Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,22
Jenna allowed herself to believe him.
Her gaze flicked to the side mirror. “Do you think they’re following us?”
“They’ll try, but we got a head start on them, and they’re going to have a hard time getting a vehicle onto this road, if they even realize we’re on this road.”
“So we’re safe...for now.” She figured she might as well add the words for him.
“We’re safe and we’re hungry.” Cade checked the rearview mirror. “Right, Gavin?”
“Pancakes.”
“What happened to eggs?”
“Pancakes,” Gavin repeated.
Cade pointed to a gas station out the window. “Looks like we’re heading toward civilization. Pancakes can’t be far behind.”
Another fifty miles down the highway, more gas stations, a few motels and finally a town came into view. And just like Cade had accurately predicted the car waiting for them, he had accurately predicted pancakes in their future.
Maybe he could tell her that she and Gavin would stop running and be right about that, too.
The car careened along the off-ramp past a Native American roadside stand selling blankets and trinkets. “We must be close to Vegas.”
“Other side.” Cade turned into the small parking lot of a diner. “We went southeast. We’re close to the four corners, Colorado to the east of us and New Mexico to the south.”
He parked the car and they made for the restaurant. Jenna peered through the glass door at the crowded dining room. “Do you have a plan beyond breakfast?”
“I always have a plan.” Cade tapped on the window of the restaurant at a flyer advertising a flea market. “Maybe we can pick up a car seat for Gavin here.”
“Maybe I can pick up some clothes.” Jenna tugged her jacket around her body. The couple of times she’d packed up and moved, she’d had time to get ready. Her helter-skelter dash from her house in Lovett Peak had been the first time she’d had to put her emergency evacuation plan into action. It had worked pretty well, too, although Zendaris’s men may have been able to stop her if it hadn’t been for Cade and his muscle...car.
Cade swung open the door, and Jenna nudged Gavin in front of her into the packed restaurant. She scanned the room for suspicious-looking people, although she didn’t figure they’d be men in suits and dark glasses. Zendaris hadn’t gotten to his position in the world by surrounding himself with stupid people.
But everyone made mistakes.
Cade hung his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear. “Relax.”
“Table for three?” A waitress gripping a pot of steaming coffee paused by the door, cocking her head at Cade.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The woman tilted her chin toward a booth by the window. “You can take that table when the busboy clears it.”
Gavin tugged on Jenna’s hand and motioned her down to his level. She ducked and touched her nose to his. “What do you need?”
“I need to go potty.”
“Right. First things first.” She turned to Cade. “I’m going to take Gavin to the restroom.”
“I should probably wash my hands, too. Do you want me to take him to the men’s room?”
Jenna ignored Gavin’s hopeful look. Even at his age, he resented being dragged to the women’s restroom all the time. “Uh, he still needs a little help.”
“And who’s more qualified to help him with guy stuff?” He took Gavin’s other hand, gave one tug and Gavin dropped her hand as if a she had a trick buzzer in it.
Gavin galloped beside this stranger he’d met only yesterday, under less-than-ideal circumstances, and Jenna followed them to the restrooms with a lump in her throat.
Bracing her hands on the vanity, she hunched over the sink, taking stock of her reflection. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, and she had a smudge of dirt on one cheek. How long had that been there?
Leave it to a man to miss the important things and dwell on stuff like blowing up helicopters and locating getaway cars.
She cranked on the faucet and scrubbed her hands. Holding her hair back with one hand, she splashed warm water on her face with the other, rubbing at the spot on her cheek.
If she put any makeup on at this point, she’d be sending all the wrong signals to Cade. And what kinds of signals did she want to send him? How long would they be on the run together?
She pawed through her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick. She swiped the dark pink color across her lips and smacked them twice.
She could handle whatever he threw her way.
Entering the dining room, she spotted