Diana pushed Lillo and Allie into the hallway, shut the door, and turned to look at Jess. “Well, it didn’t take much for Prince Charming to turn into a toad, did it?”
Jess’s mouth twisted. “You knew, didn’t you? All about him.”
Diana nodded.
“And you knew that I knew.”
“Yes, dear. I did.”
“But you didn’t try to warn me against him.”
“That never works. You’d just hate me for saying it.” And didn’t she just know all about that. “I was hoping you’d come to your senses.”
“Well, I did, in spades, in front of the whole world. I’ll never be able to face those people again.”
“No loss, if you ask me. Now stop being mopey and let’s get you packed up. Only essentials—and hurry.”
Jess just stood there.
“Or if you’re changing your mind, I can just leave without you. But I won’t be a party to this travesty.”
“No!” Jess ran for the bathroom.
Diana sighed and headed for the closet. She hauled out a suitcase and threw it on the bed. Went back to the closet and rifled through the clothes hanging there. Useless for a road trip. She picked out the least wedding-looking dresses, slacks, and blouses and tossed them into the suitcase.
Jess came out, cradling a mountain of toiletries in her arms.
Diana quickly looked for a carryall of some kind, spied the shopping bags of wedding favors stacked in the corner of the room. She picked the sturdiest-looking one and dumped the favors onto a nearby chair.
Jess let out a squeak of protest.
Diana shot her a look—fight or flight, do or die—it was a look that her employees were used to; it was a look she and Jess had exchanged many times as they climbed the ladder of a corporation neither of them wanted to work for. But they had been fierce, and if one started to cave, the other gave her the look.
Then Jess started dating James Beckman and Diana quit to start her own app company. Things had blossomed for Diana and gone south in a major way for her friend.
She held out the bag and realized that Jess was staring in horror at the dumped gifts.
Diana rattled the bag.
Jess dropped the toiletries into it. Diana moved on to the dresser and rummaged through the underwear, a combination of bikinis, thongs, various styles of bras . . . She scooped them up and tossed the whole bunch across the room to the suitcase.
The next drawer held camisoles and frilly nightgowns. “Unbelievable.” She shut the drawer, opened the next. Picked out whatever would fit in the suitcase. And shut it with more energy than was necessary. She was suddenly annoyed at Jess for getting herself into this situation, for putting Diana and her other friends in the middle of it. They were wrecking a huge amount of preparation and expense and upending people’s travel plans, not to mention the embarrassment. There was bound to be fallout. Diana had planned to take a week off. That week called for a weekend wedding, then a relaxing spa at a four-star hotel in downtown Boston where she intended to touch some of the major players in the app development industry when she wasn’t packed in mud, being massaged and manicured and generally pampered while she worked.
Well, how bad could Lighthouse Beach be? There was a beach. And what else could she do but help Jess?
She lugged the suitcase off the bed.
“What about the closet?” Jess asked.
“I already went through it for something casual; the rest is wedding stuff. You won’t be needing it. Really, I’ve never seen so much frou. Didn’t you bring anything more normal?”
“I was supposed to be getting married, not going to a girls’ weekend away.”
“Well, now you are. We’ll shop when we get to Lighthouse Beach. Now come on, time’s up.” Diana stopped Jess at the door. “Seriously. Is this what you want?”
Jess bit her bottom lip. Nodded.
“Then use the hotel stationery and leave your parents a note.”
“What do I say? They’ll be furious.”
Diana suppressed a sigh. “Say you need time to think and please cancel the wedding.”
“I can’t do that,” Jess said.
“Then stay here and get married.”
Jess dropped her bags and went to the desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a sheet of stationery and a pen. “Please cancel the wedding and . . .”
“You love them and you’ll be in touch.”
Jess finished writing. Placed the note carefully on the bedside table and stood looking at it.
“What are you waiting for?”
“This.” Jess pulled the engagement ring off her finger and placed it in the center of the note. “Let’s blow this joint.”
She grabbed her bags. Diana cracked the door open, looked out, then pushed Jess through the opening. They ran down the hall away from the elevators, took the stairs to the first floor, and left the hotel by a door that led out to the far side of the hotel. They crept along the hedge until they reached the street.
There was no car waiting for them.
Diana put down Jess’s suitcase and looked up and down the street. Nothing. Headlights turned out of the marina. After a second of panic when she thought the Parkers might already be after them, she realized it was just a delivery van from the hotel. But no Lillo and Allie.
Where the hell were they? Their absence was bound to be discovered soon. Diana didn’t think for a minute Mama Parker intended to let Jess spend the evening alone. And she would certainly be holding a bedside vigil to keep Jess’s friends away. And if Diana knew Papa Parker, and she did, he’d be dragging “poor” James upstairs to make whatever excuses he could come up with.
Where were those girls? This is why companies failed. When something needed to be done ASAP, people dragged their feet, let inconveniences get in their way. Diana should have gone for the car; she would have grabbed the nearest valet by the shorthairs and force-marched him to the parking lot if need be. But Lillo and Allie were probably standing politely waiting with their dollar tip while the valet took his sweet time getting the car.
The delivery van made its way slowly up the street. Diana tapped her foot in consternation. The rusted old clunker stopped right in front of her. Not a delivery van but an old VW bus. The driver’s door opened and Lillo jumped out. She ran around to the back and opened the hatch while Diana stared in disbelief.
“I told you it was old,” Lillo said. “Are you going to get in or not?”
Lillo stowed the bags, pushed the two newcomers into the back seat, and jumped back in. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to spend her weekend in uncomfortable shoes, she thought as she guided the van back onto the street and north toward Lighthouse Beach.
She wouldn’t have to talk to people with whom she had nothing in common while trying to juggle a champagne flute, finger food, and a purse with nothing in it. Why did you need a purse at a wedding anyway? Maybe for tissues if you were inclined to cry. Which Lillo wasn’t. She hadn’t cried for months. Didn’t intend to start up again over a wedding or the lack thereof.
She shifted gears and pulled into the lane. No one spoke; maybe the calamity of what they’d just done had begun to settle in. They were kidnapping the bride from a ridiculously expensive wedding, with hundreds of guests left wondering what had happened—though if they’d been in the bar that night, they might have a clue.
Lillo glanced in the rearview mirror. Jess was huddled against the door. Diana sat upright, looking straight ahead. She caught Lillo’s eye and Lillo guessed they were both thinking the same thing. They might just have a disaster on their hands.
For starters, what was she going to do with these people? She liked Allie and Diana, and Jess needed them, but Mac would need her van back, and Lillo didn’t have the room or the inclination to play hostess. She was used to living alone and her place was little. Well, it had three bedrooms, but they were tiny and one was filled with her old life, boxed up and never looked at.
They could stay there overnight. If the Parkers didn’t find Jess or Jess didn’t cave before the next day, they could get a rental car from the mainland. Jess, Allie, and Diana could go on their trip and Lillo could go back to her life.
The first raindrop fell as Lillo turned onto the entrance ramp to I-95 North. Within minutes, the drops turned to sheets. Lillo turned the wipers to high and hunched over the steering wheel to see the road as the old van was buffeted by intermittent gusts of wind.
Jess started crying again.
They were one of the few vehicles on the highway and miles went by before Lillo saw the blur of taillights ahead. A car had pulled to the side of the road to wait out the storm. Lillo didn’t relish stopping the VW on the road. She didn’t relish stopping anywhere but home. She should never have left in the first place—the very first place, she added grimly.
They all grew silent as the enormity of what they’d done crept over them; at least Lillo guessed that’s what it was. She was feeling pretty guilty. Not because she helped Jess to get away, but because she might have swayed Jess’s decision to leave. She’d spent their childhood watching her best friend yo-yo between other people’s opinions. Trying to please, to be loved. Lillo didn’t want to become one of those people now. But Jess, for all her quiet crying, hadn’t once suggested she wanted to turn around and go back.
“How about some music?” Diana said from the back seat.
Allie reached for the radio.
“It doesn’t work,” Lillo said. “Sorry.”
Allie settled back, Lillo hunkered forward, and the night grew darker.
Allie let out a yelp when rap music broke the silence.
“It’s my phone,” Jess said, the words trembling out as she spoke them. She rummaged in her purse. “It’s my father. What am I going to do?”
Diana looked back at her, then to Lillo. Lillo shrugged. The phone kept rapping.
“Well, decide soon.” Lillo took the exit for I-295.
Diana let out a huff of air. “You’d better answer it. If you’re going to give in, best to do it now before we get any farther.”
Jess scrambled to take the call.
Lillo could hear Mr. Parker’s voice from where she sat. He was livid.
“I left a note,” Jess said.
Lillo doubted if he even heard her, he was yelling so loudly. What an awful man.
“Dad. Dad.”
Mr. Parker didn’t slow down.
“You never listen to me. I’m not marrying James. He humiliated me in front of all the guests. I won’t do it.”
Beside her, Diana fist-pumped the air.
“I’ll have those girls arrested.”
Allie gasped. Lillo glanced at Diana in the rearview mirror; she couldn’t see Jess.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I took a cab to the train station. I’m going home to Boston. I don’t want to talk to you or anyone. So don’t call again.” She ended the call.
“Can he really have us arrested?” Allie asked.
“Of course not,” Diana said. “It’s just more of his usual intimidation—threaten, coerce, sue . . . Bully tactics, annoying and sometimes financially costly, but he has absolutely no grounds to have us arrested.”
“Can he?” Allie asked Jess.
“No, but he can make everyone’s life miserable. And you were just trying to help me.”
The rap song started up again. “Dammit. Stop calling me!” Jess sounded hysterical. With Jess, hysteria could quickly turn to defeat.
“That’s it. Let me talk to him.” Diana reached for Jess’s phone.
Jess snatched it out of her reach and clutched desperately at the door.
“What the hell are you doing?” Diana screamed.
Suddenly they were all pelted with stinging rain. In one violent gesture, Jess tossed the phone out of the window. She quickly rolled the glass up and fell back on the seat. “God, it’s wet out there.”
“Jeez,” Diana said, staring at her.
“What?” Jess asked. “You thought I was going to jump?”
“What did you do?” Allie asked, leaning over the back of her seat.
“I tossed my phone. You can believe they already got a reading off the GPS. I should have thought of that. This way they can’t follow us. I may be a dummy when it comes to choices in husbands, but I know my electronics.” She sniffed. “And I know myself,” she added in a much quieter voice.
“I should have thought of that, too,” Diana said. “I just wasn’t sure we’d get this far.”
Jess shot her a fulminating look. “Be sure. For better or worse, I’m out of there.”
Diana rummaged in her purse. “Does this box of bolts have a light that works?”
Lillo reached up and turned on the overhead light.
Diana began to dismantle her cell phone.
“What are you doing?” Lillo asked.
“Deactivating GPS, then shutting down locations so they can’t trace us. When we get to some real light—hopefully sometime tonight—I’ll migrate over to one of my dummy numbers. Don’t look so startled. I have to change numbers all the time. Industrial espionage. Hacking. Apps are big business. I’ll need yours and Allie’s, too.”
“I need my phone,” Lillo said.
“You’ll have it, but I have to turn off our GPS or they’ll be flying up to wherever we’re going and beat us there.”
“It’s in the side pocket of my duffel.”
“A duffel,” Diana mumbled under her breath. “The mind boggles.”
Lillo drove down the empty interstate with the interior light on, which made the night black as pitch while Diana deactivated everyone’s GPS. “Just a stopgap. We’ll do something permanent tomorrow.”
A half hour later they turned off the interstate and onto a county road. “Are you okay back there?” Lillo asked after a long silence from the back seat.
“Yep. Just peachy,” Diana said.
“How much farther?” Jess asked.
“In this storm and in the dark? A little over an hour.”
“Too bad we didn’t think to bring something to eat or some water bottles,” Allie said.
“True,” Diana said. “I’m feeling a double grande mocha latte about now. Or a Courvoisier. Or both.”
“Or a warm baguette and Brie with a mellow, smooth-finish pinot noir,” added Allie.
“Or chips and dip,” Jess said. “I have to pee.”
Allie turned to look at the others. “Maybe we should stop at a motel for the night.”
“That might be a good idea,” Diana said.
“You should have thought about that before we turned off the highway,” Lillo said.
“I knew it. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“No, we’re in the middle of Maine and not even in the middle. The ocean is a few miles over on your right.”
“And there are no tourist places?”
“Well, yeah, but not like Jones Beach. They’re little and sleeping since it’s almost two a.m.”
“What’s that?” Allie asked, pointing to an orange-and-green haze up ahead.
“Remington Tavern.”
“Maybe we could get a coffee and a bite to eat just to wait out the worst of the storm.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Diana agreed, and leaned over the front seat to see.
Lillo put on the blinker and slowed down, looking for the entrance to the parking lot. They weren’t the only ones with the idea of waiting out the storm; the parking lot was packed—mainly with trucks and motorcycles.
“It’s a biker bar,” Allie exclaimed.
“Sounds like fun,” Diana said tentatively.
“It could be dangerous,” Jess said.
“You’re the one who has to pee.”
“Not that bad.”
Remington’s was the only eating-drinking place for miles, so people learned to get along, for the most part. Not always. Four wedding refugees dressed in their finest casual chic were bound to cause a stir and maybe some come-ons.
“We can’t go in there,” insisted Jess. “Terrible things could happen.”
As if seeing your fiancé screwing a stranger in a parking lot while your guests watched wasn’t horrible enough.
“I think you better keep driving,” Diana said.
Lillo flipped off the blinker. She didn’t need convincing. She just wanted to get home, even if that home was going to be crowded for a few hours. She arched her back, rolled her shoulders, and hunkered down. A few minutes later she turned the VW onto the road that would eventually take them to Lighthouse Island.
“It’s so dark,” Diana said. “Are those trees? I thought you lived at the beach.”
“I do. It’s just that there are forests before you get there. In some places the trees—”
A loud pop exploded in Lillo’s ears. The van lurched to the side, and Allie screamed. Diana yelped an expletive as an all-too-familiar thud, thud, thud echoed beneath them.
Blowout.
Lillo wrestled with the steering wheel and gradually managed to bring the van to a stop on the side of the road, where she hit the emergency lights, then leaned against the wheel gulping in air until her heart rate gradually subsided to normal. Then she turned to the others. “Everyone okay?”
“Yeah,” Diana said, climbing back on the seat. “Should have kept my seat belt on.”
“What are we going to do?” cried Jess.
“Change the damn tire,” Lillo snapped. “Sorry, just a little adrenaline rush. You guys just sit tight. I’ll get us fixed in a jiff.” Of course the spare and the tire iron and the rain ponchos that Mac kept in the back were all under a pile of luggage.
She pushed the door open and was immediately pelted with cold rain. Tucking her head into the wind and rain, she hurried to the back of the van. No easy feat, since the grassy shoulder had already turned to mud, with the skid marks left by the van’s tires rapidly turning to puddles.
She opened the back, looked at the pile of luggage, and squinted the rain from her eyes. When she opened them again she was looking back at Allie, who had exchanged places with Diana and was pulling the top suitcases out from the back onto the back seat. A second later Diana joined Lillo at the back of the van.
“You’re going to get soaked,” Lillo said.
“Already am. Let’s do this.”
Between the three of them, they managed to get the area free enough to uncover the jack, lug-nut wrench, and spare.
“Got a flashlight?” Diana yelled over the splashing of the storm. “Never mind, I see it.” She yanked an emergency lantern out from under a tarp that covered various and sundry tools.
Lillo unscrewed the tire cover and tugged it out. It wasn’t a full-size tire, but with a little luck it would get them home. “Really, you’re going to ruin your outfit and shoes,” she told Diana, who stood beside her holding up the lantern like the Statue of Liberty welcoming the huddled masses on a really nasty night.
“I’ll live. I don’t know shit about cars but I can at least hold the light.”
Lillo assembled the jack and reached back in for the lug wrench. A roar in the distance made her turn around.
“What was that?” Diana asked, her eyes suddenly round beneath her expert makeup.
“I don’t—” A glow appeared in the darkness and the rumble became louder, grew to a crescendo as a band of motorcycles roared past them, leaving only a ringing in Lillo’s ears and a faint red after-halo of taillights.
The rumbling dropped out; the bikers were turning around. The back door of the van swung open.
“Get in the car,” Jess yelled. “Get in the car quick.”
Lillo shook her head. She had a job to do, and whether it was busting heads or changing a tire, she was going to do it and get home before her life got any more out of control.
Ned Hartley hit the brakes. He knew that van. But what the hell was Mac doing out here in the middle of the night?
He waited until the others slowed down then motioned them to turn around. It took some maneuvering on the narrow country road. So much for a warm bed and a couple of hours’ sleep before work began in the morning.
They rode back to the van, stopping the bikes as close to the shoulder as possible, facing the van, their headlights acting as spotlights.
Ned took in the scene. Hatch open. Doughnut tire propped against the van. Flat tire.
He climbed off the bike, ready to read Mac the riot act for being out in this weather, this late. And scaring the crap out of him. There was someone with her, but he or she was hard to see in the pouring rain and his visor was poor help against the elements. It must be something catastrophic to send Mac out in the middle of the night.
While Roy and Nando set out flares behind them, Ned strode to the van but stopped abruptly when he saw that not only was Mac not alone, it wasn’t even Mac. Two women wearing drinks-at-a-trendy-restaurant dresses and heels stood at the back of the van.
One of them was clutching the lug wrench like she might be considering bashing his head in. He had an overwhelming desire to hold up his hands and intone, We come in peace, but that was just wrong. She was probably frightened. Being surrounded by a motorcycle “gang,” even though there were only seven of them, could be intimidating. Even though they were decent guys. And then he recognized her.
“Lillo?”
No response, just a tighter grip on the lug wrench.
She probably hadn’t heard him. “Lillo,” he said louder.
She jumped. Hunched toward him. Then relaxed.
He lifted his visor.
She didn’t lower the lug wrench.
“Great,” she said, but she sounded more resigned than glad to see him. “For a minute I thought you were the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s the poncho.” She pointed the lug wrench to indicate his rain gear.
“Keeps me dry.” He pointed toward her dress and sandals.
She looked down. “I didn’t know I’d be changing a tire in the rain.”
And what were they doing standing in the downpour hurling barbs at each other?
“Get in the van and I’ll finish up for you.” He reached for the wrench.
She didn’t let go. “Thanks, but no need for you to get held up.”
Really, he should just leave them to fix the flat themselves. That would make Lillo happy until tomorrow when she realized how stupidly she’d reacted then would castigate herself for the rest of the day or week or however long she thought she needed to punish herself for not being perfect.
“We’re not in a hurry.” He pulled the wrench, she held on; she always got stubborn when anyone tried to do stuff for her. “Dammit, just give me the wrench.”
The van’s back door swung open and another woman jumped out of the car. She rushed toward them, grabbed the wrench out of their hands, and lunged at him.
Reflexively, Ned stepped to the side and the woman prat-fell into the mud.
Ned winced.
Lillo groaned. “Really?”
“Sorry.” Ned leaned down, but when he tried to help the woman up, she started flailing and screeching. Ned was acutely aware of the guys behind him. A couple of them were new this trip. And it didn’t matter how old you got, or how much good stuff you tried to do, a guy just never got past not wanting to look like an ass to his compadres.
He finally managed to drag the woman to her feet and passed her off to the silent sidekick who was standing next to Lillo.
Lillo had picked up the wrench, which was now covered in mud. He tried to take it from her.
Which set off the mud-splattered harridan again. “Leave us alone. Just get out of here. Allie’s in the car and she’s calling the police.” She tore away from her friend’s grasp, let out a cry of pain, and sat down in a puddle.
The second woman pulled her to her feet. “Sorry; she just got out of a bad relationship. I’ll tell Allie to cancel the call if you could please help us. Thank you.” She took the screecher by the waist and helped her back to the car, stopping only long enough to pick up the shoes she’d lost on the way.
With his luck they’d be bringing her into the clinic first thing tomorrow.
“Doc,” Roy called out. “You gonna change that tire or just talk to these pretty ladies all night? We’re getting wet back here.”
“Can I please have the lug wrench? The guys all have work scheduled for tomorrow and the clinic opens at eight.”
Lillo handed him the wrench. “Thanks.”
He took it and knelt down by the back tire. Lillo didn’t get in the car but stood over him like an avenging something. Clancy rolled the doughnut over. And after a brief “How’s it going, Lillo?” he and Ned changed the tire with the same precision they showed in surgery.
Clancy threw the old tire into the back of the van and slammed the hatch shut.
Ned stood. “You’ll have to get a new tire. That one’s busted.”
“I figured that.”
“I saw the van and I thought you were Mac. What are you doing out here? Besides changing a tire?”
She just stood there getting wetter. “Is this an interrogation, Doctor?”
“No, just curious. How’ve you been?”
“Good. You?”
“Good. I didn’t see you last time I was in town.”
“I was up the coast.”
“Avoiding me?”
“Nope.”
Ned bit his lip to keep his mouth shut.
Clancy stood off to one side, patiently shaking his head. “So, Lillo, what are you doing out here in the rain, changing a flat tire and wearing a dress?”
“Coming back from a wedding.”
“Ah. Is that where you picked up these ladies? Friends of the bride?”
“One of them is the bride.”
“If that ain’t something,” Clancy said. And pushed his visor down.
“You’ve got the bride in the van,” Ned said. None of this made any sense.
“If you must know, we sort of kidnapped her, but it’s a long story and we’re all getting wet, and your gang is getting restless.”
“It’s been a long day. It looks like you’re going to need a push to get out of this mess. Get in, and when I yell, put her in first. See you while I’m on the island?”
“Probably. Thanks for the change and the push.” She got back in the van.
Ned and three of the others gathered at the back bumper. The men pushed, the wheels spun until they gradually gained the pavement. “Now!” he yelled, and the VW shot forward.
Ned saw Lillo’s hand sticking out the window and waving in the rain. He held up his own hand, even though he knew she didn’t see him. She wouldn’t have even looked back to see if he was still there.