26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

C leo waited ten minutes before drying her feet, trashing her salad, and going to look for Clark. He wasn’t in his room or the lobby. He wasn’t in the fitness center or breakfast room. Cleo finally found him out front, on the phone and pacing again. His gaze was determined as he gesticulated with his hands. As she approached she caught the words, “I understand,” before he said goodbye and mashed his finger down on the end call button, then stuffed it into his pocket.

Clark’s hands raked down his face. Cleo started forward as if to stop him. He stilled as she approached. She couldn’t say what his expression meant, only that it made her shiver, half fear and half anticipation.

“Clark?” Not knowing what else she wanted to add, she simply let his name hang between them.

“Cleo.” Not a question, like his name had been on her lips. He stated her name like it was a resolution, an inevitability.

How to proceed when she knew nothing? “Is everything ok?” she finally asked.

“It will be,” he said simply. Then he added under his breath, “I hope.” He stepped toward her then hesitated, perhaps realizing that the sidewalk outside the hotel was not an ideal place for a chat. He asked, “Walk with me?”

The hotel was next to an office complex with a path dividing the two. Clark and Cleo started toward a copse of trees that looked inviting. His stride was long and Cleo had to take two steps for each of his. Something big was coming and she was determined to let Clark talk when he was ready to, though it literally pained her to wait.

The Texas sun hung low in the sky, but the heat remained. A bead of sweat trickled slowly down Cleo’s spine, and she was grateful when they made it to the trees and could walk along the grove in the cooler shade. A bird trilled from a branch above, easily distinguishable now that the noise of traffic had all but disappeared. Clark was quiet, but Cleo sensed there was a tempest brewing just beneath the surface. Sure enough, after another minute of excruciating silence, the storm broke.

Clark sighed. “I have to go back to New York.”

That was not what Cleo expected him to say. “But, we just got to San Antonio. And you haven’t done anything but squire me around town.”

“My reasons for being here have…changed, and I’m needed back there again.”

Confusion roiled inside Cleo. She thought she’d wanted to be rid of Clark, but the thought of him leaving nearly took her breath away. She’d come to rely on his steadiness and the comfort of having an ally. She didn’t want him to leave.

“When do you have to go?” she whisper-choked.

“I told my boss I’d be back by tomorrow night.”

“One more day.” Cleo felt the earlier elation at being reunited with her mother deflate like an old balloon, which made absolutely no sense. Clark being here shouldn’t make an ounce of difference in what happened next, but for some reason his departure felt monumental, life-changing even.

“Listen, Cleo, I don’t want to come off sounding presumptuous when a week ago we were complete strangers, but….” For several moments Clark didn’t finish his sentence, and not knowing what he was going to say was maddening. Cleo bumped into his shoulder with hers, jostling him out of wherever he went.

“You don’t want to sound too presumptuous, but…?”

“When do you think you’ll be back in the city? Or are you even coming back?”

Cleo’s brow wrinkled. “I don’t know my plans right now. Why?”

“I want to…that is, I think we should…well, the fact is that you owe me, and I’m wondering when you’ll pay up.” What was he talking about? Cleo had paid him for gas and hotel rooms and even food, or at least she thought she had.

Her mouth hung open so she clamped it shut. “I can pay you now for whatever I still owe you, Clark.”

He ran his hands down his face and muttered something that sounded like, “I’m completely bungling this.” Then he said, “I don’t mean you owe me money. I mean you owe me a truth and a dare.”

The pressure in her chest relaxed a bit as she realized he was talking about their game. “Oh, well, of course. I’m ready for them whenever you are.”

“But that’s just it. I haven’t thought of the perfect ones yet, so I need to figure that out. But when I do, I need to know where to find you.” Cleo had no idea how to tell him to find her. Where would she stay while she remained in San Antonio? How would she communicate with anyone without a phone? These were logistics she hadn’t yet determined.

“I don’t know, but if you leave me your number, I’ll contact you when I can.” Clark looked at her skeptically. “I will!” she insisted. “I’m good for it.”

He puffed his cheeks and blew out the air, resigned to this arrangement. Clark and Cleo turned around then to walk back to the hotel. The space between them was charged and Cleo had no idea how to diffuse it. Too much was happening at once and she didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with it all. And no more clarity than when they began their walk.

They spent the rest of the evening in their respective rooms. Cleo had been thrilled to finally have her own space, but it felt too large and too quiet without Clark in it. If he hadn’t insisted on separate quarters, she’d have happily shared with him again. It was probably a good thing he’d been the one to decide. She felt better about her financial situation now that she’d found what she’d come here for and was near the end of her journey, or so she hoped.

Cleo took a long bath where she tried to determine her next steps, but instead felt her thoughts drift to Clark and what their separation tomorrow would mean. She felt frustration rise inside her that she was being distracted from the reason she’d thrown her life in New York away and driven nearly 2,000 miles to be here. She didn’t need this right now; she had bigger things to worry about. Clark had been a pain in the butt from the first moment she met him. She should’ve been happy to watch him walk away, but all she felt now was sorrow.

It was hard to focus on her book, but Cleo finished Hope Was Here , tears streaming down her face. She grudgingly admitted that it was as good as Clark said it would be. He must know her well to have chosen Hope’s story for her.

When they met up for breakfast the next morning Cleo knew she looked as rotten as she felt. She’d hardly slept, and she should’ve been ravenous, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat more than a few bites of pancakes. Clark didn’t seem like he had much of an appetite either.

“Could I borrow your phone to text my mom?” she finally asked. He drew it out of his pocket while she found the note her mom had given her yesterday. Cleo typed in a quick text asking if she could come see her again, and within thirty seconds the phone vibrated on the table with an incoming text from her mom. They’d meet in a little bit at Patty’s place.

Handing Clark his phone back she asked, “When do you leave?” Cleo realized she’d overlooked a major plot point. “Wait a minute, you’re flying home, aren’t you?”

He pushed some eggs around his plate and said, “Yes.”

“But you said you hate flying.”

“I do, but I’ll do it if it can’t be helped.”

“And this can’t be helped?”

“Believe me, I wish I had another week to road-trip it back with a feisty car-mate, but my boss is giving me no choice. I’m back by tonight, or I’m no longer employed.”

Cleo was more confused now than ever. How had he come all this way, only to return to New York before he had the chance to do what he came to do? Cleo had started to assume his being here had something to do with work, but maybe it was personal? He'd hardly had time to do anything since being here, so how could he leave already? And now he was flying back, when the thought of flying here had forced him into a car with two strangers on likely the oddest road trip of his life. It didn’t add up.

“I leave in a couple hours,” he said in answer to her initial question. “I can drop you at your mom’s and then return the car at the airport if you think you won’t need it.”

Cleo would have to find a hotel near her mom’s place so she wouldn’t need a car. “That’s fine.” It was hard to think past him leaving. Only two more hours with Clark? An ache began in her middle and spread outward as she contemplated her time with him coming to a close. “Do you think you could do one more thing for me when you get back?” She pulled a letter out of her pocket addressed to her father. “I don’t want you to get involved in my family drama, so don’t let him know this is from you. But if you’d be willing to leave this at his house or put it in the mail to him, I’d appreciate it. The address is on it. I don’t want to mail it from here or he’ll know where to find me.”

Clark agreed and then pulled something from his computer bag and traded it for her letter. It was a rectangular box and when she opened it she discovered a cell phone inside. It wasn’t super high end, but it was nice enough.

“What’s this?”

“Your prize for the book challenge. You told me to surprise you. I took the liberty of programming my number inside already.” The ache deepened and spread, reaching to arms that inexplicably wanted to throw themselves around his waist and beg him not to leave her.

Cleo squashed that impulse and looked up to thank him. What she saw made her suck in a quiet breath. Clark wasn’t looking at her like a person who was about to leave a casual acquaintance. His eyes caressed her face, searching for an answer that she didn’t know the question to. She felt her cheeks flush under his intense gaze. Just as she began to feel like she needed to leave to escape his scrutiny, he broke the connection.

Pushing away from the table, he looped his computer bag over his shoulder and said, “I’ll go pack my things and meet you in the lobby in a few minutes.” Without waiting for her answer, he headed toward the elevators, leaving Cleo feeling like she’d just gotten off that spinny seat she used to love at the park. She wasn’t loving the feeling now.

Forcing herself to rise, she returned to her room to gather her meager belongings. Before she left, she texted her mom from her new phone that she’d be there in a few minutes, then added Bea’s number in and texted her too. Bea hadn’t heard anything from her dad or anyone else in a few days and was thrilled to hear that Cleo had found her mom. “I can’t wait to hear all about it,” she replied. “When can we actually talk?” Cleo promised that she’d call her later that day, then rode the elevator down to meet Clark.