Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,39
too much. And it shouldn’t be. She’d only known the man for a little over a week. She shouldn’t want so much more with him.
She shoved down her emotions and used her key to let herself in the main building and into the small office next to the front lobby of the lodge. The computer took a few minutes to boot up and she waited impatiently as the internet started. Then she quickly pulled up the site for a women’s clothing store.
She picked out a pair of pants and a shirt in her mother’s size and added them to a cart.
She opened another browser and looked up an assisted living center in a city in California and had them sent there under her mother’s name. She used one of the credit card numbers she had memorized so that her credit card would pop. Between them tracing the card’s use to here and then needing to check to see if her mom was in that facility, that would give Turner two places to look that neither she or her mom would be in by the time he found them.
She closed the browser then hesitated. She wanted to check for any new emails from her mom. Even if Turner tracked her here, it wasn’t like he’d have a computer specialist check the computer or anything. And she could clear the cache and scrub the browser’s history.
She opened the browser again and checked her emails. There were three new ones from her mom.
She glanced out at the window. It was still dark out. She read them greedily, knowing she needed to toss her things in a bag and go as soon as she was finished. She would drive a short way and when things opened up, she’d leave her car somewhere and hitch a ride for a bit until she could buy a new car. She had cash put aside for that.
She read through her mother’s account of the new exercise class run by an instructor who was very nice but looked like she had a lot of plastic surgery done to her face. And, as her mother put it, “her ponytail is clearly clipped on fake hair.”
Joy closed that email and moved to the next. This one told her all about the new desserts they’d added to the menu at the center. Joy had to admit, the triple chocolate dream cake did make her mouth water. She grinned. Her mom made sure she emailed often even if it was only to talk about food or something she painted in class.
Joy eyed the window as she opened the last email. She was pushing it too close. She needed to go. Evelyn would awake at first light to start making breakfast for the guests.
She smiled when she opened the third email, seeing her mother’s bright face smiling at her from beside a large bouquet of flowers.
The smile didn’t last, though, when she saw the words under the image. The flowers had been a gift. Her mother didn’t say who they were from. It was silly for Joy to worry. They could be from someone else in the center. Lord knew her mom had friends. And maybe she was dating again.
Joy frowned. She had a hard time believing her mom might let any man get close after what Turner had put her through.
But maybe.
She cleared the browser’s history and closed the browser before shutting down the computer. She needed to go.
She locked the door to the lodge, not letting herself cry as she left the building for the last time.
As she rushed back down the path to her cabin she dialed the number for her mother’s assisted living home. She didn’t keep it programmed in her phone. She wouldn’t take a chance that if Turner ever caught up to her, he could track her mother that way. But she had it memorized.
Thankfully New Jersey was two hours ahead of Colorado.
She could hear the surprise in the woman’s voice on the other end of the line when she asked for her mother’s room. Her mother didn’t get phone calls. Or visitors other than her brother who only risked going to see her on very rare occasions.
Hearing her mother’s voice on the other end of the line made Joy feel like her heart would crumble. She wanted to be with her mom again. Wanted to be able to wrap her arms around her and see her bright smile. Hear her laughter.
“Mom, it’s Jane.”
Her mother gasped. “Are you