Inside Peach’s office, Sarah found some stationery and envelopes. She didn’t know exactly how to put everything into words, but she had to leave a note for Nathan. Saying goodbye in person would be impossible and there would be too many questions that she just couldn’t answer.
She sat at the
desk and let herself function on auto pilot. Pushing all thoughts and emotions aside, she wrote.
“Hey
, Sarah.”
Sarah looked up to see Destiny peek her head inside the office and flash a toothy smile.
Bean trotted by her and disappeared under the desk.
“The girls and I are headed over to the Blue Moon
for an early dinner. You wanna join us?”
“
No thanks. Nathan’s coming to pick me up,” Sarah said automatically. Then she remembered. There would be no dinner. There would be no future plans.
Destiny’s hand fluttered up to cover her heart. “You guys are just too cute together, you know that?”
Before Sarah had the chance to figure out how to answer, Destiny shoved an envelope in her direction.
Sarah took it and asked, “What’s this?”
“You can open it now.”
Sarah opened the envelope to find
an invitation to Abigail’s baby shower.
“It’s a surprise. We don’t want her knowing ahead of time or else she might insist on baking her own cupcakes.”
Sarah forced herself to laugh and hoped it sounded natural. Destiny had no idea about the turmoil Sarah was experiencing and she wanted to keep it that way. Destiny chatted on about the baby shower games they were planning and what gift she was thinking of buying. Meanwhile, Sarah’s head was spinning. Counting down her last few minutes of freedom.
Finally, Destiny
flounced out of the office to meet the others, leaving Sarah alone.
S
arah sighed, tucked the invitation away in her purse, thought twice about it and then buried at the bottom of Peach’s garbage can. She couldn’t knowingly provide Dwight with Destiny and Kim’s address and phone number. That kind of information would be dangerous in a madman’s hands.
She didn’t allow herself to think about how
much she would miss the baby shower. She didn’t think about
any
of the things she’d be missing out on. Partly because she knew she’d break apart and partly because Dwight’s voice rang too loud in her head to think about anything else.
Next, s
he slid the charm bracelet from her wrist and tucked it into a rip in her purse behind the lining. Hopefully Dwight wouldn’t find it and destroy it. She was just getting used to having her own property and not belonging to someone else. That freedom was going to be hard to give up.
She checked her wallet and found that t
here was some cash left inside. Maybe it would help appease Dwight and relieve some of her debt to him. Who was she kidding? After what she did, Dwight would never be appeased. He wouldn’t be happy until she was dead and broken in a puddle on the floor. And even then, he’d still kick and pummel her dead, lifeless body.
She forced the thoughts away and took stock of the rest of her belongings.
Because she hadn’t finished reading it yet, she kept the new paperback Nathan had given her inside her purse. She’d take the chance of Dwight finding it. The first thing he’d do is ransack her stuff, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave it behind. Maybe she could hide it in L.A. before he found it and shredded it into kindling.
The paperbacks from the book store would be left behind
because they were stashed inside her backpack at Nathan’s house. She could do without the clothes she left there as well. She wouldn’t need much. She had a feeling Dwight wouldn’t be letting her out of the house for a long time, if ever, in the near future anyway.
The lavender bath set was in Nathan’s bathroom. It was just as well. The delicate
lavender scent would be no match for Dwight’s nasty cigarettes anyway. It had been nice not smelling like a chimney for a while.
She’d leave her styling tools at her station. If she brought them with her, Dwight would surely use her blow dryer as a weapon or burn her with the flat iron before destroying them altogether. She felt better about leaving them for the next person who would be assigned to that station
anyway. Someone else starting fresh.
She couldn’t risk taking one last look around the salon for old time’s sake. She would remember every nook and cranny of Peach’s Salon, the clients and
her experiences here. She’d need the memories to sustain her when she was back inside Dwight’s squalid house.
She sighed and prepared herself for what lay ahead.
She’d had a good run in Red Valley. She’d discovered friendship, a sense of worth and, most of all, love. Giving it all up would be excruciating. What was that saying? Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, right? Somehow, that didn’t provide any comfort.
Without rereading what she’d written, s
he folded the two letters, slid them into separate envelopes along with Nathan’s key and scribbled their names on the fronts.
Bean was snuggled into his furry
leopard print bed beneath the desk. Sarah squatted down and gave him a final pat on the head. He yawned, stretched, circled around in the bed and plopped down to resume his nap. “Goodbye, Bean,” she whispered. “Take care of everyone for me.”
She bit down on her lip to keep from breaking apart. She’d go out of Peach’s Salon the same way she’d come in.
With grace.
She took a deep breath and slipped out the back door and into the October sunshine.
* * *
Nathan strode into the salon with a smile on his face.
“Hey, Peach,” he greeted and spun her around in a hug.
“Nathan!
” she squealed and he set her down. “Look at you makin’ an old lady’s day. What’s got you in such a good mood, sugar?”
“I’m here to pick Sarah
up,” he beamed. “Tonight I’m taking her to The Rio Restaurant.”
“Ooh
la la! How fancy and
romantic
,” she said with a bat of her lashes. “I’ll go and get her for you. Destiny said she saw her in my office.”
“Thanks.” Nathan leaned against the counter and waited. He had an entire night planned of wining and dining Sarah and he couldn’t wait to get started.
Peach sauntered into her office only to find it empty. She glanced at the desk and stopped in her tracks when she saw the envelope with her name written on it. Underneath it was an identical envelope with Nathan’s name written on the front. A bad feeling gave her the goosebumps. She clutched her hand over her heart before crying out, “Nathan!”
* * *
Nathan frowned and opened the envelope with his name on it. Sickness coiled inside his gut the minute he read the words written in Sarah’s neat handwriting, This wasn’t a love note. This was goodbye.
Dear Nathan,
I have to leave Red Valley. I don’t have the words to describe how wonderful my time with you has been. Only you know how much it has meant to me. Thank you for everything you’ve shown me.
I wish I had the courage to stay.
Sarah
“What the f—?” he started to ask. He shoved Peach’s letter in her direction.
“Read yours. What does it say?”
Peach’s eyebrows scrunched together and tears rushed to redden her eyes. “
Dear Peach,” she read, her voice shaky. “I’m sorry I don’t have time to explain but I have to leave Red Valley. Thank you for taking a chance on me and letting me come work for you. I’ve learned so much and I’ll never forget the time I spent with you and the girls. Please tell them I’ll miss them. Sarah.” Peach sniffed and read over the words a second time. “I don’t get it.”
Nathan
took the letter from Peach and scanned it. It was similar to the one Sarah had left him in the way it said nothing and everything at the same time. The page was smudged. Had she been crying when she wrote it? “Where is she, Peach?”
“
I don’t know,” she said numbly. “I thought she was in here waiting for you.”
Nathan played back the last couple
of days in his mind, desperately trying to find an explanation. Had he rushed her into moving in with him? No, she wouldn’t have quit her job at the salon just because she got cold feet.
Something wasn’t right.
She wouldn’t just leave Red Valley for no reason and she would never return to L.A. She had said herself she would never go back there. Unless…
“Peach, did someone come and pick
Sarah up? Was there a man here for her?”
Peach
shook her head. “No, no. No one was here. Destiny saw her in here and that’s the last anyone saw of her. Although she did seem a little distracted earlier.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders.
“She didn’t say anything or mention anyone?”
“No
, not that I can remember.”
“
Think, Peach! Where would she have gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think!”
Peach blinked rapidly and thought about it for a second. “Okay, okay. Let me see... she doesn’t have a car…The bus station, maybe? I remember Miri saying something about her taking the bus here from L.A. Maybe she’s taking the bus to wherever she’s going to.”
Nathan bolted out
of the office and down the hall.
“Nathan
!” Peach called after him. “I don’t think you should be driving,” she warned. “You’re too angry.”
Nathan
wasn’t angry. He was scared. He was frightened he’d lose the one person who had made him feel something in his life besides anger. The one person who made him feel calm again. The one person he loved with his whole heart.
He
didn’t hear Peach call after him to stop. He was already screeching out of the parking lot.
* * *
After a quick bite to eat at the Taco Shack, Dwight pulled Dottie into Main Street traffic. A deep belch brought fire up his throat. Salsa and Tapatio was damned good goin’ down but it’d make for a hell of an uncomfortable ride home. That chile relleno probably wasn’t the best idea either but it had been nice to eat a hot meal outside of the truck. Although sitting across the table from Troy and watching him pop tacos like Pez hadn’t been the highlight of his trip.
“
Gimme one of those minty things,” he barked at Troy.
“Junior Mints?” Troy asked, holding up the family size
d box in his fist.
Everything Troy bought
was Value Size or Family Size like he was feeding a family of four inside his bulging stomach.
“Yeah.”
Dwight snatched the box out of Troy’s hand and upended it into his mouth.
“Hey!
” Troy grabbed for the box but Dwight swatted his hand away.
“
That was my last box!”
Dwight chewed and swallowed. Man, those little devils were tasty. No wonder Troy
never stopped eating. This junk food was addicting as hell.
The strong minty
chocolate coated candy mixed with his heartburn created an even stronger burning sensation up his esophagus. He burped again but it didn’t provide much relief against the battle going on inside his stomach.
He and Troy had
eaten in a hurry so they could be at the bus terminal plenty early. As soon as Dwight laid eyes on Sarah, they’d snatch her up and get the hell out of this godforsaken town.
Dwight
might be worried about Sarah throwing her coworkers under the bus but her reaction to his threat told him all he needed to know. She’d be there. There was no doubt in his mind of that. Hell, even if she did decide to throw caution to the wind and run, he’d find her. He had ways of finding people, especially when they owed him money. And in Sarah’s case, she owed him a helluva lot more than moolah.
Even i
f she didn’t show up, Dwight wouldn’t mind having Troy do the dirty work of doing away with her friends. After all, Troy owed him for taking one for the team during the CHP incident. For the life of him, Dwight couldn’t figure out why he’d claimed the beer as his own.
When the reason dawned on him, Dwight
smirked to himself. He was a good father, that’s why. He’d snatched away the beer so his son wouldn’t be the one caught with an open container.
If Sarah
was
at the bus terminal, Dwight decided he wouldn’t bother her friends at the salon. Oh, but he’d sure enjoy fabricating some story that he had. He’d tell Sarah all about it just to see her lip quiver so he could bust it wide open.
He was just moments away from getting Sarah back and the anticipation was driving him nuts. He couldn’t wait to yank her scrawny ass over to the truck and shove her inside. The ride back would be a tight squeeze for the three of them, but it didn’t matter. She’d be back where she belonged and he could get on with his life and out of this moving freak show of bad music, idiot drivers and Troy’s endless crunching and chewing.