Proximity, page 2
“Loud ones,” Tia admitted. “My sister also isn’t looking forward to filling the stockings this year. They were a bit larger than normal.”
“How much larger?”
“My youngest niece fit inside hers.” Tia held up a hand. “But she was only a year old, which isn’t so bad.”
Evan chuckled. “So, you and your sister are close.”
“Yeah. Of course, any time we argued about anything, our mom would guilt us into behaving.”
“How did she do that?”
“She’d tell us how she was always so proud of us for getting along. That was usually followed by some comment about how embarrassed she was that we were making her a liar. The conversation usually went downhill from there.”
Evan thought of his own childhood and the clashes that had often occurred between him and his siblings. “I think I’d prefer that kind of conversation over my mom yelling every time a fight broke out.”
“Did you fight much?”
“Mostly when my sister caught us spying on her.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “I don’t know what the big deal was.”
“Let me guess. Slumber parties?”
“Dad didn’t believe in those, but there was a huge tree in the front yard with a great view of the street and our front porch,” Evan admitted. “Her boyfriends didn’t seem to appreciate our presence, but my dad never seemed to mind.”
“I’ll bet.”
The light played through the trees, catching the highlights in Tia’s dark hair. She glanced in his direction, and not for the first time, Evan noticed the unique color of her eyes. “Your eyes really are gold.”
“That’s what it says on my driver’s license.”
“Do you have any idea how rare your eye color is?”
“What can I say?” Tia said. “I’m one of a kind.”
“I’m starting to believe that.” They came over a rise, and their hotel came into view. “How about we grab some breakfast after we get cleaned up?”
“Sounds good,” Tia said. “Want to meet me at the hotel restaurant in about thirty minutes?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
* * *
Colby took his passport back from the border guard and put his SUV in gear. He pulled forward, an unexpected sense of excitement bubbling inside him. Canada. Not once in his twenty-nine years had he ever before ventured out of Alaska.
When he had used the internet to map his route, he had seriously considered having his car shipped so he could take a plane instead, but he wanted the chance to experience new things, to start fresh and leave the past behind.
The memory of Lexi surfaced, but he pushed it aside. He couldn’t think about what should have been.
He took in the landscape, a little disappointed that the rugged mountains lined with trees in front of him looked very much like the ones in his rearview mirror. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but more of the same wasn’t it.
Four more days of driving, he reminded himself. Surely, by the time he reached the end of his journey, he would find the new adventure he was looking for.
* * *
Tia fastened her earrings and stepped into a pair of black heels. Her day had been a blur of running errands for Julie, but somehow, she had managed to have both breakfast and lunch with Evan.
A knock sounded on her door, and she opened it to find Evan standing on the other side.
“You’re starting to scare me,” Tia said. “This is three times today you’ve been on time.”
“Don’t look now, but you’re on time too.”
“Wow. You’re right.” She stepped into the hall and closed the door behind her. “Maybe this is like when you’re multiplying numbers and two negatives equal a positive.”
“Two late people joined together make an on-time couple?” Evan asked, amused.
“Something like that.”
Evan motioned to her three-inch heels. “Do you want to take the elevator?”
“The stairs are fine.”
“Are you sure? Those heels don’t look like they’re easy to walk in.”
“I’m an athletic trainer. Believe me, I’ve learned to walk and run in just about every kind of shoe.” She lowered her voice as they headed down the hall. “Do you know what we have planned tonight? Julie hasn’t told me anything.”
“That’s probably because she doesn’t know anything,” Evan said. “Drew wanted it to be a surprise. He reserved a bunch of tables for a concert at some local restaurant.”
Tia stopped walking and grabbed his arm. “The Sound Bites Grill?”
“Yeah, I think that’s it.”
Her grip on him tightened before she let go and waved a hand in the air. “Oh my gosh. Julie is going to die.”
“Why?” Evan asked, drawing out the word.
“Kendra Blake is playing tonight,” Tia explained. “She’s Julie’s all-time favorite singer. Jules was so disappointed when she found out Kendra was coming on a weekend she wouldn’t get to see her. It’s not very often Kendra performs in such an intimate setting.”
“Well, Julie not only gets to see her. She also has backstage passes for after the show.”
They reached the ground floor, and Tia looked at him with a serious expression. “I think we should be okay. I know CPR.”
Evan shook his head and laughed. “I don’t think meeting her favorite singer will be fatal.”
“No, but maybe we should stop by the store to get some smelling salts.”
“Come on.” Evan took her by the elbow. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
Chapter 3
Evan didn’t know Julie could scream that loud. The moment Drew parked the car in front of The Sound Bites Grill, Julie let out a piercing shriek that was still bouncing off the interior of Drew’s SUV.
Tia leaned close. “Told you.”
They all climbed out of the vehicle, Julie’s excited chatter overshadowing all else.
“Drew, I can’t believe you got us tickets. This is so amazing.”
Evan recognized the moment Drew opened his mouth to tell her about the backstage passes. Behind Julie, Evan and Tia motioned with their hands and shook their heads.
“Wait,” Tia mouthed.
Apparently recognizing the wisdom of spacing out his fiancée’s surprises, he nodded in agreement.
“That was close,” Tia muttered under her breath.
“Is there a drugstore nearby?” Evan whispered back. “Maybe we should get those smelling salts.”
“She made it through the initial shock okay,” Tia whispered back. “I think she’ll be fine.”
“What about getting some earplugs for us? That’s one heck of a scream she’s got.”
“I know. I think I still have hearing damage from when we went through the haunted house together when we were seven.”
They walked into the restaurant. There were tables scattered throughout the open space and a stage on one end of the room. Five tables in front of the stage each had reserved signs posted in the center, the area dimly lit in anticipation of the stage lights turning on.
A few other members of the wedding party had already arrived, and Evan was searching for two seats together when a man in his forties approached.
“Hi, Joel,” Tia greeted him. “This is Evan. He’s one of Drew’s groomsmen.”
“Good to meet you.” Joel shook his hand and turned back to Tia. “I need you to come with me. Evan, you should come too.”
“Is everything okay?” Evan asked, curious.
Joel’s only response was to lead them down a hall toward the backstage area. A tall, blond man stood outside the dressing room door. He focused on Tia. “Are you the maid of honor?”
“That’s me.”
“Great.” He offered his hand. “I’m Charlie Whitmore. My wife wanted to talk to you before the show starts.”
The dots connected the moment Evan heard Charlie’s name. He would have needed to be hiding under a rock not to know of his marriage to Kendra Blake.
“I’m Tia Parker, and this is Evan Spence,” Tia said, unfazed. Maybe Tia didn’t realize she was talking to a superstar’s husband.
“Good to meet you both.” Charlie knocked twice on the door before pushing it open and motioning them inside.
Evan waited for Tia to go first, stepping into the surreal a second behind her. The stunning blonde standing by the dressing table turned to face them, a warm smile lighting her face.
“You must be the maid of honor.” Kendra stepped forward and clasped both of Tia’s hands with hers.
“It’s so good to meet you,” Tia said.
Evan was impressed that Tia was able to speak coherently when meeting a celebrity of Kendra’s fame.
Charlie introduced Evan, and Evan opted for a simple nod in lieu of a greeting.
“When I heard about your friends’ wedding party being here tonight, I wanted to do something memorable, but I didn’t have any contact information,” Kendra explained. “I hoped you might know their favorite song or help me pick something that would be special for them.”
“Honestly, just mentioning them from on stage will make their night,” Tia said.
“I can do that, but I have a couple other ideas I wanted to run by you.”
Evan watched as the two women bent their heads close together over a paper on the makeup table.
“Does Kendra do small concerts like this often?” Evan asked Charlie when he managed to dislodge his tongue from the back of his throat.
“No, but we’re vacationing nearby with her family, and Kendra knows Joel from when she was a kid.” Charlie’s gaze stayed on his wife as he spoke. “Personally, I think she prefers the small venues. She loves getting to talk to fans without feeling like she’s going to get stampeded.”
“The timing sure worked out,” Evan said. “My ears are still ringing from when Julie found out we were coming tonight.”
“I’ll take that kind of scream any day.”
“That’s right. You’re with the FBI, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I alternate between the Nashville and Phoenix offices,” Charlie said. “I’m actually going to be working in Flagstaff for the rest of the year. Other than her performance tonight, Kendra will take the next few months off to rest and write.”
“I can’t imagine how crazy your lives must be,” Evan said.
“Hey, when you find the right woman, any sacrifice is worth it.”
Evan glanced at the two women. “I’ll take your word for it.”
* * *
Tia’s ears were still aching from when Julie had found out she was meeting Kendra Blake in person. The whole situation didn’t seem quite real.
Charlie had invited her and Evan to join the happy couple when they went backstage. When Julie came face-to-face with her idol, she was barely able to put together a coherent sentence. After ten minutes, Tia saw Charlie’s subtle signal that it was time to move Julie and Drew along.
Tia put a hand on Julie’s arm. “Kendra, thanks again for everything tonight. We’d better let you go. You must be exhausted.”
“It was good meeting all of you,” Kendra said. “Julie and Drew, enjoy tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful marriage.”
“Oh, thank you.” Julie shook her hand, pumping it several times. “Thank you so much.”
Tia tugged on Julie’s arm and guided her toward the door. She glanced back and saw Charlie mouth “Thank you” as they continued forward.
Tia motioned with a thumbs-up and called out, “Thanks, Charlie.”
“Can you believe this?” Julie asked, stepping into the cool night air. “We were talking to Kendra Blake. The Kendra Blake.”
“Drew, you did good,” Tia said, crossing to their car.
“Yeah, you’re doomed now,” Evan said. “You’ll never be able to top that one.”
Drew’s eyes widened in horror. “You’re right.”
“Don’t worry, Drew,” Tia countered. “She was already in love with you.”
“True,” Julie confirmed, finally looking like she might be coming down out of the cloud she was flying on. As soon as they all climbed into the car, Tia realized she was wrong. Julie was still flying high, and Tia wondered if her friend would manage to sleep tonight.
They entered the hotel together and ran into Drew’s youngest sister and parents in the lobby. To Tia’s surprise, Evan took Tia’s hand and said, “We’ll see you guys later.”
He led her toward the stairs. When they were out of earshot, he said, “Sorry, but if we’d stayed with them, we might have gotten stuck all night. Drew’s sister never stops talking.”
“She’s eighteen. That’s what teenagers do.”
“I guess in your line of work, you would know.” Evan pushed open the door to the stairwell. “What time are we supposed to leave for the ceremony?”
“Do you want me to tell you the truth, or should I lie?” Tia asked.
“Since we’re both on a roll, let’s go for the truth.”
“We need to leave for the church at two.”
“I’d offer to give you a ride over, but I guess I’m taking some of Drew’s family in my car.”
“It’s fine. I have the window paints in my truck anyway.”
Evan lowered his voice. “We still need to decide when we’re going to decorate the car.”
“I was thinking about that—”
Evan’s phone rang, and he pulled it free of his pocket. His brow furrowed when he saw the screen. “I’m sorry. This is a work call. I need to take it. Can I call you in a few minutes?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Tia watched him answer his call and head back toward the stairs. She let herself into her room, two questions on her mind: What did Evan do for a living? And why would someone call him at one o’clock in the morning?
* * *
“Sorry about that, Wendell,” Evan said when he entered his hotel room. “I can talk now. What’s the latest?”
“The police picked up the suspects an hour ago,” Wendell told him. “Once we accessed the surveillance video, they were able to identify the culprits.”
His earlier questions and doubts surfaced. “Any idea how they got past security?”
“They had an inside man working at the Gatwick train station. He had disabled a couple of the main security cameras. Luckily, he didn’t know about the backup cameras you helped us install.”
Relief flowed through him at the realization that his programming hadn’t been at fault. “Do you think he’s the one who tried to hack the security system?”
“Oh yeah. That’s how we found him. The internet connection led us straight to him,” Wendell said. “Glad you convinced us to add that tracker program.”
“I’m glad it worked.” Evan toed off his shoes and kicked them into the hotel room closet. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
“I will. Thanks again for your help, Evan,” Wendell said, raw emotion evident in his voice. “Today could have been a lot worse.”
* * *
The lower forty-eight. Colby had seen pictures and watched movies, but now, driving through the open spaces of Montana, his reality came into focus. He was completely alone.
Been there before, he reminded himself.
Absently, he rubbed a hand over his stomach where a particularly nasty scar remained from his childhood, a gift from his father.
The beatings he had endured growing up now seemed like a bad dream that had happened to someone else, as did the fight that had ultimately caused him to leave home at eighteen and never look back. He shook the memories away. He wasn’t his father’s punching bag anymore, nor was he the lost teenager trying to make ends meet in Anchorage. He had a career and a future now, one he had fought hard to carve out for himself.
He rolled his shoulders to work out the stiffness that had settled there. Fifty-nine hours of driving in four and a half days hadn’t seemed like that much when he’d planned his route, but the inactivity had combined with boredom, making him anxious to get to his final destination. The idea that he was more than halfway there didn’t give him much consolation.
A highway patrolman waited on the median as he passed by, reminding Colby that for the moment, he was a civilian like everyone else. He didn’t like the feeling. A couple more days. Once he reached Arizona, he would receive his new badge and police-issue weapon. After that first step was complete, he would find a way to make everything right in his new world.
* * *
Evan tugged at his tie as the lights dimmed and the first dance for the bride and groom was announced. After spending most of his time over the past few days with Tia, he had felt like he was calling an old friend earlier when he had dialed her number to work out the final details of when they were going to “decorate” the bride and groom’s car. He waited until the song was halfway over before he slipped out the exit and headed for the parking lot.
Tia had arrived before him. He stared when he saw her standing beside a classic Chevy truck that looked straight out of the 1940s. She lowered the tailgate and lifted out a box nearly as big as she was. Her keys dangled from her right thumb, and her feet were bare. He moved forward and took the box from her. “What’s all this?”
“Window paint.” She waited for him to set it beside Drew’s car and leaned down to open the box.
Evan eyed the tubes of paint and looked at her pale-pink gown. “You’re going to ruin your dress.”
“No, I won’t.” She riffled through the contents and pulled out some masking tape and several rolls of plastic sheeting. When she straightened, she asked, “Did you bring the cans?”
“Yeah.” He held open a plastic bag filled with old soda cans, pieces of string piercing the center of each.
“This is great. I’m surprised you were able to find so many.”
“Apparently today is recycling day in Drew’s neighborhood.”
