Hitchhiker by Stacy Borel Read Free Book Online

hanging. Dropping my hand and hiding any forming embarrassment, I opened my door and started to step out.
    A hand landed on my forearm and the warmth from it traveled across my skin and inadvertently caused a shiver. “Thanks for the ride, Chandler.”
    I swallowed back the girly sigh that attempted to escape past my lips. While I appreciated his politeness now, it was a little too late for niceties. That flew out the window about a hundred miles back. Blinking rapidly, I nodded with a quiet, “Welcome,” and pulled my arm from his loose grip. Getting out, I shut my door and walked to the automatic sliding doors of the grocery store. I had no intention of turning around to make sure he got out, too. Instead, my only indication was hearing his door shut. A pang of sadness rolled through me. Why? No way should I be sad about not seeing Dawson again. I didn’t even know him. I’d chalk the crazy feelings up to being on the road too long and not getting enough sleep. Hitting the lock button on my keys, I moved forward, wanting to put this whole last leg of my trip behind me and begin to figure out how to heal whatever was broken inside me.

DOING A MUNDANE TASK such as grocery shopping always bored me. One of those weekly chores I despised when I was home. Today didn’t seem so simple. For starters, this store was full of all organic, healthy choices that you wouldn’t find in a normal grocery superstore. Not that I didn’t eat healthy, it was more that I didn’t recognize many of the brands. So searching for food and trying to remember recipes off the top of my head wasn’t working out in my favor. I found myself mindlessly wandering up and down the aisles, pushing a cart that kept trying to veer off to the left. Not just the cart was pulling at me. There was a certain dark-haired man who was currently occupying my thoughts.
    Where did Dawson even go? Why did I care? Hitchhikers get in and out of vehicles and go about the rest of their lives without giving the stranger who gave them a ride a second thought, right? So what was the big deal? I picked up a box of cereal without noticing what it even was and tossed it in my cart. Maybe I should have gotten his contact info so I could check on him. Like a text or something. No, that would be weird. We weren’t at that level. I was sure he was anxious to get away from me—the girl who grilled him relentlessly and wouldn’t stop talking. I knew I must’ve annoyed him. He probably didn’t even intend on staying in Big Sky; he was likely here overnight and he’d move on in the morning. I knew he had to have a destination in mind.
    “Ma’am?” a voice asked in front of me.
    Snapping out of my stupor, I realized that I’d somehow made my way to the front of the store and was at the checkout counter.
    “Ma’am, are you ready?” the cashier inquired again.
    Looking down at my basket, I had a few things that I vaguely remembered putting in there. Just the basics. I’d have to come back to town in the next day or two to get some other stuff. Smiling, I said, “Yes, sorry.”
    She rang me up quickly and I handed her a wad of cash. When I got out to my Rover, I was putting the bags in the back when I looked up and saw him. Dawson was standing under an awning speaking to a man in a business suit. Grabbing my two bags, I put them in the backseat while I continued to watch. They were speaking too low for me to hear anything, but both appeared serious, their mouths firm and unforgiving. I hadn’t realized how long I’d stood there watching, but when a horn honked behind me, I jumped. The door I’d been leaning against, or hiding behind, was blocking them from pulling into the empty spot beside me. Several other pedestrians had stopped what they were doing, so I could only assume the man and Dawson had, too.
    Redness was seeping into my cheeks. Reluctantly closing the door, I was no longer under the cover of my vehicle. The person who’d been waiting pulled in, but I was