The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(93)

Maze squeezed Cat’s hand and eyed the door. Too risky. She pulled Cat to the window.

Unbelievably and thankfully, it opened easily, and better yet, no one was out there. Shelly had come through for them, buying them extra time. The woman was smart and there’d been a tone of understanding in her voice, telling Maze she wouldn’t be at all surprised at what they were up to.

“Hold on,” Caitlin said, and grabbed an unopened champagne bottle with each hand. “Okay.”

Maze looked into her eyes. “You’re sure, right?”

Caitlin climbed out the window.

Okay, so she was sure. Maze followed after her, and they ran—the bride in the bridesmaid gown and red sneakers, the bridesmaid in the wedding gown barefoot—through the parking lot.

“Where the hell did you park?” Caitlin asked, breathless.

“In the way back.”

“Why?”

“Because my car’s a bitch to start after it rains. Gotta dry off the distributor cap first and it’s embarrassing. You’ll see.”

At the car, Caitlin headed for the driver’s door. “This is my great escape. I get to drive.”

“You can’t breathe.”

“I can now.”

“Fine.” There was no time to argue with the crazy almost-bride anyway. Maze tossed her the keys, then ran to the hood and popped it open. She pried off the distributer cap. “Toss me the towel in the back seat!”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Caitlin tossed her the towel, and Maze dried the inside of the cap and disappeared under the hood again to put it back on. “Okay, start it!” she yelled, and Caitlin cranked the engine. It turned over just as Maze jumped into the passenger seat.

“You’re right,” Cat said. “That was embarrassing.”

Maze had bigger problems. She couldn’t get the door to close, the wedding dress was too big. She started tugging yard after yard of white satin fabric in, swearing the air blue. Caitlin had to lean over her and add her two hands to the cause.

“Jesus,” Maze said breathlessly. “Remind me to never get married.”

“You’re already married.”

“Oh shit,” Maze said. “I keep forgetting. Drive!”

Caitlin hit the gas, the veil still attached to the top of her head, waving out the open window behind them. “I hope Officer Ramirez isn’t on duty.”

Maze winced as they took a turn on two wheels. “Slow down. We’re not Thelma and Louise.”

Caitlin laughed, and it sounded a little hysterical.

“Are you okay?” Maze asked worriedly.

“For the first time in months, I can take a deep breath. Remember when we were listing all the people who love me?”

“Yeah.”

“All those same people love you too, you know.”

“Thanks,” Maze said. “But we’re running away from your wedding, I’m wearing your wedding dress, and your veil just flew out onto the highway behind us. I think we should concentrate on you right now.”

“Yeah.” Cat sucked in a breath. “Is it bad that I know I made the right decision?”

“It’s good that you know. It’s good that you did it now instead of an hour from now.”

“Thanks for being with me,” Caitlin said softly, “for talking me through it.”

Maze shrugged. “Well, I am the master of doing stupid shit that you can never take back.”

Cat took one hand off the wheel and squeezed Maze’s. “We’re all still here, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, but only because you guys won’t go away.”

Cat smiled. “We are a stubborn lot. And hey, there’s one good thing to come out of this week. Us. We’re back together. Forever this time.”

Forever. It had a ring to it that Maze had never wanted before. But she wanted it now, desperately, and the realization formed a huge lump in her throat. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.” Cat’s expression crumpled. “Someplace that matters.”

Maze thought about it. “I know just the spot.”

Cat looked at her, searched her gaze, and then nodded in accord. And not thirty minutes later, they were at the graveyard, drinking champagne straight out of the bottle with Michael.





Chapter 25


Walker’s instincts were usually dead-on, so when he woke up with a feeling that the day wasn’t going to go as planned, he took it as gospel. Which meant that several hours later, standing at the back of the wedding aisle with two hundred people seated and waiting for the procession to start, and with no maid of honor or bride in sight, it wasn’t a huge surprise.

He watched, along with all the other wedding guests, as in the front row, Dillon’s mom stood up and brought Dillon his phone.

Dillon listened, said something quietly, then handed the phone back to his mom. He held up a finger to the crowd and came back down the aisle to Walker. “Caitlin’s not coming.” He paused. “Do you think the roses were the final tipping point?”

“No,” Walker said, “I don’t think it was the roses.”

“My mom?”

“Getting warmer.”