Romance MF: A Suspense Story With A Dark Hidden Secret (romance short story, suspense romance, romantic short stories, adult romance Book 1) by Carol Lawson Page B
Authors: Carol Lawson
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sun. It was almost four-thirty, but the light had already dimmed behind the clouds above the Pacific as he followed the rush-hour traffic.
Eventually the number of cars started to lessen and he saw big patches of old-growth forest cloistered against the road. He checked the GPS, and saw he still had twenty kilometers to Port Angeles, and then another forty to reach his uncle’s cabin. I hope the coordinates he gave me are correct, he mused, and realized he didn’t really have any contingent plans if the cabin didn’t work out. He hadn’t even questioned or planned it, he’d just gone along with the idea of heading to an isolated cabin without a second thought.
And yet, as the lights of Seattle pulled away and a thin sheet of rain started to drizzle down from an incoming cloud-front, braining droplets on the windshield, he felt a bit of relief. Like the further he got from his “normal life” the better he felt, the more his heart was opening to a latent freedom, and he caught himself grinning like an idiot in the rearview mirror.
He was just about to laugh when he noticed a small figure on the road-side up ahead and instinctively slowed down. She was dressed in an oversized green raincoat and had a big backpack at her feet. Her thumb extended into the traffic and he saw the two cars in front of him speed past her, splashing a big puddle in a pothole and drenching her from head to toe. He kept his foot on the gas, but tried to get a good glimpse of her.
She looked young, probably the same as him or younger, and a hand-knitted wool hat under the hood of her rain jacket was pulled down over her eyes. She had a tortured look on her face as she wiped at the mud the cars had splashed on her and didn’t even look up as he drove past.
Poor girl , he thought. As a rule he never picked up hitchhikers, but in reality he didn’t really have that many opportunities to in the first place. Living in the city, he rarely saw them. He kept his eyes on the rearview mirror and watched as she became a green blip in the distance. None of the other cars that had passed had stopped, and the rain was starting to pick up now.
That was the one thing about the west coast he didn’t really like. No matter where you went, no matter the season, the weather was unpredictable. The only predictable thing about it was that it would probably dump rain on you at its earliest convenience. Shane bit his lip, trying to make up his mind – surely someone would pick her up sooner or later. It was unusual for a woman to go that long without getting picked up, at least that’s what he’d heard. At the same time it didn’t seem like anyone today was particularly interested in being compassionate. It was Friday and everyone wanted to get home and inside.
He let out a low grumble and pulled over on the side of the road and waited for several cars and a logging truck to pass by and pinched the bridge of his nose again. Why not , he thought. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, he was just heading to a cabin somewhere. And besides, he felt too good right now, the first time he’d felt this good in a long time. He was on the road, he was out of the city, and he still couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.
He did a U-turn and zoomed past the girl who was still holding out her naked white thumb and looked even more desperate now. He pulled another U-turn further down the road and this time as he pulled up close to the girl she seemed to recognize his car because her eyes squinted in some queer familiarity as he pulled over beside her.
It took her several seconds to pick up her pack and open the passenger door, and she was breathing hard.
“Thanks, mister!” she said
Eventually the number of cars started to lessen and he saw big patches of old-growth forest cloistered against the road. He checked the GPS, and saw he still had twenty kilometers to Port Angeles, and then another forty to reach his uncle’s cabin. I hope the coordinates he gave me are correct, he mused, and realized he didn’t really have any contingent plans if the cabin didn’t work out. He hadn’t even questioned or planned it, he’d just gone along with the idea of heading to an isolated cabin without a second thought.
And yet, as the lights of Seattle pulled away and a thin sheet of rain started to drizzle down from an incoming cloud-front, braining droplets on the windshield, he felt a bit of relief. Like the further he got from his “normal life” the better he felt, the more his heart was opening to a latent freedom, and he caught himself grinning like an idiot in the rearview mirror.
He was just about to laugh when he noticed a small figure on the road-side up ahead and instinctively slowed down. She was dressed in an oversized green raincoat and had a big backpack at her feet. Her thumb extended into the traffic and he saw the two cars in front of him speed past her, splashing a big puddle in a pothole and drenching her from head to toe. He kept his foot on the gas, but tried to get a good glimpse of her.
She looked young, probably the same as him or younger, and a hand-knitted wool hat under the hood of her rain jacket was pulled down over her eyes. She had a tortured look on her face as she wiped at the mud the cars had splashed on her and didn’t even look up as he drove past.
Poor girl , he thought. As a rule he never picked up hitchhikers, but in reality he didn’t really have that many opportunities to in the first place. Living in the city, he rarely saw them. He kept his eyes on the rearview mirror and watched as she became a green blip in the distance. None of the other cars that had passed had stopped, and the rain was starting to pick up now.
That was the one thing about the west coast he didn’t really like. No matter where you went, no matter the season, the weather was unpredictable. The only predictable thing about it was that it would probably dump rain on you at its earliest convenience. Shane bit his lip, trying to make up his mind – surely someone would pick her up sooner or later. It was unusual for a woman to go that long without getting picked up, at least that’s what he’d heard. At the same time it didn’t seem like anyone today was particularly interested in being compassionate. It was Friday and everyone wanted to get home and inside.
He let out a low grumble and pulled over on the side of the road and waited for several cars and a logging truck to pass by and pinched the bridge of his nose again. Why not , he thought. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, he was just heading to a cabin somewhere. And besides, he felt too good right now, the first time he’d felt this good in a long time. He was on the road, he was out of the city, and he still couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.
He did a U-turn and zoomed past the girl who was still holding out her naked white thumb and looked even more desperate now. He pulled another U-turn further down the road and this time as he pulled up close to the girl she seemed to recognize his car because her eyes squinted in some queer familiarity as he pulled over beside her.
It took her several seconds to pick up her pack and open the passenger door, and she was breathing hard.
“Thanks, mister!” she said
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