The Pass (Smart Jocks #5) - Rebecca Jenshak Page 0,66
that desperate yet,” Tara says dismissively, but Amelia comes to the kitchen and I hand her the supplies.
“Thanks.” Her voice is no more than a whisper.
For as friendly as Tara acted toward Amelia, they’re not too chummy now which makes me wonder what happened after I left. I’ll burn in hell before asking.
As it gets darker outside, the mood shifts inside. Tara gets less snarky and the genuine concern for her brother is more apparent. She shuts down, sitting on the couch with her legs pulled up and staring out into the night.
I grab the candles from the spare bedroom, so we have more light in the living room and then I go to the game closet for a deck of cards and settle on the floor. As I lay out the cards for Solitaire, Tara makes an annoyed sound deep in her throat. “How are you sitting around playing cards right now? Do you even care if Tanner is okay? Or maybe you’ll just move on to the next guy and ruin his life too. One hot jock is as good as the next.”
“How dare you.” The cards bend as I fist my hands with anger. “You don’t get to judge me. You know absolutely nothing about me. Of course, I care if he’s okay. The thought of something happening to him.” I shake my head as my stomach clenches. “I can’t even fathom it.”
“We should be out there looking for him.” She stands and motions with a big wave of her hand toward the window.
“He said to stay put.” Though, I agree it feels awful not doing anything. “Besides, the road is closed. How far can we get?”
“Farther than we can sitting here.” She resumes her position on the couch, hugging her knees.
“Well, let’s go then. We’ll go as far as we can.”
“You’re serious?” she asks.
“You’re right, it beats sitting here. The rain has slowed so the roads should be safer.” She doesn’t move. Maybe she still thinks I’m kidding. “It’s what Tanner would do if it were any of us.”
And if it shuts her up, all the better.
25
Sydney
The four of us pile into Tara’s small car. None of us had thought of charging our phones in the car before, but eagerly take turns plugging our phones in and turning them on to check for messages.
The road in the Shaw’s lake house subdivision is quiet and the few vehicles we encounter are going as slow as we are. The rain is just a drizzle, but there’s an eerie feeling being out when the houses all along are dark from the power outage.
We go on as far as we can until a police barricade prevents us from getting any closer to the highway. Tara pulls over on the side of the road and puts on her flashers. “I’m going to walk from here.”
“Walk? And do what?” Corinne asks from the back seat. “They’re not going to let you through on foot.”
We’ve learned absolutely nothing and there’s no sign of Tanner or his Firebird. I’m going to duct tape a charger into his car so he can never take it out again.
“We can at least ask them if they have any update on the road reopening or cars stranded on the other side.” I glance around the car. Amelia and Corinne don’t look like they love this idea. “You two stay here. Tara and I’ll go.”
Tara’s brow quirks slightly in surprise, but she doesn’t protest. The wind whips around us as we walk in silence along the side of the road.
“Tanner is probably sitting somewhere in a warm restaurant chowing down and watching TV. He’d have a good laugh at the two of us.” I try to lighten the mood.
“Or at the bar.” She snorts and pulls her jacket tighter around her stomach.
“No, not the bar. He doesn’t drink if he knows he has to drive, and he’ll be wanting to get home as soon as he can.”
She regards me seriously and gives me a slight nod. When we get within earshot of the barricade, one of the police officers notices us and walks toward us.
“The road is closed ahead. We’re not letting anyone through—cars or pedestrians.”
“We don’t want to get through. We just want to know how much longer it’ll be?” Tara asks.
“We have someone stuck on the other side who can’t get home,” I add.
He rests his hands on his belt. “It’s going to be a while still. We’ve got a crew cleaning up from the wreck and