He shoved the card in his pocket. “I’ll call you.” And then he turned, and walked away.
Angel watched him, wondering if she’d hear from him before she left. “Please, Cole. I need you,” she whispered the words, and then turned, and climbed back into the SUV.
She looked back at him, and then pulled out.
Angel stopped at a fast food drive-thru, and got a kid’s meal for TJ, and a burger for herself. Then she drove back to the motel. She carried TJ and their food inside. They had a room on the lower level in the back. It was quiet, and suited their needs.
There were two double beds and a small table with two chairs. She set TJ in one of the chairs, and put his food on the table.
He ate hungrily.
She sat in the other chair, and took off her shoes.
TJ offered her one of his fries.
She smiled, and leaned down, and he put it in her mouth, and giggled. “Thank you, Honey-Bear.” God, how she loved him. “Let’s call Aunty Nana, and see how your sister is doing.” She pulled out her cell phone, and punched in the number.
“Hey, it’s me,” she said. “How’s Melissa?”
TJ shoved a chicken nugget in his mouth.
“Good.”
TJ reached for the phone. “Me, me.”
“You can talk in a minute, sweetie,” she promised, then spoke into the phone. “Yes, I talked to him. We just came from there.” She handed TJ his milk carton. “I don’t know. I think so. He asked what he’d have to do. Said he’d call me.”
TJ was blowing bubbles through his straw.
“Now, I guess we just have to wait, and see. Say a prayer.” She reached for a napkin to wipe up the milk TJ spilled. “Okay. TJ wants to talk to you.”
She held the phone up for him.
“Hi, Nana!”
After they talked for a while, Angel took the phone back. “Yes, of course. I’ll call you. Tell Melissa I love her. Okay, bye.” She hung up, and looked at TJ. “Well, buddy, how about a bath?”
After she had given her son a bath, and he had fallen asleep in one of the beds, Angel sat on the other one, and flipped through the channels on the TV. She stared at the screen, but all she could see was Cole.
He’d looked exactly the same, yet somehow he wasn’t the same. Something had changed him. He seemed colder, harder, The life he led, who knew what shit he’d done in the time since they were together.
Three years.
Sometimes it seemed like yesterday. They’d spend just nine days together, yet those few days had shaped her life. A life she wouldn’t even have if it weren’t for him. She knew that now, even if she hadn’t really grasped the fact at the time. If he hadn’t taken her from Chuck that night, she’d be dead, her body probably dumped in the desert.
Yes, Cole had saved her life…and then he’d broken her heart.
She was devastated when she’d left that day. Riding away in that cab, she’d felt used and betrayed. How could they have shared what they had, and then for him to have just walked away? Like it had been nothing to him. Like she had been nothing to him.
Now he claims that’s not what happened. She’d often wondered since that day, if it was just Mack that wanted her gone, if the things he’d told her were true. What would have happened if Cole hadn’t left that morning?
She shook herself. What was the point in torturing herself with all this. It didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that mattered to her now were her children.
Her cell phone rang.
It was after ten. Her first thought was of Melissa. Something had happened. She jumped off the bed, and dashed to the table where she’d left it. Picking it up without looking at the number on the screen, she answered in a panic, “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.” Cole’s voice was in her ear.
“Oh, hello.” She grabbed her chest, relief sinking in.
“You sound shocked. I said I’d call.”
“Yes, I know. It’s just late, and I thought maybe it was the hospital calling. That something had happened to Melissa.”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry to call so late. I guess I didn’t think.”
“No. That’s okay.”
“Where are you staying?”
“The Daylight Inn by the airport.” She frowned. “Why?”
“Can I come by? Talk to you?”
“Ah, TJ is asleep, and-“
“Please.”
That shocked her. Cole asking please? “Alright. I guess so.”