Page 25 of Wait For Me
Tessa cracked a smile and nodded as she turned away. “Expect a full report.”
Old Blue rumbled down the steep hill and Tessa’s eyes swept the valley below. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see after Arthur’s cryptic cellar conversation yesterday. Maybe the whole world would be in ruins. But it was a quaint and quiet morning with seagulls flying overhead. Turner street was clear. The Suburban had been moved. She slowed down and scanned the houses until she found the vehicle parked in one of the driveways with exhaust coming out of the muffler. She waited to see if it would back up, but it stayed where it was.
I don’t want to do this. Tessa put the truck in park and left the engine running. “Sit right here for a second, okay? I’m just going to go say hi and apologize to someone.”
There were two people sitting in the front seats but she couldn’t make out who they were. She walked up to the tinted driver side window of the Suburban and gave a timid knock against the glass. The window rolled down to expose the woman’s face she’d seen the other day flipping her off in the middle of the street. She was painting her nails and watching a show on the iPad plugged in to the dash with another woman in the passenger seat.
“Can I help you?” Realization dawned on the woman’s face and her thick lips pressed together into a sneer.
Tessa shifted anxiously. “Hey. I’m sorry to just walk up and disturb you like this. I felt bad about driving off the other day and leaving you stranded there. My kid was in school and I had to rush to pick him up. When I came back, you were gone.”
The woman coughed softly, annoyed at the conversation. “We didn’t need your help anyway. Charlie’s husband and Jed helped push it here when they got home from work.” The woman in the passenger seat nodded as she reached for the bottle of nail polish.
Charlie. Charlie. Tessa repeated the name, trying to commit it to memory. “Oh okay, well I’m glad it all worked out.” She thrust her hand through the open window. “But my name’s Tessa. I live up there on the hill. It’s nice to meet you.” The woman stared at Tessa’s outstretched hand and wiggled her tacky fingers in the air. “Right. My bad.” Tessa’s hand fell to her side.
“Olivia,” the woman said, but didn’t return the greeting. She glanced into her rearview mirror. “Looks like your truck is still working though. Are you going somewhere?”
“Just to pick up my husband.” She hoped that was the truth.
“The military guy?” Charlie chimed in with a perfectly manicured eyebrow raised. The two women shared a silent look that made Tessa uncomfortable. She was used to women ogling Landon, but she felt like she just stumbled into the hen nest. They already had an idea of who she was and had probably formed an opinion. From the looks of it, it wasn’t a good one.
“That’s him.” Tessa took a step back and gave a short wave. “We’ve got to take off so we aren’t late, but I apologize for the other day and it was nice chatting with you.” Olivia nodded and the window rolled up without her speaking another word.
Well that was awful. Tessa climbed behind the steering wheel and put some distance between herself and the subdivision.
Pulling onto the freeway ramp of I-15 proved to be another mistake. None of the stalled cars had been moved from where they died and Old Blue was too big to maneuver around them. Tessa cursed under her breath and watched the rearview mirror as she reversed back down the road.
“Damnit is a bad word Mommy,” Emily piped up from her booster seat. Tessa shifted into gear and drove over the grassy field beside the on ramp.
“I know. Don’t ever say that word again.”
The access road was blocked by a brown crew cab Dodge Ram with its doors and hood left open but no owner in sight. She eased Old Blue off the road to get around it and ended up driving in the ruts for a hundred yards when she was stuck behind a fence.
The local farmer’s market stalls and permanent small boutiques store sat boarded up to her right as she drove back onto the road. The sight of the once busy market place so empty and quiet now brought chills down her spine.
A spot of neon yellow flashed through the sparse pine trees on the hill at the end of the access road. When she turned the bend to the open stretch of pavement, the reflective vests of two bicyclists pedaled toward them. Tessa tightened her grip on the wheel as they got closer. Their gear was clean, top of the line, but they were overpacked with their backpacks and trailers as they swerved all over the road. The man in the rear eyed the truck wistfully while she sped past them, but he didn’t stop to flag her down.
The access road ended at the top of the hill and Tessa turned right to the overpass. She pulled up to the colorless lights to see how congested the freeway was below them.
“Why are people walking on the road?” Emily laughed. “You can’t walk on roads.”
“Because their cars are sick.” The smile fell from Mason’s face. “Right, Mom?”
Tessa stared at the freeway, her fingers tapping against the steering wheel. Southbound was clear except for a few vehicles here and there. She could maneuver the truck around them. But the northbound lanes were a mess. Vehicles bogged down with too many passengers, too many bags, drove slowly around the road blocks. Some were getting out to push the abandoned cars to the side, but most weren’t stopping to help. She counted fifteen or so groups of people just walking down the middle of the road pulling carts behind them.
Her stomach clenched as she watched them go and every fiber of her being was telling her to do the same thing, run away from the city by any means possible. Get out before it’s too late.
Stop being irrational, she chided herself. Those people probably didn’t live there anyway and wanted to go home. If planes weren’t flying and public transportation wasn’t running, they had to figure out a way to see their family again. Still, she decided to stay away from the freeway if at all possible.
She kept driving past the on ramp and off-roaded down the slope of the mountain side through the sagebrush and dirt toward old highway 395 while the kids cheered her on. Tessa couldn’t help but laugh. There was no way Landon was ever going to believe that she was driving like this.
The quiet of the back roads and lack of moving vehicles had Tessa looking over her shoulder, waiting for the flashing lights of a police vehicle to pull them over and ticket her or something for not staying at home. They’d understand this, wouldn’t they? Once she picked up Landon then she’d stay put unless the military had other plans.
The forested roads gave way to warehouses and tall palm trees that swayed in the gentle sea breeze. She drove onto the 78 and passed through the industrial district. Tessa cranked down the window as they got closer to the ocean. The humid air and lack of AC in the truck was making sweat bead on her skin.
“Watch out, Mom!” Mason cried.
She jerked the wheel too hard making the tires skid on the asphalt on the highway near the private airfield. The power steering was awful and she had to pull hard to right the course.