Page 63 of He Loves Me Knot
Liddy froze as he logged on. She hadn’t told him about the notifications she’d ignored. Maybe he’d just think they’d come in while the phone had been off...
Callum said nothing as he tapped out a message. Then he shut the phone off again. “Done,” he breathed out.
“So now, what do we do?”
“Well, we are in a manual. We can pop it in neutral. If I push this damn thing, will you steer it?”
“All the way to a gas station? For a half a kilometer?”
Callum raised his palms. “Have any better ideas?”
She didn’t.
She hadn’t driven a car in over a year and never a stick shift, so as she climbed into the driver’s seat, a nervous feeling crept up her back. What if they got going too fast—like down a hill or something?
“It’s going to be fine, Lid,” Callum said, his voice calm as she glanced out the open window. “Put the indicators on. You never know. Maybe someone will stop and help.”
She laughed, feeling slap-happy. “Do you think this is just like a terrible dream or something?”
“It probably is for you. Getting stuck with your arsehole boss in a country known as paradise to everyone else while you freewheel in a dead car after the day from hell? No wonder we almost ripped each other’s heads off before we got something to eat.”
We sure did. For many reasons.
Liddy was still so deeply angry about what Callum’s mom had done. No wonder he was so hostile toward her.
“I asked her to choose. It was either her or me. Surely, my own mother wouldn’t want to betray her only son, right? My mum might have been Sophia’s mum’s best friend, but she was my mum.”
Who chooses someone over their own flesh and blood? Their own child?Liddy had only ever seen loving sacrifice in her own family, so it was unfathomable what Callum’s mom had done. And Sophia seemed to be okay with that as well.Cow.But Callum wouldn’t want Liddy to talk about that.
So she focused on slowly steering the car, both fearful and excited. As she came to the first turn, she almost cried. A bright neon sign glowed in the distance.A gas station.
“Callum! A gas station. Up ahead.” She could hardly contain the rush of emotion swelling within her.
As they drew closer, the legendary Tico helpfulness arrived, too. A group of men from the gas station came over and helped Callum push the damn SUV the rest of the way.
She almost kissed the ground beside the pump.
She smiled, feeling unusually better as Callum climbed back into the car. Maybe it was the promise of a potential hotel waiting not too far away. She didn’t even care that there wasn’t a chance she’d get her passport back today—or tomorrow, for that matter.
She just wanted a soft bed and a pillow.
The roofof Liddy’s mouth was parched as she woke, trying to reorient herself.
She turned on the bed, stretching, and her hand bumped against Callum’s shoulder. She drew it back, startled, then glanced at him.
Oh, yeah.
They’d arrived at the hotel shortly after getting to La Fortuna, both so exhausted that they could barely stand straight. In their possession was one backpack full of fruit, two toothbrushes and toothpaste, a dead cell phone, a couple of his credit cards, and his passport.
When they’d found out the hotel had given them a king-sized bed, she hadn’t even bothered to object to Callum sleeping in the bed.
The fact is, he earned it.
And they’d both been asleep within minutes. He’d fallen asleep before her, in fact.
She climbed out of the bed now, feeling dirty and gross in the clothes she’d worn the previous day. Not that she had anything else to change into, but she’d seen a gift shop near the resort lobby, and they had some clothes and bathing suits for sale there. And the bathroom had two fluffy bathrobes.
She went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, hunting for the complimentary soaps and shampoo. Thank God Callum had wanted to book a well-known place. Even though she hadn’t minded the rustic charm ofLa Hacienda, a little luxury felt incredible after their day yesterday.