A Courtesy Call (Green Division Series Book #2)

by Monahan, Ashley

  *****

  Raleigh’s phone rang non-stop until she finally shut it off. Lacie’s meeting and test drive had gone well, all that remained was to negotiate a contract. Lacie was mellow, easy going, but knew how to do her job as a co-driver and was confident, intelligent, and grounded. Their personalities meshed and it made Raleigh’s day. Hell it made her year.

  Raleigh hit the shower and changed for their business dinner. On the way over to the restaurant, she turned her phone back on. Mistake. It rang again, the thirteenth time from a Maine number that was neither Cass’s, or Mike’s. Finally, she got pissed and would take no more.

  “I don’t know who you are, but you sure as hell are persistent.”

  “If you’d answer you phone the first time, I wouldn’t have to call a dozen more times,” Ben tried to keep his calm.

  “Who is this?”

  “Ben Anderson, the Maine State Trooper who is handling the accident investigation involving Michael Kerr.”

  “Oh,” She said suspicious as to why he was calling her. The gig was up.

  “Care to explain why you lied about your name there Jen?”

  “Shit,” she said under her breath.

  “Oh yeah, shit is right. What else did you lie about Jen?”

  “Nothing.”

  “And why should I believe that?”

  “I haven’t committed any crime trooper. Unless you can prove otherwise our conversation is over.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Dawn broke and colors of bright auburn streaked across the clear sky. Bag in the backseat, Mike hit the road. Time wasn’t on his side. Raleigh was due to board her plane at 2pm bound for Alsace, France for her next race. Mike’s flight plan put him in the Charlotte airport at noon. His fingers were crossed he would make it there on time. The original plan was to go direct to her house, but Aiden, the little interloper, keyed Cass up on Raleigh’s plans once he found out Mike’s intentions.

  Mike landed in Philadelphia on time with a forty five minute planned layover, but the word DELAYED popped onto the screen beside his flight number.

  “No...no...no, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Mike dropped his shoulder bag. “The weather is fucking perfect.”

  He’d checked the weather, it was clear on the eastern seaboard. Any delay and he would have no chance to make it on time to catch her.

  “Ma’am, how long do you expect this flight to be delayed?” He asked an attendant at his flight’s gate.

  “I don’t know, sir. There is a mechanical issue with the plane they are working on. We expect no longer than a few hours.”

  “A few hours?” Mike bit his tongue. “That’s no good. Do you have anything that will get to Charlotte before two?”

  “I know we don’t, but let me check the other airlines.”

  Mike waited impatiently.

  “No sir, I’m sorry, this is the soonest flight. We have another one leaving at 4pm.”

  “That won’t work. I’ll wait.” Mike sighed. “Thank you.”

  He stalked back to the seating area and plopped down, praying for the best.

  *****

  Flight delayed in Philly -Mike

  The text read on Aiden’s phone.

  You have until one, get here -Aiden

  He quickly hid the phone in his pocket.

  “You can’t go a minute without looking at that phone,” Raleigh said as she threw clothing into her luggage bag.

  “Yes, I can,” Aiden defended himself.

  “Then why don’t you give it to me and we’ll see how long you can go.” She held out her hand.

  “I have no reason to prove myself to you, Miss.” He crossed his arms.

  “Mhm. My bags are packed. Is there anything I’ve forgotten?” She asked both Aiden and herself.

  “Did you bring any formal wear?”

  “No. It will give me an excuse to go shopping.” She smiled playfully.

  Aiden’s pocket vibrated.

  Trying as hard as I can -Mike

  Aiden didn’t respond. He wouldn’t be holding her up at the airport so they could reconcile. If she missed her flight, it would put off their entire agenda once they were on the ground in France. And he wasn’t going to pay hell for screwing that up.

  *****

  The flight finally boarded thirty minutes after it was set to depart. Mike tapped nervously on the edge of his seat. This would put him at the airport by 1pm, he hoped. She left at 2pm. It would still work. It had to. He didn’t take the day off and fly to Charlotte on a whim for her to slip away and be back to square one.

  “Everyone please take your seats and prepare for departure. We will be going over safety procedures in one moment.”

  Mike looked at his cell phone. Time crawled by.

  *****

  “Flight 202 to Paris is now boarding first class,” the PA chirped.

  “That’s us Miss.” Aiden picked up her carry on and their tickets.

  “Ready?” Raleigh asked Lacie.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Lacie was an experienced co-driver, but she hadn’t competed at the World Rally level and her nerves weren’t veiled.

  “What are you looking at? You’ve been looking down the terminal like you’re looking for someone.” Raleigh asked Aiden.

  “What? No. I’m just looking around. People watching I believe it’s called.”

  “Mhm.” Raleigh looked again and spotted the source of Aiden’s stare.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” She said, the air sucked out of her lungs.

  “Raleigh—” Mike caught his breath. He’d run from the opposite end of the airport.

  “Mike?” She looked at him shocked. “What are you doing here?”

  “I need—I need to—” He gasped. Damn, I’m out of shape. “Talk to you before you leave.”

  “My plane is boarding.” Raleigh knew what this was about. Ben told Mike. “I have to go.”

  She turned her back. She was torn between happiness, anger, and confusion.

  “Why didn’t you tell me it was you?” Mike’s breathing began to return to normal.

  “This isn’t the time,” Raleigh said. Aiden took Lacie’s hand and pulled her aside.

  “When will it be the right time?”

  “How did you know I was flying out of here today?” She turned her eyes to Aiden. Aiden avoided all eye contact with her. “Listen, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Business class now boarding,” the PA announced the seats that were next in the line.

  He stepped forward and put his arms around her back, kissing her cheek warmly. “Tell me the truth,” Mike pleaded lowly.

  She pulled her face back.

  “Take Jen’s name and replace it with mine and that answers your question. I called 911. Call it a courtesy call.” The airport buzzed around them. “That’s it. Does that answer your question?”

  “No, it doesn’t. The pieces don’t fit Raleigh. There’s a lot you’re not telling me. Not that you’ve told me anything to begin with.”

  “I called the cops to help you. End of story. I don’t know what else you want me to say.” She didn’t want to tell him the truth.

  “Coach rows A through H please board now.”

  “I have to go Mike.”

  “They haven’t done a final boarding call,” he dismissed her excuse. “Why is this so hard for you? It should be hard for me. I came out here to hear the truth from your lips and to thank you.” He searched her eyes, but Raleigh would give him nothing.

  A few people gawked at their love quarrel from their seats.

  “Coach rows I through P are boarding.”

  “I’ll call you later.” She pulled at him, but he held her hand.

  “Do you know what caused my accident?”

  Raleigh didn’t know. Ben didn’t discuss with her anything beyond her involvement. And she didn’t tell him how fully involved she was.

  “I didn’t cause it,” she snapped defensively.

  “I know you didn’t,
” he said quickly. “You’ve done a friendly one eighty.”

  “All remaining passengers board at this time.”

  “That’s me.” Aiden and Lacie stood by the gate.

  “How did you get me out of the truck?” Mike finally cut to the chase. Raleigh’s story was she’d found Mike, called 911, end of story.

  “What?”

  “No one could explain how I got out of the truck. Or why my uniform shirt and vest were taken off for that matter. I didn’t get out it on my own accord. The two boys who put me off the road didn’t do it, they thought I was dead. That only leaves one person.”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “It matters to me.”

  “You want to know what happened, I’ll tell you what happened.” Raleigh’s emotions went into hyper overdrive.

  “I was coming down the camp road when I came upon pieces of burning shrapnel in the tree line. That would have been your truck. I ran down the embankment and there you were unconscious and covered in blood, trapped in the burning truck. Brings back memories.”

  “Luke,” Mike mouthed to himself.

  “I busted out the back window, crawled into the backseat, kicked the passenger side door out, then dragged you out.”

  Mike looked in awe of her, she was in a pissed off storytelling mood. Her tone was highly elevated and full of emotion.

  “Then, to top it all off, you weren’t fucking breathing. That would have been too easy.” She shuttered and looked away from him. “So, I gave you CPR.”

  Mike put his hands to his chest. The unexplained broken ribs.

  “And you came back around. That’s it. That’s the truth you wanted to hear. Are you happy now?”

  Mike was shocked with the truth he’d heard and her blunt delivery.

  “Why—why are you upset about that?” He asked in shock.

  “Final boarding call for all passengers, Flight 202.”

  “Because I could pull you out and save you. I saved you, but I couldn’t save Luke. I left Luke to die.” The terminal went chillingly silent. “He burned to death shouting my name and I did nothing. I watched. I could have saved him, Mike. I could have. I saved you, but I didn’t I didn’t save him.”

  Silent tears streamed down her face. She’d tried to deny them in public, but failed awfully.

  “I’m glad I could help you.” She wiped at her eyes. “But it makes me feel so damn guilty about Luke.”

  “That was different Raleigh.”

  “Was it? How do you know?”

  Mike didn’t know what to say.

  “Miss, are you on this flight?”

  “We need a few minutes, please,” Mike said to the gate attendants a few feet away. They’d heard the conversation, everyone had.

  “A few,” the attendant reiterated.

  “After all that time we spent together, why didn’t you tell me? My God Raleigh, you didn’t save my life.” Mike’s eyes fought back emotion that welled behind them. He reached out and put his hand on her sides. “You gave me life,” he whispered.

  Raleigh leaned her head forward into the crook of his neck.

  “It was nothing.” She hated confronting this topic in public the way there were. More news.

  “It may have been nothing to you, but it’s my life. And that means a hell of a lot of to me.” He rubbed her back. “I tried to call you last—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Raleigh pulled back. “You don’t have to explain. It was just a week of fun. Remember, there’s nothing and no one worth staying in North Carolina for. That’s what you told Cass.” She put more space between them.

  The words Mike had spoken to Cass weren’t aimed at him and Raleigh.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Mike again took her hands, trying to keep physical contact with her. When she pulled away, she was closer to leaving and Mike wasn’t ready for that.

  “You meant it exactly like that. It’s okay. I understand. We had a fun week and we can leave it at that. It’s alright.” She looked over that at the attendants who were looking at them impatiently.

  “I want more than a week of fun.”

  “You didn’t want more until Ben told you I was the one who saved you.” The only reason you feel this way is because now you know I saved you.

  “What?”

  She heard the sound of photos being taken behind her and it furthered her need to run.

  “It’s too late and too complicated. I have to go.” She wiped her eyes.

  “Raleigh—”

  “I have to go.” She walked away from him.

  “Raleigh, wait, please!” He walked in front of her and blocked her path.

  “Miss, if you are going to board the plane, you need to do so now.”

  “I’m coming,” Raleigh answered.

  “Move.” She looked at the ground while ordering Mike out of her way. He lifted her chin and pressed his warm soft lips against hers. She returned his kiss and rested her hands against his rigid chest. As much as she wanted to fight him, anytime his lips touched hers, the fight in her dissipated.

  “Stop.” Raleigh managed to pull her willing lips back long enough to spit out the word.

  “If all it was, was a week of fun, I wouldn’t have flown out here praying I would be able to see you again.”

  Raleigh’s lips sabotaged her and she kissed him again, resting her hands around his neck.

  Mike’s heart lightened, feeling her reaction to his kiss was telling of how she felt. The feeling would be short lived. A few gawkers clapped their hands making it a movie-like scene.

  “Stop...stop.” Raleigh pulled back. “I can’t do this.”

  “Can’t do what?”

  “This. Us. I’m sorry.”

  “Miss,” an attendant called.

  “I’m coming.” Raleigh looked over her shoulder then back to Mike. “Goodbye.”

  Mike watched her walk to the gate and out of sight. She never gave Mike a fleeting look before she disappeared down the hallway. Mike sat down in a terminal chair and dropped his head into his hands.

  “I’m confused.” An older man, easily in his late seventies, took a seat next to Mike. “Did you two kids make up, or break up?”

  Mike rubbed his face.

  “You aren’t the only one confused.”

  *****

  The grand romantic gesture hadn’t gone as planned. Mike laid down on his couch and inspected the ceiling above. It had been a long day of flying up and down the east coast with zero to show for his efforts.

  Sammy nuzzled Mike’s shoulder then began to lick his face. She’d been denied attention since he’d returned home and she would have no more of it.

  “Sammy, you love me, huh.”

  Sammy growled playfully.

  “At least someone does.” He half laughed. “Because it seems I have no luck with any other woman.”

  *****

  “Miss, are you alright?”

  Raleigh set about unpacking her bags.

  “I’m fine.” She turned her back to him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Are you angry with me?” Aiden asked meekly.

  “A little.” Raleigh turned around. “I don’t meddle in your love life.”

  “I thought I was helping.” Aiden felt incredibly guilty only because things didn’t work out as predicted. “You...you...”

  Aiden took a deep breath. “Do you love him?”

  She dropped the clothing in her hands.

  “You don’t fall in love after a few days of knowing someone.”

  “Why?” Aiden leaned against the door frame.

  “Do you love Cass?”

  “I’m very fond of Cass.”

  “But not in love?” Raleigh drilled the point.

  “This isn’t about my feelings for Cass, Miss. I don’t believe there is minimum amount of time necessary to fall in love. For some people it’s nearly instant. For others it develops over a course of time.”