Jenny could not keep herself from staring and the stranger was obviously well aware of that fact. His smile was warm and she felt like she had known him forever. She also felt like she could trust him with her life, which was a pretty weird thought, considering she didn’t know the guy.
“I’m sorry for staring,” Jenny shyly mumbled. “It’s just that I haven’t ever seen you around here before and I…well I…anyway, you can go ahead and pump your gas first if you like.”
She couldn’t believe she was embarrassing herself so badly when she was usually pretty confident around guys.
“Thank you!” the stranger said and turned around and headed towards the doors. “I’m just passing through town, that’s why you haven’t seen me before,” he added without turning around.
Jenny could still see the broad grin on his face as he went out the doors and she knew that he was obviously amused by her flustered state. She could not help herself. It was like stepping into the twilight zone.
All of her life, she had been waiting for a man like this to come into her life and sweep her off her feet and here this man was, at the store she worked at, and she was speechless.
Jenny took a deep breath and tried to pull it together. In a few minutes, he would be back in the store and she didn’t want to make an idiot of herself again. Jenny watched as the man filled his Jeep up with gas and headed back to the store.
“Hello again,” he said as he walked back to the cooler where the soda was kept and grabbed a twenty-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew. Jenny couldn’t help but sneak a peek at his butt as he walked by. Not bad, she thought.
As the man approached the counter, Jenny decided it was time to start talking. She didn’t want this one to drive right back out of her life without at least knowing a little about him.
“Where are you heading to?” Jenny asked.
“I’m not really sure. Just going north.” The man had a nice voice. She could imagine waking up to this voice every day.
“My name is Jennifer. People call me Jenny.”
The stranger extended his hand over the counter to shake hers. “My name is Dom. Pleased to meet you!”
When Jenny extended her hand to shake his, electricity shot through her body at first touch and a tingling sensation followed and did not stop for some time. This is it, Jenny thought again. This is the one. This is the time.
“I’m sorry if I seem to be a little flustered, but there is something about you. I can’t put my finger on it. I know it seems like a lame pickup line, but I’m being serious.” Jenny wondered if he thought she was a complete wacko.
His smile deepened and his words surprised her. “I have the exact same feeling, Jenny. I don’t know what it is, but the moment I saw you, I felt some sort of connection. Do you live in this town?” he asked.
“Unfortunately,” Jenny replied.
Dom smiled at her which made her feel wonderful. “Well I, also unfortunately, have to keep heading north. Is there a chance that when I get back into the area, I can call you and maybe we can get together?”
Jenny felt crushed, happy, and foolish all at the same time. Crushed because he was leaving, happy that he wanted to see her, and foolish, because she was so stupidly thinking that maybe he would whisk her off of her feet and take her away.
“Sure, that would be great!” Jenny said, trying not to let her eyes betray her smile. She wrote down her number on an old register receipt and handed it to Dom. He flashed her a wide smile, with also a touch of sadness showing in his eyes, and said he would call her when he could.
“By the way, I guess I should pay you for the gas and soda.”
Jenny laughed. “I forgot about that one. Silly me. It’s thirty-seven dollars and forty-eight cents.”
As he gave her a hundred dollar bill and she handed his change back to him, she told him, “I hope to see you again.”
He looked at her as if to take a mental picture of her. “I really will get in touch with you as soon as possible. I just can’t hang around. I’ve got to get going as much as I hate to.”
“I understand, Dom. I’ll be waiting for your call, okay?”
“You can count on it. Take care, Jenny.” He reached out and took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She squeezed back, wondering if she would ever see him again.
“Goodbye, Dom,” she said, and then he was gone.
As he drove away, a tear slipped from the corner of her eye and hit the counter. She didn’t wipe it away.
CHAPTER NINE
Dom pulled out of the mini-mart parking lot and turned back towards the highway. He thought about what had transpired in the last ten minutes of his life. The last thing he’d expected was to meet someone like Jenny, or to meet anyone at all. He felt some sort of connection the second he walked through the door and made eye contact with her.
God, she was so beautiful. Her long, soft, glimmering hair. Her pouty lips. Her very cute, sleek little body. All that he could think about was Jenny.
As he turned on to the on-ramp and merged with the interstate traffic, he wondered if he would survive to ever see her again. Would she be waiting for him when he came back? Would he ever come back this way?
Dom knew the road ahead was going to be tough. If he had asked Jenny to come with him, would she have? Would it have been fair to her considering the situation? Would she have been in danger?
He wrestled with his emotions for quite some time. His life was a mess. His sister had almost been killed, the police were interested in him, a killer was on the loose, and the last thing he needed was a girlfriend. He was also confused by the entire situation. He did not fall easily, and he’d had few girlfriends, because he did not settle. It seemed impossible that he could be feeling this way. It seemed even more impossible that she could be feeling the same thing.
Dom didn’t know what the situation would have turned out like, but he did know that he somehow belonged with Jenny. He pulled onto the median and stopped. It was time to take a chance. If it was meant to be, then Jenny would say yes. If it was meant to be, they would overcome all of the problems that were pressing down upon his shoulders.
As soon as oncoming traffic cleared, he swung onto the southbound side of the interstate. Gunning the engine of the Jeep to get back to Jenny as soon as he could, Dom covered the distance to the New River exit in a very short time. As he headed back to the mini-mart, his heart started racing in time with the engine of the Jeep, although to him, his heart seemed much louder.
The connection he felt with Jenny was unexplainable. Although he had just met her, he trusted her completely. He knew that although they had never discussed things, she would most likely come with him. He also knew that even though he knew nothing about her, they would live a very happy life together. He’d had no idea he would meet such a person someday nor had he any idea that there was such a person out there in the world. He knew not that this day would come or that this situation would arise, but when it did, he knew it was right and he knew it was meant to happen. He couldn’t ignore these feelings and leave. Deep in his heart, he knew that if he did, he would regret it for the rest of his life, however long that might be.
As Dom pulled into the parking area of the mini-mart, he saw Jenny glance up and then look down again. It took about three seconds before Jenny’s head whipped back up again, a look of shock on her face that gave away her obvious surprise.
As he jumped from his Jeep and opened the door of the store, Jenny jumped to her feet and ran to him, giving him a hug.
“I knew you’d come back, Dom! For a couple of minutes, I thought you were gone forever. But then it hit me. I knew you’d be back. I don’t know how I knew, but I did.”
Dom looked down at Jenny, a bewildered, yet happy look on his face and popped the question that was on his mind.
“Jenny, does this mean that you feel it too?” He was hoping that she would not ask him what he meant.
“Yes Dom! I don’t know exactly what it is I feel, but I think we might have s
ome time to figure it out. What do you think?”
Dom chose his next words carefully. “If that means you want to go with me to where I’m heading, then you read my mind. Jenny, I don’t know you. I know nothing about you, but I want you to go with me. What do you think?”
Jenny just smiled. Finally she said, “Give me five minutes and we’re out of here.” he smiled back and turned around to go out to the Jeep.
“Jenny?” he said quietly without turning around.
“Yes, Dom?”
“I’m in a bit of trouble and the road ahead may not be too smooth. I figure you have the right to know this before you go anywhere with me. I’ll understand if you want to change your mind.”
He was concerned that this might scare Jenny off, but he had to take that chance. He couldn’t afford to take her and then have her freak out on him when she found out he was hiding and from what. If this was meant to be, then it would survive this test. Dom still had his back turned towards Jenny. He tried to guess what her expression was right now. For what seemed like five minutes, but really was only about ten seconds, he listened to the silence. Then he heard the words he had been waiting for.
“Five minutes.”
As Dom walked out the door, he broke into a wide grin. He had hoped that she would say that.
As he waited in the Jeep, he watched Jenny pick up the phone and make a call. She was on the phone for about two minutes. After she hung up, he watched as she did something on her cell phone. After a couple more minutes, Jenny came outside, taped a sign to the door of the store, locked the door and dropped her keys through the mail slot that was built into the door. The sign read, “Be Back in Fifteen Minutes.”
Jenny walked to the Jeep and climbed inside. Dom asked, “Is everything squared away?”
“Definitely!” she triumphantly replied. “I called the owner of the store and told him that I was quitting and that I would lock up the store before I left. He’s on his way down right now to take over. I don’t think he was too happy with me!”
Dom laughed heartily. “I don’t blame him,” he teased. “Is there anyone else you need to let know you are leaving?”
“I sent my parents a quick text letting them know I am okay and I am going to go on a trip with a friend. I don’t want them to be too worried since I live with them.”
A sudden thought occurred to him. “I’m a little worried about you taking your cell phone with us. If they figure out you are with me, they can track us through your phone. I had to ditch mine and buy a throwaway phone.”
Jenny was silent for a few seconds and then she came up with an idea. “How about if I take the battery out of it? I don’t really have a place to put it and it cost too much to throw away.”
Dom agreed. “That’s a great idea. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Positive! I’ve never been more positive about anything in my life. Let’s get out of here before my boss, make that my ex-boss, shows up!”
As he started the engine on the Jeep, Jenny leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled, shifted the Jeep into first gear and pulled out of the parking lot just as a customer pulled in to get gas.
“They’ll be waiting awhile,” Jenny said, laughing. “I turned off the gas pumps before I left.”
Dom broke into a smile. As they drove down the narrow road back to the freeway on-ramp, he knew that even though the road ahead was going to be rough, he could handle it with Jenny by his side. He took her hand and squeezed it and was pleased to feel her squeeze back. As he looked at Jenny’s beautiful face, she smiled at him with a twinkling in her eyes.
“So, Dom,” she said with a mischievous smile on her face. “Do you make a habit of stealing young, innocent girls away from their homes?”
Dom laughed. “I like you already!”
“You better, Mister!” she teased. “Otherwise, it’ll be a long ride to wherever we’re going.”
“I can handle that.” Dom felt something inside that he had never felt before and he knew that this ride was for life. There was definitely no turning back now. As he merged onto the interstate again, he knew that he had just made the right choice.
CHAPTER TEN
The day was hot and muggy, but Dom didn’t seem to notice. The breeze whipping through the Jeep helped cool him off a little bit even though it was warm. He was having a hard time believing that this person sitting next to him was not a dream.
The first fifteen minutes of the trip were mostly silent. It was as if they were absorbing information from each other merely by the touch of their hands. Finally Jenny broke the silence.
“So Dom, where are we heading?”
“Oh I don’t know. I thought we’d drive to Asia or something.”
“I don’t know if we have enough gas to get there,” she replied, smiling at him.
“Maybe you’re right. I guess we’ll just have to drive until we get to somewhere we want to be. Wherever that is.”
“Sounds good to me. So since we’re going to be spending a lot of time with each other, maybe I should get to know something about you. I hope you don’t mind if I poke into the cracks and crevices of your life.”
“You don’t waste a whole lot of time, do you?” he said, breaking into a big grin. “Actually it’s better if you find out all of the dirt right away, so you can still be within hitchhiking distance of home when you decide that you’d better haul ass away from me as fast as you can.” Dom was trying hard not to bust out in a fit of laughter.
Jenny was amused by the smirk on his face. “Real cute, Bratface,” she teased. “I don’t care if you are a regular dinner guest at Jeffrey Dahmer’s house. You can’t get rid of me that easy!”
“I hope not! What would you like to know?” he asked.
“For starters, tell me about Dom,” she demanded.
“Not a lot to tell, really. I’m twenty-six, six-foot-one, a hundred and eighty pounds, and I’m single.”
“I sure hope you’re single, otherwise we’d both be in trouble. The rest was pretty vague, but I will let you slide for a little bit. So…where exactly are we going?”
“I really don’t know,” he replied sadly. “Have you ever felt like you just needed to get out of a certain place, like you just couldn’t stay there anymore?”
Jenny nodded. “I kind of felt that way about New River. I wanted to get out of there so bad and I felt like I was going to be stuck there forever. I can’t thank you enough for rescuing me.”
“My pleasure, but I actually meant the need to escape because of the presence of danger.”
Jenny’s face turned serious. “What type of trouble are you in, Dom?”
“I don’t really know myself. I just feel like I might be the next person on the list of some evil person or thing that likes to kill. I fear for my life, the police are after me, and I won’t be of use to anybody if I turn up dead. I have to get away from the danger until I can figure out what to do. At least until I figure out who or what is destroying my life.”
Dom looked at Jenny, wondering if he had scared her yet. She had a determined look on her beautiful face. When she spoke, he knew that he could tell her anything and it would not matter. She would be there.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me the whole story. Don’t leave out any details. The more I know, the more I can help you with your problem. I don’t know exactly what you’re up against, but I promise I’ll stand by your side throughout anything you have to endure.”
Dom knew she was sincere. He proceeded to tell her everything, starting with his parents’ deaths, his aunt dying, his brother being shot, Billy being murdered, and all the other things that had happened to him throughout his lifetime. Then he told her about Nina.
Jenny remained silent throughout the whole story. He continued on, telling her about Detective Perry, how the police wanted to question him, and the way he had hightailed it out of town.
“Do you think I made the wrong decision about running?” he asked.
There was a pause as if she was unsure. “Actually, I think you did the right thing. I know the police probably suspect you now for the attempted murder, because you ran, but I have a feeling that if you had stuck around, something might have happened to you. You did the right thing. At least now you have some time to figure out what exactly is happening, and of course, if you hadn’t run, then you would have never met me!”
“Very true!” he said. “I’m sure glad I didn’t miss out on that opportunity.”
Jenny smiled. “You’re not the only one.”
He glanced over at her with the seriousness of the situation once again returning to his face. “So any ideas where we should go?” he asked.
Jenny thought for a moment. “You know, there are plenty of nice places to camp around here. Why don’t we hide out in the sticks for now where nobody’s going to look for us?”
Dom had a surprised look on his face. “That’s an excellent idea. We can stop somewhere and pick up some gear and head out. Do you know how to get to any specific places to camp?”
Jenny thought for a moment. Finally, she said, “There is a place outside of a town called Chino Valley that I used to go to with my dad years ago. It’s a really secluded spot and you have to have a four-wheel drive to get there. It’s by the Verde River and it’s really beautiful. What do you think?”
“Sounds excellent to me. I don’t know the northern part of the state very well. Which way do I need to go?”
Jenny pointed to a highway sign about a hundred feet ahead of them. “You can head west on that highway right there. Number 169. I usually take another route, but we’ve already passed the road we needed to take.”
“As long as this one gets us where we need to go.” The exit he needed to take was one mile ahead. As he approached it, Jenny asked him a question that had been troubling him for a long time.
“Dom, do you think that the police will figure anything out while you are gone?”
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