Thankfully, it was Sunday and a lot of people, like her mother, were either still in bed or sitting in a church pew. On this day in particular, she knew exactly where her mother would be.
“Good morning, Momma,” she said solemnly, pressing the phone to her ear as she drove down the open highway.
Her mother sounded tired and withdrawn, which worried her a little. “Good morning, sweetie.”
“How are you?” Patti asked, concerned.
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m more worried about you. Are you still insisting on going up there?”
Patti’s jaw clenched. Every year her mother asked her the same question, and every year her answer remained the same. “There’s nowhere else I’d be,” she responded. She guessed they had both fallen into somewhat of a pattern over the years, and to be perfectly honest, it was somewhat comforting. Patterns were good. They were predictable. She didn’t have to guess what was coming next, which was exactly what appealed to her most.
Her mother sighed sadly. “I wish you’d let it go, sweetie. I don’t know what you expect to find there.”
“I don’t expect to find anything, Momma. It’s just something I need to do.”
There was a beat of silence, where Patti drummed her fingers on the steering wheel while she waited for her mother to come up with some excuse to keep her away. To her surprise, she didn’t. “Okay,” her mother breathed in resignation. “Just make sure to take your mace and be aware of your surroundings.”
Patti rolled her eyes because her mother was such a worrywart, but she couldn’t help smiling because it also meant her mother cared. “Sure, Momma. Got it right here in my purse.” She patted the black bag resting beside her in the passenger seat. Although, she wasn’t sure how handy it would be for where she was headed.
“Make sure to keep it on your person, Patti,” her mother scolded gently. “You won’t have time to go digging for it if some crazy person decides to attack you.”
Turning off the main road, she steered the car through a pair of tall iron gates. She had to work to push away the intense feeling of sorrow that spilled over her. “I have to go now, Momma,” she said in a garbled whisper.
When her mother responded, her voice was as strangled as hers. “Okay, sweetie. Be careful and…” She paused and took a deep breath. “And say hello for me.”
“Okay, Momma, I will.” Tucking her phone back in her purse, Patti followed the long and winding path to her destination, coming to a slow stop just under a large maple tree standing like a silent sentinel over the grounds and its many residents.
Patti stepped out of the car, taking in the expansive rolling green lawn, inhaling the sweet smell of freshly cut grass and soaking in the absolute quiet that came with being in a place like this. As she stood there, building up the courage to move forward, a cool breeze gusted up, weaving its fingers through her hair, and gave her a gentle nudge forward. Her feet carried her through the damp grasses to the spot that made her body tremble with grief, yet provided her with a tremendous amount of comfort.
Dropping to her knees in front of the cold, hard stone that reflected her stricken image back at her, she reached out a trembling hand and traced the etched lettering. “Hi, Daddy.”
Patti’s heart held a dull ache as she set herself back on the road and glanced in her rearview mirror at the retreating graveyard. She always felt a marked sadness when she left there, as though she were turning her back on her father. She knew that was ludicrous. It wasn’t as if he were really there, but even four years after he’d passed, she couldn’t seem to wrap her head around the fact that he was really gone.
Hoping to tune out the dark thoughts, Patti started up her favorite CD and scanned to the song that never failed to brighten her day. She blazed a path down the highway, the GTO growling fiercely as she fed it a little more gas. When her exit appeared in the distance, her good mood deflated a bit, but she turned up the stereo, determined to hold onto it a while longer.
The line at the red light crept forward as the cars in front of her took turns pausing and going. When it was her turn, Patti continued to belt out lyrics along with David Coverdale as she turned her head to assess the oncoming traffic. Her foot had just left the brake when something slammed into the back of her. The force of the collision drove her body forward, and the lack of air bags ensured that she got a nice split in her lip when she face-planted the steering wheel. She moaned as she dropped her head back against the seat.
“Shit, are you okay?” The sound of a man’s voice shouted outside her window a moment later, carrying over the blare of music and penetrating the fog as Patti lifted her head and touched her fingers to her swollen mouth. They came back red, and seeing the damage, the man’s eyes rounded and he wrenched her door open. He was in her face before she could blink an eye. “Here, let me take a look.”
Dazed, Patti showed no reaction at all, not even an increase in heart rate at finding herself face-to-face with Jon. One would think, after witnessing such a beefcake walk away with a couple of bimbos on stilts for legs, she wouldn’t have remembered such a minor detail as a name, if only out of need for self-preservation. But no, Patti remembered everything about him. Why, oh why, did she always go for the uber sexy player-type? It must be a mental deficiency of some sort. It certainly wasn’t genetic, considering her mother’s obvious good taste in men.
So, here she was feeling as if someone had attempted to punch her teeth down her throat, and all she could manage to do was stare at the beautiful man kneeling before her. As he inspected her face, she soaked in every detail of his. With the benefit of natural sunlight, she could see that his eyes were much more than the muted light color she’d observed in the darkness of the club, but were a gorgeous shade of aqua framed by thick, dark lashes. Short, dark hair turned nearly black by hair product teased his forehead, which was now marred by tiny furrows of worry. She could feel the tension radiating from him and she could see it in the firm set of his smooth, square jaw and the tight line of his full, very kissable lips.
“Can you hear me?” Jon was saying. Patti blinked away the fog as best she could and realized he had turned those intense blue eyes on her. “Do you know where you are?”
“In my car,” she answered smartly as she began to gather her wits.
His head tipped forward once in agreement. “How many fingers am I holding up?” He flashed two, so she said four. His eyes grew wider.
“I’m just fucking with you. Two,” she said as she struggled to sit up straight. As it turned out, the driver’s side of a car was only meant for one body at a time. With some annoyance, Patti placed her hands on Jon’s very nice, very wide shoulders, and firmly but politely shoved him away from her vehicle.
“I don’t think you should move,” Jon said cautiously as he backed away and watched her climb out of the car. She stumbled a little and his hands shot out to catch her before she could fall, but she slapped them away.
“I’m fine,” she snapped. The last thing she wanted just then was a man touching her. She’d had enough of those for a while. It didn’t matter if that fleeting moment of contact completely set her on edge, or that it made her stomach tumble to her feet. In that second she chose to follow the “Just Say No” motto.
Moving past him, she made her way to the back of the car and cringed as she got a load of the damage. “What did you do to my baby?” she screeched.