Our Now and Forever (Ardent Springs #2) (25 page)

“I’m just passing through,” he said. Even if he stayed the night at a local hotel, a late night at Losers held no appeal.

“Damn.” Tucker pulled cash from his pocket. “Next time, then. You need to come around more often, bro. You were our ringer for drawing the hotties. You gotta help your boys out.”

There was only one hottie that Caleb wanted, and she wouldn’t be found at Losers. Not this time.

“Good luck with the show tonight,” he said, making his way toward the exit.

“Hey,” the bartender called. “You never had that second beer.”

“I’ll pay for Tuck’s,” Caleb answered and stepped into the sunshine.

Chapter 26

Snow had looked everywhere she could think of, but Caleb was either a step ahead of her, or he’d driven through Nashville without stopping. By the time she’d reached the city, the sun had set and the shoppers all seemed to be on the roads at once. Thinking that he might have maintained some kind of home base while looking for her, she drove by Caleb’s old apartment. The eight mum-filled hanging baskets decorating the entry made it unlikely that Caleb still held the lease.

She drove the streets around Vanderbilt, certain that if he planned to blow off steam, that’s where he’d go. Checking the smaller venues first, she’d inquired inside but no one remembered seeing a man who fit Caleb’s description. Though one female bartender said if she found a guy like that, she’d be keeping him for herself. Not what Snow needed to hear.

Fighting off the memories, she drove by Losers, but the crowd was too thick and the music too loud to ask questions. Caleb’s Jeep wasn’t in the parking lot, and though he could have left it parked at a hotel and called a friend for a ride, she doubted that would be the case. The man had a thing about being in the driver’s seat, something that had bothered her before, but tonight she’d gladly scoot over if she could find him.

Thanks to changing phones when she’d arrived in Ardent Springs, Snow’s phone didn’t have most of her old friends’ numbers. Not that she knew who was still around and who wasn’t. The one person she did contact was Deb, her old roommate. Unfortunately, Deb didn’t answer, forcing Snow to leave a message. How was she supposed to tell the person who’d helped her hide out when she ditched her husband that said husband had now ditched
her
?

If by some miracle Snow managed to find Caleb and make this right, they’d have to make up a story about the beginning of their marriage so their kids didn’t know how bad they were at this.

On the chance that he’d ventured downtown, Snow cruised Broadway trying to keep her car on the road while checking out every male pedestrian over six feet tall. When a glimpse to her right revealed a white Jeep pulling into a parking space at the Union Station Hotel off Tenth Avenue, she nearly took out an elderly lady in the crosswalk trying to make the turn. But when she reached the Jeep, the man who climbed out was not Caleb.

Adrenaline had sent her heart racing, and the letdown was like someone pulling a plug. She rested her forehead on her steering wheel until a car honked behind her and she was forced to drive on. By ten that night, defeat had settled in, but Snow wasn’t ready to give up. Traveling a short distance north of downtown, she found an Econo Lodge off the interstate and settled in for the night. When three more calls to Deb got her nowhere, she turned off the light, but left the TV on for company.

And then cried herself to sleep.

Standing at the window of his hotel room in the downtown Omni, Caleb watched the dawning sun glisten off the skyscraper that locals liked to call the Batman building, contemplating his next move. When he’d booked the room, his intention had been to get an early start for Baton Rouge. But a night’s sleep, not that he’d slept much, along with some distance allowed him to process things more rationally.

His instincts told him Snow wasn’t lying. That there’d never been another man. But if he accepted her word, then his mother was lying. Vivien McGraw could be overbearing and opinionated, but to fabricate a story like this? To claim she’d seen the other man with her own eyes? She wouldn’t go that far.

Caleb’s phone vibrated on the nightstand, but he ignored it. Snow had been calling every couple of hours. He hadn’t brought himself to listen to the messages. Or read the texts. Now she knew what he’d gone through. How he’d worried and panicked, desperate to find her and clueless where to look. Only in his case, Caleb had a good reason for leaving.

As he reached for the bag holding the change of clothes he’d bought the night before, his phone went off again. He was close enough to see the screen, and he was surprised to find his father was the caller.

“Hello?” he said, curiosity getting the better of him. Jackson McGraw
never
called his son.

“Where the hell are you?” his father clipped. No
hello
. No
how are you
.

He should have known his mother would bring in reinforcements. She’d also called several times. And been ignored.

“Nashville,” Caleb answered with annoyance. As if he needed to report in with his whereabouts like a kid out after curfew.

“Is your mother with you?” his father asked, taking Caleb by surprise.

“Why? Did you lose her?” Caleb wouldn’t expect his mother to pull this cluster of an intervention without telling her husband she was leaving.

Sounding more tired than Caleb remembered, Jackson said, “I came home from work late last night to find out from the maid that she’d flown up there to see you. But Rosa didn’t know when she was coming back.”

Caleb doubted that whatever kept his father out late the night before had anything to do with work.

“She showed up without warning yesterday.” Curious if his father had also been keeping Snow’s secret all this time, he asked, “Mother claims that Snow left with another man on the night she disappeared. You know anything about that?”

“I didn’t see anybody out there.”

So both of his parents were holding out on him. Freaking amazing.

“She didn’t meet some guy at the end of the driveway?”

“Not that I saw.”

“You saw Snow take off in the middle of the night and didn’t go after her?” Could his father not have mentioned this fact sooner? Like the next day when Caleb had been frantic.

“If you recall, not long before she left, you told me the only reason you had to stay married to her was to save her from taking half of everything.” Pausing to speak to someone in the room with him, Jackson returned to the conversation, saying, “For all I knew, you’d come to your senses and sent her packing.”

“Did you talk to her before she left?”

“Why would I talk to her?” Frustration and impatience laced his father’s words. “I watched her go from the window in my study. And why does any of this matter? Your mother said you found her so we could serve the papers and get this over with.”

His mother
had
lied. She’d pushed the one button she knew would get her what she wanted. Snow out of her son’s life.

“I need to go.”

“When are you coming home?” the older man asked.

“Never,” Caleb said, ending the call and grabbing his keys.

Just like the previous day, Snow spent Saturday driving around Nashville, visiting every spot to which Caleb had ever taken her. She even checked the locations he’d merely mentioned as places they should go. Asking at every hotel was impossible, but she checked several parking lots for his Jeep. She finally reached Deb, who’d pulled a double shift the night before and had no idea if Caleb was in town. Her former roommate had been surprised by the switch in roles, from hunted to hunter, but Snow was beyond thinking about her pride, nor was she up for explanations.

She just wanted to find her husband.

Around sundown, Snow was forced to admit the likelihood that Caleb was well on his way to Baton Rouge, if he hadn’t reached that destination already. She attempted to call Lorelei to let her know she was coming home, but her phone had died while she’d been trolling the Nashville streets. Thanks to a blown fuse that she’d meant to replace, she had no way to charge the phone without pulling over and finding an outlet.

All Snow wanted at that moment was to curl up in her bed and cry. Caleb’s scent lingering on her sheets would rip her chest open even more than it already was, but at least she would have some tiny piece of him to hold on to.

Squaring her shoulders, she drove north on I-65, assuring herself that this wasn’t over. What was twenty-four hours compared to eighteen months? If she had to fly down to Louisiana and beg at his doorstep, Snow would do it. She’d take a lie detector test, sell the store and move to be close to him. Whatever it took, giving up was not an option.

She didn’t blame Caleb for believing his mother. The woman possessed ninja-like manipulation skills, and her son had been on the receiving end of them his entire life. There was no way for Snow to prove that she’d never cheated. As much as her heart wanted to scream that she shouldn’t have to prove anything, that if he loved her he’d believe her, Snow was realistic enough to know that life didn’t work that way.

If put in the same position, she couldn’t say how she’d react. Except that everything she knew of Caleb said he’d never cheat.

The tears remained in check until she reached the Ardent Springs exit. The store would have closed an hour before, which gave Snow the excuse she needed to go straight home. By the time she turned off Main Street, her cheeks were soaked and she’d used every napkin in her glove box to wipe her nose. Though she’d taken a quick shower before leaving her hotel that morning, she’d been wearing the same clothes since yesterday morning, with the one concession of a new package of underwear.

If she’d been thinking straight on Friday afternoon, Snow would have packed a bag, but she’d driven out of town on panic and instinct, the practical incidentals not entering her mind. Tomorrow, she would come up with a plan. Maybe if Spencer or Lorelei called him, Caleb would answer. Or even Cooper.

Miss Hattie’s porch light glowed in the distance as Snow swiped a hand across her cheek. A hot bath, a cup of tea, and her pillow would get her through the night ahead.

And then she pulled into the driveway and her heart fell out of her chest.

Caleb managed to keep his ass on the porch, but barely. Watching Snow walk his way, looking fragile enough to split into pieces any second, set his lungs on fire. But they had to deal with the mess between them before he could hold her again. No more secrets. No more doubts. The next time they touched, there would be nothing in the way.

And there would be no going back.

“Hi,” she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve as she sniffled. “How long have you been here?”

“A few hours,” Caleb answered, gripping the porch step to keep his hands off her. “I tried to call.”

Snow lifted the phone in her hand. “It died,” she said. Two words that could apply to more than a phone in this situation.

His jaw tight, Caleb said, “I need to know something.”

“I swear, Caleb. There was no one else.”

“I know that,” he said, watching her jerk back in surprise. He reached up to brush her cheek, but held back. “Are you still willing to marry me?”

With little more than a whimper, she nodded her head yes.

“No more running,” he said. “For either of us.”

“I’ll never run again,” she said, “unless we run together. I’ll sell the store. I’ll move to Louisiana. Whatever it takes.”

Caleb felt as if he could breathe again. Pulling her tight against his chest, he said, “We’re not moving anywhere but to that house on Green Street.” Leaning back to look her in the eye, he brushed a tear away with his thumb. “This is it, Snow. Now and forever. You and me.”

Her face crumpled as she said, “I thought I’d lost you.”