2000 Kisses by Christina Skye Read Free Book Online

leave
now,”
he added.
    “Now, like tonight?”
    “Now, like this minute,” her brother growled.
    Tess frowned. “I'll never be able to get a plane ticket on such short notice.”
    “Forget flying. I want you to get in that new car you just bought and drive.”
    “Andrew, you're starting to scare me.”
    “Good. I don't want you to stop being scared until you reach Almost.”
    “Where?”
    “Almost. That's the name of the town in Arizona.”
    Arizona.
    Something nagged at Tess's mind, and she glanced down at the scattered brochures from the travel agency. On the top of the pile was a picture of jagged granite cliffs beneath a blinding blue sky. Caught in shadows was a dark outline of ancient masonry walls and jagged wood roof beams.
    Tess stood frozen. There was something familiar about the place. She could almost hear the wind whisper through the cottonwood and mesquite trees, as if she had walked that rocky path and touched those walls of burning stone before.
    Tess shook her head, irritated. Of course the scene felt familiar. She had seen a thousand shots like that in the epic westerns she'd devoured since she was a brat in pigtails. She had cut her eyeteeth on
The Searchers, Fort Apache
, and
Broken Arrow.
She could recite all the good lines from
Santa Fe Trail
by heart. So what? That was no reason to get swept up in some ridiculous flight of fancy.
    Swallowing hard, Tess shoved the brochure back into a pile with all the others.
    “Tess, are you there?”
    “I'm all ears, Andrew.”
    “Okay, I want you to pack up, then hit the road. And for once,
don't
argue with me.”
    Outside, snow played over the gleaming hood of the Mercedes. Tess was having trouble breathing. “Do you really believe I'm in danger, Andrew?”
    “Let's just say I don't want to find out that you are. Now get your pen and I'll give you directions to Almost. I just heard there's a storm front rolling in from Canada, and it could dump two feet of snow before morning. I want you out of Boston before it hits.”
    Feeling an oppressive sense of danger, Tess grabbed a pencil and started writing.

    The temperature had dropped and snow was blowing harder by the time Tess finished packing the car. Suitcases and boxes filled the trunk. More boxes along withbooks and shopping bags full of her new purchases covered the seats. She held a flashlight and three boxes of batteries, compliments of Mrs. Spinelli, who swore that Tess would need them sooner or later.
    As she finished stowing the last bag, Tess caught a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror. In her western-style suede jacket, she could have been a complete stranger. But there was something about that stranger Tess liked—the gleam in her eye, the flash of color in her cheeks, and the glint of her hair. She straightened up, her cowboy boots crunching on the dry, new-fallen snow, and took a final look around her.
    The wind rose, scattering a flurry of flakes. Tess was intensely aware of her life as she stood in the snow, aware of this street, this building, this small corner of the harried world where she had lived for seven years. She wondered suddenly why it had never felt like home, only a place to stay.
    All of her memories of this street seemed to be centered on work—fighting deadlines, battling stress, juggling pressures. Without planning to, she had traded in a real life for success. She had worked hard, planned well, and played by all the rules. But suddenly she didn't like those rules.
    You can't have it all
, a college professor had once warned her.
    Maybe not.
    All Tess wanted was one small part for herself. Now she had to decide which part that was and how much she was willing to give up to claim it.
    She slid behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking spot.
    The road stretched before her, winding past wind-tossed pine trees and snow-streaked sidewalks. Somewherea tree branch shifted, cracking in the wind. She shivered, already feeling the pull of hot blue skies and burning