“No. I’m fine.” His grip tightened around her thighs. “I can carry her out.”
When Cody stepped around the park ranger, Aiyana gave the man a delicate shrug. She had no idea why Cody wouldn’t hand her off.
He frowned at Cody then raised his eyebrows at Aiyana and smiled. “Interesting,” he said, for her ears only.
Interesting, indeed. Aiyana knew she couldn’t handle romance right now and Cody couldn’t possibly want to start a relationship, and yet...
She rested her forehead against his back and smiled, enjoying these last few moments with him.
They rounded a corner and there was the parking lot ahead.
In the distance, Aiyana saw her dad, his back to her.
Before the hubbub started, Aiyana whispered, “Cody—” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. The day had been momentous, strange and unlike any she’d ever experienced.
She had prayed someone would find her—a friend, family member, stranger. But it hadn’t been a friend or a family member or a stranger.
It had been Cody.
He stopped walking. “Aiyana—” He sounded serious.
But he didn’t finish his thought; instead he cursed abruptly.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Not what. Who.” He sounded miserable.
As best she could, she peeked around Cody.
Across the long parking lot, a woman dressed in knee-high black leather boots, a long tan leather coat and a thick white turtleneck above a black pencil skirt started toward them. She was gorgeous. Black hair framed flawless pale skin, high cheekbones and red lips.
“Cody!” she called.
Hearing his name, everyone else in the parking lot noticed Cody with Aiyana on his back. Pandemonium broke out.
Before everyone reached them, Aiyana said, “Cody, what’s wrong? Who is she?”
“She’s my wife.”
Ah, yes. His wife.
“My ex. We divorced six months ago.”
Aiyana stared at the beautiful woman whose hungry gaze devoured Cody.
“Cody, I don’t think she got the memo.”
His sigh rumbled through her.
Yep, Aiyana thought, best not to let her pesky infatuation get out of hand. Good thing she wasn’t anywhere close to the right headspace to start anything right now.
For a brief moment, she tightened her grip on the beautiful man in her arms, but eased up when her father ran over.
* * *
CODY CURSED HIMSELF, his wife and his life from here to eternity. How much more was he supposed to bear?
The big question looming—What is she doing here?—was lost in the confusion of the searchers converging on them. Salem reached them first, grasping Aiyana’s face and kissing her cheeks, her forehead, over and over. He couldn’t seem to stop.
“We were afraid to hope that you were okay,” Salem said, voice raw, face ravaged. “It was taking so long... Then Cody disappeared, too. We wanted to believe he was with you.”
He smiled at Cody, the effort wobbly. “Thank you. I’ll never forget this.”
Emily ran up. “Bro, you’re my hero. Aiyana, why was Cody carrying you?”
“I hurt my ankle. I can’t walk on it.”
Emily motioned to the paramedics, who were already wheeling a stretcher over.
Careful with their actions, they took her from Cody’s back. For some strange reason, he had trouble letting her go.
She’d been a burden, physically, but he missed her warmth against his back, the solid real weight of her that took his mind off his many other amorphous burdens. If only he could rid himself of them as easily as handing Aiyana off to her family.
Salem held her hand as though she were a fine china doll. She didn’t mention the gunshots.
The paramedics wheeled her toward the ambulance.
Cody made to follow. His wife appeared in front of him, blocking his path, enveloping him in a perfume-scented hug. He extricated himself from her arms. She knew it was over. The divorce proceedings had been final for six months.
“Why are you here, Stacey?” Hands on her upper arms, he put distance between them.
Her hesitant smile surprised him. Stacey wasn’t a hesitant person. “I’d like to talk.”
“Why? What’s left to discuss?”
She bit her lower lip. Tears formed in her luminous eyes. “Please. I need to talk to you.”
Cody held back a sigh, drawing on the last vestige of patience he had.
“Fine. We’ll talk. Again.”
From the corner of his eye, he noticed his mother approaching. Cody stepped away from his ex-wife.
“Cody,” Laura said, voice etched with worry. “We were anxious when you didn’t call or return.” She hugged him, holding him longer than she should have, but he understood. The tension in her arms, in her concerned frown, spoke the language of his childhood and motherly love.
While she fostered independence in her children, his mother had always been there for them, waiting in the background in case they needed her.
He’d outgrown his need, but not his yearning for her reassuring hugs.
“Lightning must’ve knocked out the cell tower.” He patted her back, hoping to offer as much reassurance as she gave him. “I couldn’t call—”
Stacey slipped her arm through Laura’s, essentially stopping their conversation. “Your mom and I had a nice talk. She agrees that marriages need to be worked on.”
Cody’s mother glanced at Stacey sharply. Cody saw red. Stacey had the ability to see only her own point of view and to think everyone else agreed with her.
He grasped Stacey’s elbow, physically removed her hand from his mother’s arm and all but dragged her away from onlookers to the other side of his SUV.
“Don’t look to make allies here.” He leaned close, intent on laying down the law of this land. His land. “These are my people. You have no standing here. Our marriage is over. You know that.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he ran roughshod over her. He knew what she needed from him—forgiveness—but absolution was out of the question.
“We can’t be friends, Stacey. We can’t have anything more to do with each other.”
She stared at him with pleading eyes. “Can’t you try, for me? I need you, Cody.”
He hung his head.
“Know what, Stace? I’m too tired to do this right now. I need about twelve hours’ sleep.”
How long did she plan to stay?
“Did you book a room at the B and B?”
“Of course not. I’m staying with you, at your parents’ house.”
“No.” Out of the question.
“Why not?”
“I’m not trying to be heartless, but I can’t handle this right now. I left California to get away from everything. We’re divorced. It’s over.”
She chewed on her lip. “But I—”
“Stop!” A few