CHAPTER ONE
Jumping out of the car, slamming the door, she kicked at the flat tire and glanced at the steam rising from the hood.
"Damn, just what I need," she swore aloud. "Not just one problem, but two!"
In one swift movement, Savannah bent through the window of the car and jerked her keys from the ignition, breaking a fingernail in the process. She grimaced. Walking toward the rear of the car, she stopped when she heard a ripping sound.
"Oh good grief...." She knew exactly what that sound meant. She already heard that same sound today. Her sleeve had caught on the door of the car. She opened the car door, and pulled the sleeve back in place. Pressing her lips together in one fine line, she went to the trunk of her parents’ BMW and unlocked it.
She stared aimlessly inside. She had never changed a flat tire in her life, but surely it wasn't that hard to do. She'd seen it done in a million movies. It looked relatively simple.
There in the right corner of the trunk was the jack, bolted down tight as though it hadn't meant to be used. As she fumbled with the bolt another finely manicured fingernail broke. She grimaced but kept on working. Her state of dress, and fake fingernails were the least of her worries.
"My God, I'll need a crow-bar to pry that thing loose," she wailed after several minutes of struggling unsuccessfully to loosen the jack.
Determination wasn't enough she needed a quick education in self-survival. She didn't have any plan. She had left the church because she simply didn't know what else to do. That and the fact that she couldn't marry Chad under the circumstances had suddenly changed her life forever.
What was she doing out here in the middle of nowhere? What was she trying to prove? She had a level head on her shoulders. Didn't she? She had a master's degree in fine arts, she could play the harp like an angel, and she knew how to take pictures. And up until yesterday she had been a very good real estate agent. But for the life of her, she didn't know what she was going to do next with her life or this blasted car.
Thoughts of Chad briefly interfered. She wanted to be married. It was something she instinctively knew she'd be good at. Some women had their careers, but all Savannah ever really wanted was to marry Chad. She'd taken odd jobs ever since she finished college just to look busy and give Chad the time and opportunity to pop the big question. She hadn't wanted to appear the spoiled little rich girl, waiting on the boy next door to make up his mind.
Talk about bursting bubbles. That's exactly what she had become, the spoiled little rich girl. The dumb little rich girl. The sweet little rich girl.
Thank God her camera equipment was still in the trunk. She'd planned to take pictures at her own wedding. What a fantasy that was! She knew every shot she wanted, seeing Chad's face for the first time yesterday morning, the flowers, and her young cousin bearing her ring, the wedding cake that nearly didn't arrive. So many things, so many pictures, now destroyed.
She'd wasted so many years with Chad. It had been such a comfortable relationship, Chad never forced himself on her, and she had enjoyed their dating. They did everything together, went everywhere, and enjoyed the good life. Looking at it from a distance she supposed she had become the spoiled little rich girl with such ease, with not a care in the world.
That was over, a voice reminded her. Things had changed drastically since yesterday morning. She had thrown herself into real life and she didn't have a clue as to what to do next. She didn't know how to fix the car, get a job, or even manage her own life.
She was twenty-six years old, and getting older by the moment, and she still didn't know much about life, men, or marriage. Everything she thought she knew had been turned upside down. What she needed was an education in life, and it certainly looked as though that was about to happen.
"It takes longer with some people," she reasoned aloud. "But I can do this. I can manage my own life."
She eyed the jack again and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I learned a valuable lesson with Chad. I won't be making that mistake again," she scoffed aloud as she stared aimlessly down the long deserted highway. But the dream of marriage lingered in the recesses of her mind. Perhaps it wasn't Chad she had loved so much, as the thought of marriage itself. Yes, she was in love with marriage.
She had a level head on her shoulders. She didn't need a man! Did she?
No, she didn't need one...she simply wanted one. She wanted that happily ever after picture. Okay, so she was a romantic, she silently fumed. She had believed in fairytales. But she could change, couldn't she? She could wise up, couldn't she?
She had wanted the marriage so much, she had looked forward to days and nights spent with Chad.
However, reality had played a trick on her, and saying "I do" was going just a little too far, when the best man was who Chad really loved. It seemed like a nightmare, now.
At twenty-six she was about to grow up, and fast.
Life wasn't fair. Deal with it, a small voice in her head cried.
With the back of her hand, she wiped the sweat trickling down her forehead and into her eyes. The sweat stung. The fact that the dress she wore cost more than she wanted to contemplate, seemed of little importance. It was ruined and there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it now. A $5000 dress. A dress she would never wear under normal circumstances. A dress her mother insisted was perfect for her, first because it was a bride's dress, and second because it was what any self-respecting Kingsley would wear.
Savannah hadn't thought much past her future with Chad until now. She bravely faced having to redirect her entire life, to rethink her values. But how did one go about redirecting their lives, when their dreams were suddenly crushed? Where to start?
There was no use rehashing her well laid plans of marriage. That was history. Now she had to think about what to do next. Like today, tomorrow, and maybe next week.
She hadn't the intelligence to draw money from her account at the bank, but that would have taken time and her parents might stop her. All she could do was run for the moment and hope that somehow everything would work out alright, for her and for Chad.
She moved the dangling sleeve of her dress away, so she could get closer to the trunk. By the time she managed to roll and scoot the tools to the far edge of the trunk she was breathless and black-smudged. She gasped. The nut and bolt holding it in place hadn't budged. After breaking a couple more fake nails, she managed to loosen it and pull the offending contraption out of the trunk.
"Alright I did it!" she jumped for joy. "I actually did it!"
But having it in her hands, and knowing where to put it to use was another thing.
She knew she needed to jack the car up. But where did one put the jack to jack it up? She'd seen this done on TV. She’d watched Chad do it, too. It had looked simple enough. Still, given all that information, she had no idea where to begin. After several minutes of trying to put the jack together, she glanced at the car, with a grimace. "Now where do I put you?"
She turned the jack around several different directions, placed it under the car behind the bumper. Nothing happened.
"Oh, you have to pump it up, you igmo," she berated herself. It also made sense to her to put it as close to the flat as possible. When she finally managed to get it situated under the car, and pumped it, it began pulling the fender away. She knew from the gosh-awful sound that she wasn't doing this correctly.
Slowly she glanced up at the protruding fender.
Stomping her foot, she jerked on the jack till it fell away. The car immediately slumped, making another weird sound, and stirring the dust from the side of the road. She licked at her dry pasty lips. Mad, hot, and disgusted with her own inabilities; she threw the jack as far as she could, nearly winging a jackrabbit in the process.
"Sorry little fella," she blew a tendril of hair away from her face and leaned against the fender. She mentally recorded the damage she'd done to the car with a withering sigh. Her father would not be pleased with her.
She w
asn't a man, how was she supposed to figure this out? If her brother, Jarod could see her now he'd laugh his head off. She missed Jarod. He'd flown in for her wedding that same morning and she had all of ten minutes to kiss him and catch him up on her life.
But all of that was gone and her life had changed within a few fragile moments.
Now she was faced with stark reality.
Stubborn to the core, Savannah vowed nature wasn't going to win with her. She did away with the offending train and bustle of the wedding gown. In fact one sleeve was already ripped and she felt compelled to rip off the other to match. Her veil lay in the backseat, she tossed her extra baggage back to join it. Nothing of the dress was left but one long piece of the skirt and the bodice.
She reached in the glove compartment for a string to tie her hair back, but the sun beat down on her neck so brazenly, she had to let it fall loose again. To complete the mess, when she closed the car door, her skirt caught and ripped again. She screamed aloud, "This can't be happening to me! What have I done to deserve this?"
Then in a fit of anger, she ripped the offending silk from her body and threw it in the backseat to join the rest of the mess. The silk slip was ankle length and thick enough to pass for a skirt she quickly decided.
She stood there, looking down the long lonesome road, wondering what might happen next. A slight breeze played tricks on her imagination and told her she was a little more comfortable than she had been, just a little. The fact that she had destroyed a $5,000 wedding dress, and damaged the beautiful new BMW didn't make her too proud.
Flashbacks of yesterday's disaster made her feel no better. Spending the night in the car hadn't done much for her disposition either. Sleeping in a wedding dress just didn't cut it, and perhaps turning the air on half the night didn't help the car's problems either. Guilt riddled her. But darn it, what was a girl to do? She could have lived with the fact that she'd lost Chad to another woman, but to lose him to man seemed outrageous. It bordered on hurting the ego and the pride all at the same time.
"I don't need marriage..." But that prospect brought no happiness either. Savannah knew deep in her heart that was one thing, she did need. She wanted the whole nine yards. She'd dreamed of being knee deep in diapers by this time next year. Fat chance!
Her two older sisters were married and had a houseful of children. That's exactly what she had wanted. She admired them both for making such happy families.
She and Chad had waited until they both finished college and secured jobs before jumping into the marriage ring. She'd been sensible, a lot of good it did her.
Savannah mentally tried to shake herself. Her mouth was dry, her lips chaffing, and the dust was thick enough to cut. She glanced down the forlorn looking highway for signs of life. From the looks of it, she and the jackrabbit had the whole of West Texas to be miserable in.
She glanced up at the clear sky, then down the long lonely road.
Nothing was in sight for miles. No service station, no cafes, no bright lights, just the blaring hot sun and a lonely stretch of highway. Oh why had she decided to look her long lost aunt up out here in the middle of nowhere?
Yesterday life had looked so wonderful, today she knew life sucked.
Didn't anyone ever travel out here? Not that there was that much to look at, but someone must surely live around here. She hadn't seen two cars since she left Sweetwater.
"It can be the best day of your life, or the worst, according to how you make it," she repeated. How many times had she shoved that quote down everyone's throat? Good advice, but hard to take, she admitted. That was back when she thought she was going to be married and happy the rest of her life.
Then suddenly, she saw something move. It was a good distance away so she couldn't be sure. She didn't dare hope. But as it got closer, she was sure she was seeing things. After all busses didn't appear out of the blue, in the middle of nowhere, did they? She couldn't be that lucky. Not the way her life was going.
She leaned against the car and waited, expecting it to disappear into thin air. It didn't, and Savannah whispered a prayer of thanks as the big silver mirage came closer.
"Oh my gosh...it can't be...but—but it is!"
She kept watching it, making sure it wasn't a mirage. She'd heard how things seemed to appear out here in the vast desert. How they could be there one minute and be gone the next, however, the big silver bus wasn't disappearing to her relief.
As it got closer she jumped up and down and flagged the driver down. It didn't seem to be slowing down and panic set in. Her stomach knotted like a hard rock in a balloon. Surely the driver wouldn't leave her stranded.
She swallowed hard and stood right in the middle of the road. Brave or just stupid, she was determined to stop the bus. The bus swerved and pulled to a reluctant stop.
As the doors came open, the large Hispanic driver muttered a few words under his breath. Savannah was sure she didn't want to hear those words.
She mounted the steps of the bus with all the dignity of a royal queen, mounting her throne.
"I'm stranded." She announced, as though that explained everything, as though those two words would actually mean something to this angry stranger.
No reaction.
"Did you hear what I said? I'm stranded. I need transportation."
His head turned and his hand tightened on the door.
"Um...my car won't start, can I have a lift into the next town, please?"
"Si, forty dollar," he said, sneering.
"Forty dollars?" she repeated as though she couldn't believe her ears.
"Si."
"That's highway robbery!" She exclaimed. "It can't be over twenty miles to the next town."
"Si, forty dollar." This time his hand was moving on the door handle. She might have stopped the bus, but she wouldn't detain it long.
"Well ...wait a minute—" Nothing was going her way and she might as well expect trouble from now on, fewer surprises that way.
"Wait…please?"
Firming her lips, she stepped back out to get her purse from the car and dug through it for several minutes till she had the amount he requested. Thinking about her equipment in the trunk she frowned at hauling her camera with her, but leaving it behind was not an option since she'd paid for it just a few days ago. Another silly hobby, her parents had grumbled. And to think she had actually planned on taking shots of her own wedding!
She needed to forget about the wedding...somehow. Right now she had to forget about the wedding, her parents, Chad, and even what she thought was going to be her future.
Seeing the driver was getting impatient with her, she tried to think of what she might need to take with her. She'd left her suitcase full of clothes for the honeymoon on her bed at home, fully intending to grab it as her and Chad made their way to the airport for a luxurious honeymoon in the Bahamas. The only thing that was hers in this car was her camera and tripod. She grabbed it, then put it down and checked the small beaded purse in the back seat of the car. Glancing at the driver, she hurriedly counted the money that her dear Uncle Seth had tucked into her hand yesterday morning, two hundred and fifty dollars!
"In case it doesn't work out...." her Uncle had said and winked. Had he somehow known she was going to need it? She looked for other valuables; unfortunately she had forgotten to put her driver's license, her social security card, or anything of real value in the purse. But a woman getting married didn't need all of that...she reasoned.
Good old Uncle Seth, he knew more than most.
Seeing an old t-shirt of her father's in the trunk she crammed it in her small bag, it stuck out and wouldn't close, but that wasn't important, she needed something to wear to bed tonight. Hopefully she'd be sleeping in her aunt's bed tonight.
She hiked the tripod under her arm, then scrambling with part of the equipment to the bus, she remounted the steps.
Practically throwing the money in the driver's face she turned to find a seat.
The driver chuckled, and p
roceeded down the lonely highway.
The bus hit a chuckhole and the tripod knocked a passenger in the head and Savannah turned in time to see the dismay on the man's face.
"Oh I'm terribly sorry."
The man opened his mouth to say something, and then shut it, and turned away, far away. All the way back she muttered words not fit for a pig's ear. The tripod kept hanging up all the way down the aisle and she nearly hit a lady that tried to help her untangle the mess.
***
Ben Hogg took one look at the illusion of a woman stumbling toward him and pushed his hat over his eyes, nearly shutting her out. He squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. Here comes trouble! In the first place, he didn't believe what he saw. In the second, he wanted to ignore it more than anything else on this ride from hell.
Of all things to materialize out of the blue, a woman in a —
What was she wearing? Looked like parts of a wedding dress. But only parts. The bodice was there, but from the waist down, only a white nylon slip covered her, and that was stretching it since the slip was practically see-through. A ghostly image of beautifully shaped legs made him aware in places he didn't want to admit. The sleeves of the dress were ripped completely off. She was a mess, and yet as alluring as a baby kitten. Ben always had a weakness for kittens.
He could just imagine what her story was. And he didn't want to hear it, didn't need to. Pretty obvious the woman was escaping some poor unsuspecting snook at the altar. God bless him. Yes, the poor sap was probably mooning over a cold one about her now, Ben imagined. After all, even covered in grit and grime she looked good. Her light brown hair shone even though it looked tousled, and there was a streak of blonde in the front. It captured his attention for a second. How a woman could have just one streak in her hair, he didn't know. And he didn't know why this particular streak caught his attention, either.
None of his business, and he wasn't about to ask. He didn't need any hassles, especially from a woman. He'd learned that lesson the hard way. Married all of two months five years ago had taught him that marriage was not for Ben Hogg.
Runaway Bride Page 2
