ll see she’s safe and we can ask her how to talk with an Agent. Then we can get down to whooping this Kace character’s ass.”
Reese made me laugh and it felt great. I was letting my imagination make assumptions for me. Maggie was fine. The guys were right. If I knew Maggie, she was probably sitting by the lake with an ice tea and a good book, having absentmindedly left her phone inside.
“You’re right. I’m sure she’s fine,” I said, convincing myself.
“Great, it’s settled. Road trip, guys! Come on, you know you want to,” Reese encouraged, like a college kid wanting to go to the beach for spring break. “Pretty please?” he begged.
I looked to Brent asking his silent permission. He obviously wasn’t happy about the idea, but he nodded in silent agreement as he approached me. “I don’t like this but I know if we don’t go, you’ll be worried ab
out Maggie all day. Just promise me that you’ll stay close to me, never out of sight. Okay, Claire?”
“Promise,” I sighed, fear still gripping my heart, enabling me to take a deep breath. If anything happened to Maggie, I didn’t know what I would do. She was the only family I had.
“Awesome,” Reese yowled. “This is going to be epic. Can we take the Audi? That is a sick car,” Reese asked giddy with excitement.
For the first time, I saw the biggest difference between the two of them. Reese was not mature. He was still an impulsive teenager that hadn’t learned self-control yet, unable to filter his thoughts. Brent was poised and thought about his words before he spoke. To put it simply, Reese was a boy and Brent was a man. I liked that about Brent. I really liked it.
My father’s words came to me, “an old soul”. Was that how Brent and I ended up here? Were we two old souls drawn together so strongly that it couldn’t be denied, forcing a change to our design. I looked forward to finding out.
“Heelllooooo, there!” Reese’s goof ball tone pierced my mental rambling. “Can we take the Audi or what, Claire? Oh, can I drive?”
“No freakin’ way Reese. I’m driving.” Brent answered for me and I laughed at poor Reese. He tried.
“Shotgun then,” he said, looking at me wolfishly and I chuckled. “I got shot shotgun, right, Claire?” Reese persisted, his boyish smile made me fall in love with him. Not the kind of love I felt for Brent but love none-the-less. Reese was too cute to resist. He kept wagging his eyebrows and nodding, trying to sway me to his side.
I was just about to give in when Brent spoke.
“Wrong again, Reese, my girl gets shotgun.” I smiled like I just hit the lottery. I thought I had. He called me his girl.
Reese’s smile was gone, replaced with a woeful frown. He hung his head mumbling. “Can’t blame me for trying.” His disappointment saddened me because I knew it wasn’t due to the fact he would be in the back seat. It was because I wasn’t his girl. And Brent had spoken it so officially.
CHAPTER 10
“A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for whom we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person were safe in our own paradise…” – Richard Bach
The three of us piled into the Audi, and Brent programed the address for Reese’s lake house into the GPS. As we pulled away I knew I was going to miss this place. With the uncertainty of our plans, I didn’t know when we would return but I hoped it would be soon. Brent plugged his iPod into the sound system. “Give me Love” filled the speakers.
“Ed Sheeran, I love him,” I confessed, dragging out the word love for several seconds.
“Hmm, I think I might be a little jealous,” Brent teased and continued singing along to the music. “Give me love like never before.”
How did they ever think they could keep us apart?
“Oh, come on man,” Reese snorted from the backseat. “Don’t you have anything a little more upbeat?”
“Sorry, but the lady likes this,” Brent cited.
Poor Reese. I felt bad for him. I laughed thinking his road trip just went from fun to glum. What he thought would be like a bunch of friends traveling the road heading to the beach for spring break, had quickly turned into something boring. It was much more like a cross country drive with his parents, to visit his grandma. Sulking in the back seat, he gave up. Pulling his own iPod from his pocket, he plugged ear buds into it and placed them in his ears.
“Fine! I’ll just be back here listening to cool music by myself,” he drawled.
Brent and I both laughed. He gently grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers in mine. He hadn’t shaved today and his face was splintered with dark whiskers. If it even possible, he looked more handsome now than ever.
His voice broke through my utopia. “See something you like, Blake?”
Busted again, he always caught me. I was sure my face was a varying blend of red, one of the many shades that had stained my cheeks over the last few days.