* * *
THE PLANE RIDE was long but nothing compared to an international flight, and within a few hours they were in Kentucky, tucked away in a rental Ford F-150 and headed to some place called Woodsville. She was still in a daze, struggling with the knowledge that she’d come close to dying and that someone actually wanted to hurt her. It’d been so much easier to believe that her father had been overreacting than believing the threats were real.
Once out of the city the countryside was pretty enough, but she wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the scenic splendor of rural Kentucky. In fact, tears were hovering too close to the surface for comfort and she didn’t know if it was the fear of being watched or the fact that she was coming down from a drug that squeezed all the serotonin from her brain and left her with nothing but depression after the high. To say it could go either way was depressing in itself.
“You were pretty quiet during the flight. You okay?” he asked.
What a question. Was she okay? How was she supposed to respond to that? Of course she wasn’t okay. She’d been shot at. Who bounces back from an experience like that as if nothing had happened? But she didn’t want to say any of that. “I’m fine,” she lied. “Just tired.” That part was true. She felt wrung out and her body was protesting the long plane ride after their epic sex session but she definitely didn’t want to bring attention to that, either. “How much farther before we get to this place? I feel like we’ve fallen off the map.”
“Good. That’s exactly what we want anyone who happens to get a notion to follow to feel. Woodsville is about an hour still. If you want to sleep, go ahead.”
She nodded and leaned against the door, using the seat belt strap to support her head. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but she was too strung out to allow true sleep to come. She made an exasperated noise and sat up. “Sleep’s not going to happen,” she said, beginning to get cranky. “Tell me about this place. Where are we going and why?”
He sighed, resting his arm against the window frame. “Well, I grew up in Woodsville. It’s a small town, no stoplights, a general store, a sprinkling of other stores, a school and a tiny hospital. That’s about it.”
“Yikes. Sounds like a prison.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s how I felt when I was growing up, but I had a shitty childhood so that might’ve influenced my opinion.”
“You mentioned your father was a jerk.”
“That’s the understatement of the year. He was an abusive asshole. He didn’t give two shits about his sons and when he was sober enough to realize he had two kids, he spent that time beating them. Well, he beat us when he was drunk, too, but it was easier to get away from him when he was three sheets to the wind.”
CoCo didn’t know what to say. How horrific for Rian. “So...are you and your dad...?”
“He’s dead. Thank God. Heart attack. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person, that’s all I can say.”
“Wow. I’m sorry.”
“No need for that. It was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but that’s still awful to have those memories, I would imagine.”
“I don’t think about the past. Can’t do nothing about it so why bother letting it ruin your present?”
“Very philosophical.”
“Nope. Just common sense.”
She nodded, thinking. “So I imagine that Woodsville doesn’t have many good memories for you?”
“Not many,” he confirmed but added, “except for the Bradfords. They took me and my brother in on the pretense of offering us summer jobs and then they sort of adopted us, unofficially. Cora and Warren Bradford were about the nicest, kindest people God put on this earth and they saved our lives.”
CoCo sat stunned by the private revelation and didn’t know how to react. Rian made more sense now that she knew a little bit more about him. “So that’s where we’re going?” she supposed and he nodded. “I can’t wait to meet the Bradfords,” she murmured.
“Well, you’ll get to meet Warren but sweet ol’ Cora died last year. Cancer. Let me tell you, the world lost an angel the day she died. She was good folk. Never had kids of her own but she adopted scores of them throughout the years. Best sweet potato pie you’ve ever tasted, too.”