Test Drive - Samantha Chase Page 0,89

suddenly calm–like eerily calm. It was true that Jared needed her to secure his promotion–Grace had been grooming him for the position of junior vice president of operations practically since they met! Her job as a career coach meant it was her specialty and Jared had begged her to help him move up in the company. She’d helped him change his image and his wardrobe and gave him lessons in manners and how to present himself in social situations. He was a complete doofus when she met him! And now that she transformed him, someone else was going to reap all the benefits of her hard work?

Well, she had news for him…he was never going to pull it off without her. He had definitely made great strides and his bosses were impressed, but without her there beside him, there was no way he was going to secure that promotion. His bosses weren’t completely wowed by him yet and she had no intention of sticking around and helping him any longer. True, she could marry him and when he asked for a divorce, take him for everything he was worth, but that wasn’t her style.

Wait, do I even have a style? She wondered.

Turning around, she made her way back toward her room and calmly walked inside and closed the door. In the corner was the small satchel that had her makeup bag, her wallet, her iPod and earbuds, her phone, and…

Before she knew it, the bag was in her hand and she was walking back out the door. The hallway was still deserted as she made her way to the rear exit and stepped outside. The sun was going down–Jared had said a sunset wedding would be romantic–and as she looked out at the lake, she had to admit the view would have been stunning.

“No time for that, dummy,” she muttered, pulling her phone out of her bag and quickly pulling up the Uber app to request a ride. Saying a silent prayer that she wouldn’t have to wait too long and risk someone finding her, she sagged with relief when the app showed a car was only five minutes away. Doing her best to stay out of sight, Grace hid behind some tall shrubs and prayed no one would come out and find her. Of course, a woman in a blindingly white gown didn’t exactly blend into the greenery.

If they weren’t so close to the ceremony time, she would have run up to their room and grabbed her luggage. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself and would just have to deal with making her escape in her gown.

Staring at her phone, she willed the damn car to hurry up. The ride to the airport would take an hour, and she was hoping to get enough of a head start that should Jared try to come find her, she’d be on a plane before he could reach her.

Wishful thinking, but still…

Behind her, someone came out the back door but luckily, it was a janitor and he didn’t even look in her direction. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour and when she glanced down at her phone again, she saw the car was two minutes out.

In any other circumstances, she would be pacing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option right now and she suddenly wished she had packed a change of clothes in her satchel. If she were in jeans and sneakers, she would be trekking toward the road to meet up with the car and burning off some of this nervous energy. But no, she was stuck in this stupid, bulky gown hiding behind a shrub.

“Worst wedding day ever.”

Seriously, in the history of wedding days, this one had to set some kind of new record in awfulness.

Off in the distance, Grace saw a car pulling into the resort driveway and was relieved when she realized it was her ride. Sprinting as well as she could from the bushes, she rushed to meet it and quickly jumped in.

“Are you Grace?” the driver asked.

“I am, I am,” she said quickly. “Just drive. Please!” He looked at her like she was crazy but fortunately didn’t hesitate to get moving. It wasn’t until they were off the resort property and a few miles away that she finally felt like she could breathe. Sagging against the back seat, she immediately began searching for flights back to North Carolina. It didn’t take long for her to realize she might not be