She’d practiced this laugh in the mirror a thousand times when she’d been modeling. Her carefree, nothing-in-the-world-matters laugh that she’d perfected came off beautifully. Five years and she could fake it with the best of them.
“Seriously, nothing’s wrong. I’m watching movies with Jan.”
“If something happens to you... Well, I’ll just never forgive myself.”
“Nothing will. Promise.” She skipped down the hill, horrified at the lies she’d told.
One of the things she hadn’t missed from her old life was liars and users. People who had hung around her, claiming to be her friends, but who just wanted a free ride. They told her whatever lies were convenient. She’d let them and didn’t care.
Not until four of them had died. One saving her life. Everything changed then.
Sissy really had died that night. She’d been a character invented out of necessity. Kylie was her real name. During those long days in the hospital, she had talked to herself in the mirror. Forcing her mind to reconnect to that real person.
Unable to attend the funerals of her friends... Scared that Xander would send someone to finish the job... Speaking only to her lawyer... She planned and prepared to run and hide. Leaving everything had been because of Xander. But leaving...that was all her idea.
She’d done it once when she’d signed on to become a model at the age of thirteen. Leaving the disaster of a life back then had been easy. Emancipation had been easy. Turning twenty-one and wheeling away from the hospital wasn’t hard. It had saved her life. She was sure of it.
But today would be the hardest thing she’d ever done.
It didn’t take long to catch up with the kids. “Hey slowpokes. I thought you’d be racing to get started. Once we finish this project, Bryce promised us all pizza.”
“I what?”
“Pizza. Remember?” She caught up with him, looped her arm through his and the bag hanging over his shoulder. “You don’t mind springing for pizza after all this hard work, do you? Or should I tell them that Rangers don’t make enough money to buy three or four pies?”
“Pizza it is.”
She broke apart from him, snagging her bag in the process. But she laughed and faked her way to the twisted trees. She plunged into the work, refusing to think of what was in store over the next few days.
Her map, compass, money and change of socks were with her. She’d had a moment of brilliance after Bryce had left. They’d be watching for her on every form of transportation. Xander might not know exactly how she looked now, but the people prosecuting his father did. They would trump up charges and arrest her. And he’d find her.
That was one thing she was certain about. There had already been one scandal this year about crooked state attorneys and politicians on the payroll of Paul Tenoreno.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you aren’t going to shake me.” Bryce walked up with a heavy-duty limb trimmer thingy.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her tree was ready to be cut. She signaled Martin who could handle the chain saw. She dug her earplugs out of her pocket. “Do you have ear protection? No? You might want to work on the next tree, then.”
Bryce was angry. It showed in the way he chopped small limbs off and threw them into a pile. The kids then moved the brush to a larger pile that would be a bonfire later in the fall for their school. They worked. Hard.
Load after load of fireplace-size logs were added into a trailer that the ATV pulled up the hill. Richard was keeping track of how many were loaded by what team. Bryce was obviously in pain. Not from the physical labor—it was clear his muscles could handle that—it was the sunburn. His tight-fitting jeans didn’t help much either. He’d switched from little limb lopping to splitting wood with an ax.
“If you guys moved about six feet, I think you’d be in the shade.” She handed Bryce a bottle of water and lowered her voice, saying, “I think you could take off your shirt and stop rubbing your sunburn, too.”
“You were right about my holster not being empty,” he whispered back.
“I can stash it in my drawstring bag. It won’t be out of your sight.”
Did she have an ulterior motive? Not at first. She didn’t want to steal his gun. But... No. She wouldn’t steal his gun. Before she left, she’d hide it in the barn. It would be out of sight and out of reach of the two granddaughters.
“You might as well put your phone in here, too.” She blocked the view of him removing his weapon and placing it inside. “You can hear it if it rings.”
That would be hidden, too. Hopefully it would slow him down not to have his phone.
“Wait.” He shrugged out of his shirt. The light pink of that morning had turned a deep red. Small white spots—blisters—had formed from getting hot again. “The bag stays with me. You’re moving around. I’m staying put.”
Swinging the ax, he lodged it in a log and moved everything to the shade, taking her travel items and dropping them in his line of sight. Darn him. And it was almost time to go.
The last thing she wanted was to bring all these people into her problems. She couldn’t create a diversion without a lot of repercussions. How was she going to get out of this? She shook her head as it came to her. It was the perfect excuse to head back to the house.
She finished up the last tree. The kids and parent volunteers had been great. The heat wasn’t too bad since most of the area was still shaded. And in this little gully there was even a hint of a breeze.
I’m going to miss this so much.
But it was time to go.
No goodbyes. No tears. She set her tool near the watercooler and stuffed her gloves in the back pocket of her shorts. She’d need them later. She waited, aware of where everyone was located. As soon as a couple of the boys brought another piece of a large trunk for Bryce to split, she took them all cups of water from the cooler.
“Drink up, boys. You need to stay hydrated.”
“Thanks, Kylie,” they said between sips.
“I’m heading to the little girls’ room. So you fellows are on your own for a minute or two. Maybe even three.” She smiled. The smile that teen boys had fallen for so many years ago. She casually bent and retrieved her bag.
“I can watch that for you.” Bryce almost touched her arm but pulled it back to the ax handle. Probably remembering this morning’s toss to the floor.
“I need what’s inside. Understand?”
He nodded and those teenage boys sort of cringed. She giggled at her brilliance and waved to Richard for a lift.
The bathroom wasn’t a bad idea. She grabbed a couple of apples from the kitchen counter, a soda and two bottles of water. She couldn’t ask for them, so she left a five-dollar bill in the drawer.
With Bryce’s gun and phone well-hidden inside the barn, she grabbed Little Bit and walked her to the far side of the house. There would be lots of sunlight left when she reached the north fence. If Bryce tried to follow her, he’d have to drive half an hour to get to the road she was heading to that bordered the far side of the property.
She clicked to Little Bit and didn’t look back as she loped away.
Bryce mentioned he needed a break. Everyone was exhausted so Fred called out quitting time. They all walked up the incline while Fred and Richard rode in the ATV.
He had a very bad feeling why Kylie