Page 55 (1/2)

CHAPTER ONE

KAYLA ANDERSON STARED at the sign indicating she was still more than a hundred ht from Seattle, she was exhausted And scared

A hitchhiker caught her eye and she leaned forward to get a better look She sagged with disappointment It wasn’t her son

Had Alex gotten this far?

Fifteen-year-old kids couldn’t rent cars, though they could take a train or bus without raising too many questions

She shuddered at the idea of her son hitchhiking Surely he had better sense Of course, she’d never drea his teek visitation with his dad and head for Montana on his own And how could Curtis have waited all day to let her know Alex was ? She’d rushed home to see if Alex had coone Despite that, Curtis still hadn’t been concerned, certain Alex was just “exerting his independence”

Her s she had a voice nal off and on the whole night Pulling off the road, Kayla checked her es

“Kayla, this is your grandfather Don’t worry, Alex is here and he’s all right I iine you’re on your way Travel safe, and we’ll see you soon”

Kayla let out a shaky, relieved breath She still had dozens of questions, but the most i in a ditch or kidnapped, or any of the other terrible things her irandparents but decided to wait until they were face-to-face

Glancing into the rear seat, she saw her nine-year-old daughter was asleep again, the wrappers from her fast-food breakfast scattered on the floor Curtis had said it was ridiculous to bring DeeDee with her, but he hadn’t been that upset to have his ti their e, Curtis Anderson had a short attention span Since their divorce he’d slid from one relationship to another His work history was the same

Kayla’s htened and she tried to remember that her ex-husband wasn’t a terrible father And he had wanted to adopt Alex frorown up He adored ro daddy, but relationships were beyond hie since their divorce Kayla no longer cared, but it was hard on the kids

Before getting on the road again, she called Curtis to tell him Alex was safe Two hours later, they passed the Schuyler city-lin Her terror had subsided, but other anxieties had surfaced; the last thing she’d ever wanted was return here

It wasn’t that she’d hated Schuyler In fact, she’d had high hopes when she and Moh it was the first tiht the Garrisons were nice and she had started h school But less than a year later Mo the bottle even harder and they were on the road again As far as Kayla knew, her mother hadn’t spoken to her parents since then

Kayla pulled up in front of a three-story house that hadn’t changed since the day her mother had driven them away from it As she hurried up the ay, the front door opened and a faed—like the house, Elizabeth Garrison also appeared unchanged by the years, except that her brown hair was now shot with gray