Chasing Leah (Journey Series) (17 page)

He barks out a laugh, “I won’t
tell Teddy you said that, his ego might get deflated a bit. Being in the
spotlight really isn’t my thing. Teddy likes all of the attention, I just like
to play.”

“Well I would be your biggest
fan if you ever decide to make it a career. And you totally could.”

“Thanks I’ll remember that if
the teaching thing doesn’t work out at least I’ll have one album sold.” He
glances up at the GPS, tapping at the screen. “Looks like we’ll be there in
about ten minutes, are you ready for this?”

I take a deep breath in as I
take our exit off the highway, “I think so, I just want to get it over with and
move on. My mom already did that when she left me all those years ago but this
will give me some closure.”

We pull into the station that
the detective had directed us too. Chase talks to the receptionist when we
enter and she directs us to a group of chairs to wait in until the detective
can see us. I pull out some cars for Caleb to keep him occupied and he takes
off to run them over every surface in the waiting area. A gruff looking man who
looks like he hasn’t showered in days is sitting there with his head buried in
his hands propped onto his knees. I drop down into the chair a few over from his
as we wait.

The scratching of the chair must
have startled him out of his trance and he looks up, “Leah?”

I’m surprised when I hear my
name coming from this
mans
lips and look over at him.
“Um, yes?”

“You look so much like your mom,”
he says as he eyes flick across the features of my face like he’s trying to
memorize them. “I know you’ve only ever met me once and even then it was kind
of brief. I’m Tank,” he says as he stands up and holds out a shaking hand to
me.

I look closer at him and
instantly recognize him after I look past the longer greasy hair and full beard
since the last time I had seen him. I reach out a hand and shake it lightly as
his dirty hand that looks like it’s covered in grime engulfs mine.

“Your mom…” he stops as his
voice shakes and swipes a tear from the corner of his eye. The tears surprise
me coming from this massive motorcycle man that barely gave me the time of day
the first time I met him. “She really loved you,
ya
know?”

I snort out a dry laugh, “Yeah
she really had a good way of showing that too by leaving us and never looking
back. She never once called to see how we were. It didn’t even matter if she
called for me, she could have at least called to check on him.” I gesture
towards Caleb whose still playing away totally oblivious to what’s going on
around him which relieves me. He doesn’t need to be caught up in this. Chase
reaches over and grabs my hand and I hold on tight like he’s anchoring me down.

“I know. She picked up that
phone so many times to call, ripped up so many letters she had written to you
but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She figured you were better off
without her.” He pauses as he looks down at me. “I know you don’t want to hear
this but she did love you. Having a new baby just really freaked her out. I
thought I was making her a little bit happier, but obviously not enough.”

He pulls out a piece of paper
from the pocket of his leather vest. “She left this for
you,
I hope it helps you a bit. I need to get
going,
I have
a few things to settle before I head out.”

I take the letter from him and
fold it up, stuffing it in my purse without a glance as Tank heads towards the
front entrance. The detective comes out from his office, “Ms. Rossi?” I nod my
head in acknowledgment and follow him into his office. Chase and I had already
agreed that he would stay with Caleb in the waiting area. He didn’t need to be
involved. For all he knew I was the only mom he had and needed. Maybe someday
when he was older I would explain the situation.

“Well I wish we were meeting on
different circumstances but unfortunately it’s apart of the job.”  He
shuffles around some papers and pushes a few towards me. “I just need you to
sign a few things here Leah and then you can proceed with whatever funeral
arrangements you choose.”

We finish signing all of the
papers and the detective suggests a few funeral homes in the area. I decided
before coming that I wasn’t going to have a service, we were her only family
left and I didn’t know or care to meet any of her friends that she had made
since leaving us. After a couple of hours we had arrangements made for a
cremation and I had picked out a simple urn that would be shipped back to me in
Indiana. After grabbing a late dinner at McDonalds per
Calebs
request, we head back out onto the road with Chase driving.

“So where are we headed now, you
said something about reservations?”

“Well it’s a surprise, you’ll
see when we get there,
we
probably have about two
hours in the car before we get there. We’ll get there a little late but I
figured it’ll give you two days of relaxation. I figured you would need it
before the craziness of your schedule begins again on Monday.”

I raise an eyebrow at him, “I’m
not really crazy about surprises Chase and for some reason you love them, can’t
you just give me a little hint?”

“Nope,” he says with a pop. He
grins back over at me, “You’ve had a long day, why don’t you take a little nap
and by the time you get up we should be there.”

“Fine,” I grumble as I cross my
arms over my chest and lean my seat back, turning my back to Chase.

Chase lets out a laugh as he
flips through the radio stations, “You’re even sexy when you pout Leah.”

I roll my eyes and bite back a
smile. I feel the day catching up with me as my eyes droop and I drift off to
the sound of Chases low sexy voice as he sings softly along with the radio.

The sound of a car door slamming
wakes me suddenly as I sit up quickly wiping away the drool that’s running down
my chin. The driver’s seat is empty and I don’t see Chase anywhere in sight as
I look around taking in my surroundings. Caleb of course is passed out in the
backseat, it’s been a long day for him and the car always lulls him to sleep.
We were in a parking lot of what looked to be a very small grocery store. The
driver door opens and Chase pops his head in. “You’re awake? I was hoping you
would still be asleep by the time I came back. You both looked like you were
pretty out of it,” he says as he swipes at my chin. Oh
gawd
he saw that didn’t he? I self conscientiously rub at my whole face again with
the sleeve of my sweatshirt to make sure I definitely got it all.

He opens the back door and loads
the backseat down with grocery bags. “I needed to grab a few things before we
get there,” he says as he slides back into his seat and starts the jeep back
up. “We’re about 20 minutes away and according to the guy in there, this is the
closest store so good thing I stopped.”

We drive a little further away
and I take in the desolate surroundings as we get further and further from
civilization. Chase turns off onto a long dirt road surrounded by trees and stops
the car at the end. “Well what do you think?” He asks as he motions towards a small
log cabin nestled between a thick
forest
of trees.

“This is where we’re staying?
By ourselves?”
I say as I look up at the dark cabin. Chase
snorts, “Well yeah, did you think we would get separate rooms? I can sleep on
the porch if you want.”

I wave my hands at him and shake
my head. “That’s not what I
meant,
I just figured we
were staying at a hotel. Where there would be other people.”

He jumps out of the car and jogs
over to my side pulling the door open. “C’mon, let’s go check the place out. I
found it online and it looked pretty nice,” he says as he grabs my hand pulling
me out. “We’ll come back for Caleb in a minute. I don’t think he’s going
anywhere.” He places his hands under my knees and throws me over his shoulder
as he runs towards the cabin. “Jeez Chase,” I say as I pound on his back. “I
can walk
ya
know?”

“I know that Leah but that way
was more fun, right? Besides you weigh about as much as my 10 year old sister,
we need to pack some pounds on you.”

“Um, that’s ok. Didn’t your
mother ever teach you never to comment on a ladies weight?” I ask as he sets me
down on the porch and roots around the top of the door frame. “What are you…
”

“Aha I got it,” he says as he brings
his hand down, showing me the key he found. “The guy I rented this from lives a
few hours away so after I gave him all of my credit card info he let me know
where the key was hidden.” He slides the key in and holds the door open for me.
“I’m
gonna
go grab our stuff and the little dude.”

I feel around and find a switch
that lights the tiny cabin up. There’s just one wide room with an open concept
and I can see the small kitchen, living room with a fireplace in the corner and
a small dining area with a table for two all from the front door. There’s a set
of stairs sitting in the middle of the room that leads up to a loft where the
bathroom and bedroom must be. The whole place is decorated in an Americana
theme I notice as I look around and it feels very homey.

“Here we go. I think this is
everything,” Chase says as he comes in loaded down with bags and sets Caleb
down who looks around at his strange surroundings while rubbing at his eyes.
“Wow this place is pretty great, huh?” I grab bags from him and haul them
towards the kitchen. “Yeah it really is. You’re a good planner,” I say as I
empty out the bags. Chase bought all the basic provisions for us and some
simple meals for the next two days. “You still tired buddy?” Caleb shakes his
head at me and Chase helps me get him ready for bed. The couch in the living
room has a pull out bed and after changing him into his
jammies
and pulling out his favorite blanket, he immediately crashes. “Don’t worry I
made sure the doors are locked, he’s not going anywhere.” Chase says as if he
can read my mind. I’m not used to being somewhere that’s not baby proof but I
guess my little guy isn’t so much of a baby anymore.

He grabs my hand as I put the
last of the things away. “And I know you’ll like this,” he says as he drags me
to the back sliding door off of the living room. We walk out onto the back
porch where the fireplace from the living room is double sided and can be seen
from the back. There’s a small pond with the moon reflecting off of it that we
can see from the porch as I lean against the rails. Chase wraps his arms around
my waist and places a kiss under my ear as he snuggles me closer. I let out a
small shiver and he wraps me even tighter, “You cold?” He whispers in my ear
with his hot breath sending more shivers running through my body. “Nope I’m
good,” I say as I lean back into him.

“Oh I guess you don’t want to
check that out then,” he says as he motions with his head towards the opposite
end of the porch. I turn and see a small hot tub that looks just big enough for
the two of us. “Well I suppose we could check it out, if you want,” I say with
a shrug
of
my shoulders. He grabs me around the waist
and throws me over his shoulder again as he runs inside. “Anything to see you
in a bikini again baby.” I laugh as he sets me down and I rifle through my bag
for my suit. “I’ll be right back,” I say as I jog up the stairs to the loft.

There’s a huge four poster king
size bed set in the middle of the room, covered in pillows and a soft looking
quilt. Off to the edge I see a bathroom attached where I figured it would be
since I didn’t see one downstairs. The biggest Jacuzzi bathtub I think I’ve
ever seen sits in the corner along with a separate enclosed glass shower with
at least four separate shower heads. I change out of my clothes quickly and
into my suit, running down the stairs. The small cabin hasn’t warmed up
completely yet even with the small fire Chase has built in the fireplace and
the nip of the November air has small
goosebumps
running all over my body. I open the door and make my way on my tiptoes over to
the hot tub that Chase has already uncovered and has the jets going. I test the
water with my toe and slowly slide the rest of my body in.

“You couldn’t wait for me,”
Chase asks as he walks out with two wine glasses and nothing on but his swim
trunks. “Get in here,” I say as I reach out to hold both glasses for him. “It
is freezing out there!”

Chase lets out a laugh as he
slowly climbs in and I try to make room for his long body as I move my body
between his legs. I hand him his glass back and take a small sip of the wine he
brought out before setting it on the ledge. I turn and rest my head on his
solid chest as I close my eyes and relax in the water against him. We talk
about favorite movies, TV shows, our lives in high school and all the fun he’s
had growing up with so many sisters. I figured he would have felt like the odd
man out but he liked being the only brother for all the girls to have around.

“Well I think we’re both
starting to turn into prunes Leah,” he says as he stretches out my hands over
his. “You ready to head in?” I shake my head, “Not really, it’s going to be
freezing!”

“I’ll take care of you Leah,” he
says as he stands up and leans down to scoop me up, cradling me with his arms.
“Hold on,” he says. I wrap both my arms around his neck burying my head in his
chest as he sprints toward the back door while I giggle from being jostled up
and down. He doesn’t stop to set me down once we’re inside, but pauses briefly
at the end of
Calebs
bed,
knowing that I’d want to check on him again and of course he’s still conked
out. He continues up the stairs into the bathroom attached to the bedroom
without even a heavy breath from the extra weight he’s carrying.