The bleat of Erin’s phone the next morning jolted Zander awake, but she didn’t move for a moment, the sound appearing to barely penetrate her fog after a night of fitful sleep. She stared at the offending black device like it was something out of a science-fiction movie, while he moved quickly, decisively. Before the first ring had even ended, he’d reached over Erin and snagged the phone, one hand pulling her upright, the other putting the phone into her palm.
“Erin,” he said, his words low and sharp. “Remember what we talked about. Answer the phone.” Erin blinked at him, then around the room, clearly trying to get her bearings. The room was still dark, but bright, white sunshine peeked around the curtains, catching the dust motes kicked up by the air-conditioning.
Then the phone rang again and she snapped into focus, her gaze sharpening on him. Good girl. She swiped the device on and brought it up to her ear. “This is Erin,” she said, the words crisp despite the death grip she had on the phone.
There was a pause, and she seemed to sag a little as an impatient voice sounded across the phone. “Erin!” a woman’s voice rang out. “Erin, thank God.”
Erin’s eyes widened and fixed on Zander’s. “Mom!” she said. “Mom, are you all right? I called yesterday but—”
“Are you finally here? It took you so long, I can’t believe how long it took.”
“I’m sorry, the bank—”
“Please tell me you have the money.”
“I do. Of course I do.” Zander heard the woman exclaim, but not in pain, more in anger. Then another voice was on the phone. This one was smooth and rich and deeply accented, and it wasn’t what Erin had expected, if her raised eyebrows were any indication.
“You are not yet in the city,” the voice snapped.
Zander gave her a quick nod, and Erin swallowed. “I’m on the Texas side still. I wasn’t sure where to meet you.”
“Call again when you are over the border. You have the money? You are alone?”
She shot Zander a glance, and he nodded again, as reassuringly as he knew how. “I do have the money, and my…my boyfriend is with me,” she said, rushing on before the other man could speak. “Just to get me over the border, really and truly. I thought it might look suspicious if I traveled alone, and if they searched my car and found the money and asked me about it because I was by myself, there might be a delay.”
There was a short pause, a rush of hurried conversation. Then the voice was back, full of suspicion. “Your mother knows nothing of this boyfriend.”
“My mother has not spoken to me in nearly a year!” Erin protested. “She has no idea what I am doing or who I am seeing, and it’s none of her business. I just…” She hesitated, and when she spoke again, her voice was a little softer, more tremulous. As if she suddenly was reminded of the stakes of this call. “I just didn’t want anything to happen to keep me from getting across the border as fast as possible. My boyfriend will be no trouble.”
Zander’s brows shot up, but Erin’s gaze wasn’t on him anymore. Instead she was staring at the far wall. Another long pause, then the voice was back. “Check into the Camino Real once you’ve crossed over. We will contact you then.”
The phone clicked off, and Erin sagged back, her hand dropping away from Zander’s grip. He was up just that quickly, and now it was his turn to pace the room in short steps. “The Camino Real, okay, okay. Not my first choice, but it will do.” He shook his head, talking to himself, even though Erin kept watching him, he could tell. “Yup, it’ll do just fine.”
For her part, Erin stood, wobbling only slightly on her feet. He glanced over as she smoothed down her hair, taking in her oversize T-shirt and yoga pants. She looked achingly young, all of a sudden, and he frowned at her, the gap between them suddenly seeming too wide once again. Too much time had passed, he thought. Too much wasted time.
She rubbed her face, then met his gaze, oblivious to the gloomy turn his mind had taken. “I can be ready to go in twenty minutes,” she said, and Zander nodded.
“No rush. Check in isn’t until early afternoon, even in Mexico. Besides, we have an eleven A.M. appointment with our new driver.” He smiled at her startled expression. “Relax. I decided a driver who knows the area wouldn’t be a bad idea. And a driver who is known by the border guards is even better.”
Erin got it. “They won’t check our car.”
Zander shrugged. “That’s part of it. But mainly, it’s just that getting a driver is the safe, sensible thing to do. And we want to look like we’re both very safe and sensible, and maybe a little scared. Everything is going exactly the way it should be. You’ve told the kidnappers all that you need to, and they’ve shown us that your mom is safe and healthy enough to sound faintly irritated, but not completely freaked out.”
Erin nodded, clearly seeing his point. She’d been smart enough to catch the same thing—how normal her mom had seemed on the phone. Scared, sure, angry…but not hurt. Not desperate. That was a very good thing.
Erin’s next question distracted him. “So how did you find this driver? Is he just some random guy?”
“Pretty much,” Zander said. What she didn’t know in that department wouldn’t hurt her. “Sort of a friend of a friend.”
She eyed him, and a little more of her composure was back, her smile wry. “You have friends?”
“More than I realized.” He held up a hand to forestall her questions. “Not something you need to worry about, though. We’ll get across the border by early afternoon, and be at the hotel before check-in. Right on schedule.”
“Fine.” She blew out a small breath, and Zander felt his interest stir despite his conflicted emotions. He’d kept his hands to himself quite deliberately for the rest of last night, and had also kept the conversation light, sure. But he wasn’t the only one suffering from the push-pull of their mutual attraction, not by a long shot. Might as well keep it on her mind, as much as it was on his.
“You gonna be okay taking a shower on your own?” he drawled. “Or d’you think you’ll need protection in there?”
Erin’s startled gaze shot to his, then her eyes flashed annoyance as she realized he was teasing her once again. She paused only long enough to flip him off, and he grinned, watching her go into the bathroom and shut the door. The moment it was closed, he hit the phone again.
An hour and a half later, a bag of breakfast sandwiches between them—one more than either of them could eat, plus a coffee that was still only slightly south of scalding—Zander bumped his car into a half-full lot of a Walmart, maybe ten minutes away from the airport they’d flown into the day before. The day was hot and dry, and their rental left a plume of dust behind them as he moved up and down the scorched rows, looking for what he wanted. Erin kept checking the dash, and he flicked a glance there as well. It was just now coming up on eleven A.M., but they had plenty of time.
“This is where we’re meeting the driver?” she asked dubiously.
“It’s his day off. He’s doing it as a favor for us.” They pulled in a few car lengths away from the vehicle Zander had been told to expect, a Dodge minivan with Texas plates, ordinary as mud. What was a bit less ordinary was the man leaning up against the van, seemingly oblivious to the hundred-degree heat. Nothing like August in Texas.
Erin saw him at the same time Zander did. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Hola!” The man waved energetically as he noticed them, his big grin splitting a face warmed by far too many summers in the sun. He wore a brightly flowered shirt, complete with a more or less white wife beater underneath, and banged-up cargo pants not that different than the ones Zander had left behind in Boston. His hair was long, his face was tanned almost to the color of the red-clay dust on the car beside him, but he was young, definitely in his twenties. And he looked exactly as Zander had been told to expect. He appreciated that.
Zander got out of the car and shook the man’s hand without preamble. “Reymundo Torres?”
“In the flesh.” The man grinned. “But call me Rey.” He glanced into the car. “No need to get out, ma’am, I’m joining you.” Erin, of course, got out anyway. Torres gave Zander a quick nod as she came around to greet him, and Zander felt a little of his tension ease. Finally, he felt like they weren’t going into this thing blind. He stood back as Erin stopped in front of Torres, not missing her confused glance.
“You’re the driver?” she asked, as if she was having a difficult time processing the idea, and Torres gave her a jaunty salute.
“I’m the driver.” He nodded. “Taking you to all the most excellent ports of call in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.” He patted the hood of their rental. “And best of all, I drive the car you already have. So no new forms to fill out, eh? Just consider me along for the ride.”
Erin narrowed her eyes at the driver, who returned her gaze with a steady-eyed certainty that belied his easy grin. “And how do you guys know each other, again?”
“We have mutual friends,” Torres said easily. “But make yourself comfortable, yes? The trip over the bridge is painless, but there are still sometimes lines.”
Erin hesitated another moment, then followed Zander around the car to the passenger side, sliding into the backseat as Zander took the shotgun position. Something wasn’t quite right here, but she hadn’t figured out the undercurrents yet. Still, Zander seemed in control of the situation, and that’s what she was paying him for. She frowned about that. They never had discussed his fee, and she suspected there would be no fee, honestly. But right now, she needed to focus on getting her mother out of trouble. The rest she could handle, one way or another. She’d always handled it, right? She’d always been the responsible one.
While she silently stewed, Zander and Torres didn’t seem to have any problem carrying on the conversation without her. Within about twenty seconds, they were jawing back and forth about some racetrack in Fort Worth, and Erin found herself relaxing despite herself in the wake of their enthusiasm. Zander’d always been like that—never met a stranger, never met a problem he couldn’t take on with a grin and a leap of faith. Probably the first time she really knew she was in love with him, he’d made a leap like that. He’d also put her on notice that one day, almost certainly, he’d make a leap that broke her heart.
Erin woke up to find Zander watching her as she lay on the blanket, his lean, ripped body blocking out the sun. He smiled, a little embarrassed, and looked away as she blinked and sat up, but even in the few months they’d been dating she’d gotten used to him just…watching her. Like when he didn’t think she was paying attention, or didn’t know she was awake. They’d only been together officially a little while now, just since the beginning of the summer, and here it was almost August. These two months had seemed like a treasure to Erin, like something she could tuck away in a memory box and pull out years from now, and it would still be fresh and new, pretty and perfect and filled with possibility.
She leaned back on her elbows, looking out over the edge of the promontory. Like a lot of places along the cape, the rocks here fell away sharply to the ocean below, and the view was spectacular. You could get to the beach by taking a winding trail down the side of the bluff, but it was nice up here with the breeze and the view—a quiet place away from everyone and everything, where it could just be her and Zander.
He stretched out now on the blanket, and it was her turn to gaze down at him. His happy, relaxed face, his long, lanky body, just now beginning to show some bulk. He was wearing threadbare trunks but expensive water shoes, and that was perfect Zander. He didn’t care about a lot of stuff, but what he cared about mattered. He had a watch that he could dive with, and he lusted over insanely expensive cars. But he would be just as happy hanging out in a tent as living in his family’s nice home, and he never seemed to care about clothes or the newest video-game consoles or any of that. He was just comfortable being himself. Easy in his own skin.
She wondered what that must feel like.
“You ever think we could just walk out of here, down that road, and never come back, just the two of us?” he asked, bringing her attention back to him with a snap.
“What?” she asked, frowning down at him. “You mean, like, just run away?”
“Sure,” he said, rolling over to look at her. “You like me, I like you. We match. We could go anywhere, and do anything, because we’re together, you know? And as long as we’re together, the rest of it will all work out.”
He said it all so offhandedly, all Erin could do was stare at him. “You’re not being serious,” she said.
He grinned. “And you’re not being serious enough. Not about the stuff that matters, anyway.” He leaned up and kissed her, and Erin still couldn’t find anything to say. “So, you don’t ever think about that, I guess?”
“Well, I mean, sure, I suppose,” she said, though even she could hear the denial in her voice. “I mean, I think about walking off and going somewhere else, starting over, where nobody knew anything about me and I could do whatever I wanted, I just…” She shrugged helplessly. “I guess I never thought I would be going with someone when I did that.”
As soon as she said the words, she felt her cheeks flush, like she’d somehow given away too much.
“See?” Zander said, diving for her and rolling with her on the blanket till he had her pinned beneath him. “This is what I’m talking about. You need to think about these things. They’re important.”
She giggled and squirmed, trying to break out of his grasp, but she knew it was a losing battle. “Promise me!” he said sternly. “Look me in the eye and solemnly swear that from this day forward, you won’t go walking off into the sunset unless I’m right there by your side.”
“What?” Erin laughed, her eyes wide. This was as close to a declaration of forever as anyone had ever made to her. Hell, not even her own mother had ever promised her such a thing. “Zander, what are you talking about?”
“Promise me!” he said, giving her a little shake as he grinned down at her. “I’m just gonna hold you down until you do.” He leaned down close, his face inches from hers. “Hmmmm. Hold you down and kiss you, maybe. That’ll teach you.”
And he dropped his lips to Erin’s, the move so sudden and sweet that he stole her breath away. Then he was up again, his eyes all fake serious as a grin played around his mouth. “Better promise me quick,” he said, waggling his brows. “It’s just going to get worse from here.” And he plunged down again and kissed her hard this time, and then she was laughing and he was laughing and she gasped out “I promise!” before he could swoop in a third time. He halted above her. “Promise what, soldier?”
“Promise that I won’t go walking off into the sunset unless you’re right there by my side.”
“Right. No solo sunsets?”
“No solo sunsets,” she said, and he pulled her up beside him then as he stood, dropping her hands to stretch up into the sunlight. And that’s when it happened—her heart just sort of crystallized in that moment, that moment of Zander and sunshine and endless summer, and she knew she would never stop loving him, no matter how many sunsets they shared.
“It’s getting hot,” she said, shaking her head hard to keep the sudden and completely irrational tears at bay. “Why don’t we go down for a swim?” She leaned down and pulled up the blanket, folding it quickly in her arms.
“Ya knowwww,” Zander said, his gaze swiveling from her to the edge of the promontory. “Why don’t you leave that here, and we’ll just jump?”
“Jump?” She glanced to the edge of the rocks, startled. “No way, Zander, it’s too far!” But even as she stood there, Zander was loping forward, turning around to laugh at her as she hurried to keep up. Jumping off the bluffs was completely illegal, but that didn’t stop Zander from doing it—nothing stopped Zander from doing what he wanted, even if it was stupid, even if it was illegal, even if it was reckless or dangerous, and especially if it scared the crap out of her.
“Chicken!” Zander shouted, his words floating back to her. “See you at the beach!” And his voice was so full of life and joy that Erin finally stopped and just watched him racing toward the bluff, building up momentum. She knew he was going to jump—he was always going to jump—and at the last minute, as he sailed off the edge of the bluff and into open space, she felt that sickening lurch of her heart and her stomach as a lifetime full of sunsets soared into the sky with him, then disappeared over the edge of the cliff.
Zander’s exhilarated whoop trailed up with a gust of wind, and Erin was off and running again, but this time for the trail down the bluff to the beach far below, her heart still pounding as she prayed that Zander would be okay, that he would always be okay, and that they’d get a chance to see just one more sunset together before he did the next crazy impossible thing that popped into his head.
“You doing good back there?”
Zander’s words brought her back and Erin blinked. “Yes! Yes, all good.” They were approaching a long line of cars at a bridge, and she was struck with how, well, how normal everything seemed. Not that she wanted a big shoot-out at the Mexican O.K. Corral, but if they went through this with no more trouble than a trip to the grocery, she admitted that a small part of her would be…ever so slightly disappointed. She’d read a tiny amount about the drug trade in Mexico, and about people who ran afoul of the dealers. It seemed a lot more scary on the Internet than it did driving around in a rental car.
She frowned as they drove past the first bridge. “Isn’t that where we’re headed?”
Rey glanced at her in the rearview mirror, his ever-present smile still curving the edge of his mouth. “No, ma’am. That’s what we call Bridge Number One—a good enough bridge, don’t get me wrong. But the one we want is Bridge Number Two. I have a pass for the SENTRI lane there.” He tapped a small hang-card he’d slung over the rearview mirror.
“Like an express lane?” she asked, and Rey nodded.
“Exactly like that.”
They turned onto the bridge, and Erin watched the sunlight playing over scorched concrete as they made their way across the arching expanse. “So, is it really as dangerous here as I read about? Should I be worried?”
“You? Not at all.” Rey shrugged. “You have Zander with you, and he seems like a smart guy. You seem like a smart woman. With two smart people, I have found that there is never much need to be worried.” They bumped off the bridge and down onto the street, Rey handling the vehicle easily to get over to the first exit, heading west. “Now if you were dumb? Well, that would be another thing altogether. Camino Real, yes?” Rey asked, and Zander nodded, while Rey flashed Erin a bright grin in the rearview mirror. “Then your adventure begins, my very smart friends. Welcome to Nuevo Laredo.”