She sighed; Gray would not let this go. He had a hook in her and would use it to his advantage. She responded: Usual spot?
It wasn’t long before Gray texted back: See you there soon
Josie changed out of pajamas and into casual clothes, sneaking out of the house and down the driveway. It would take her a little longer than usual since she would not jog the route. She had made it almost to the end of the road when a car approached. It was Gray; he rolled down the passenger window. “Hop in,” he said.
“Can I trust you not to drive me straight to Bucksville?” she joked.
“No, but it’s a chance you’ll have to take,” he joked back as she slid into the passenger’s seat. He swerved around, turning back toward the main road. “So, you haven’t changed your mind then, I take it?”
She sighed, “I can’t do it.” He frowned at her response but said nothing. “But,” she continued after a moment, “I can’t do nothing either.”
“So, you’ll come?”
“I haven’t decided. There’s no good ending for me. I’m at a loss.”
“The worst ending for everyone is the one where you do nothing. Now I’ve shown you what is at stake, it’s a tragedy waiting to happen.” He pulled off the road into an empty parking lot.
Josie stared straight ahead into the darkness in front of her. “I can’t be what I was.”
“But if you aren’t we have no hope.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“Well, I am. We need you, Celine.”
“Perhaps I could help in another way.”
“Another way?”
“Yes, I mean, I know a lot, I remember everything. I remember…” She paused, struggling to get the words out. “I remember the Duke. Perhaps I can help even if I’m just as I am now, just Josie.”
Gray considered it for a moment. “Okay, there’s a train leaving early tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at the end of your driveway at four thirty tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, I’ll be ready.”
Gray turned the car around and pulled back onto the road. “So you’re okay with this?” Josie asked him after they were back on the road.
“You’re coming home, I will take whatever you’re giving me right now, so yeah, I’m okay with it,” Gray responded.
Within minutes they were pulling back onto Josie’s road. “Just leave me off at the end of the driveway,” she said.
“Okay,” he said, pulling to a stop across the driveway. “See you tomorrow morning, four thirty, don’t be late.”
“I won’t be. See you then.”
Gray pulled away, swinging around to head back toward the main road. Josie made her way to the house. She needed to pack. Worry plagued her. She hoped this wasn’t a mistake, but she had a nagging suspicion it might be.
Gray entered the motel room, throwing his keys onto the nearby table. Millie was waiting in a chair, having known he was meeting Celine. “Well?” she asked as soon as he entered.
“Well, we leave tomorrow morning, pack your bags, Millie, we’re going home.”
“She agreed?”
“More or less.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“She agreed to go and no more.”
“Is that any use to us?”
“It’s a win, she’s going, I’ll worry about the rest when we get home.”
“That’s a brave attitude.”
“It’s the only attitude that I can have, Millie. Now, let’s get packed up, we pick Celine up at four thirty in the morning.”
Chapter 18
Josie stood at the end of the driveway. There was a chill in the summer morning air. Josie couldn’t help but wonder if it foreshadowed what was to come. She pulled her sweater around her tighter as she watched the car lights approaching. The car pulled up alongside her. She took a deep breath knowing this was her last chance to back out before the ball started rolling. Josie would have been indecisive at this moment; Celine was not. She recognized what she had to do.
“Good morning, Celine,” Gray said, jumping out of the driver’s side to put her luggage in the trunk.
Josie slid into the backseat on the passenger side. “Good morning, Celine,” Millie said from the passenger seat. “I’m glad you’re joining us.” Josie didn’t answer.
Grayson slid in behind the wheel and swung the car around toward the main road. “Time to go home, Celine,” he said as they pulled away from her driveway.
Josie stared back for a moment watching her driveway and mailbox disappear behind her. She couldn’t help but feel this was the end of an era for her, that she might never lay eyes on this house again. Returning her gaze to the front, she made a silent vow that this would not be the case. She would help but she would remain strong, she would return as Josie.
A loud rapping at the door startled Michael awake. He rushed to the door, opening it to find a flushed and flustered Damien. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“We got trouble,” Damien answered, a bit out of breath.
“Trouble? Is it Josie? Is she sick? What?” he asked, pushing through the door past Damien and racing toward Josie’s room.
“She’s gone.”
“What? Gone? Where?”
“Looks like the city, perhaps the train station? I only looked quick. I came to get you right away.”
“Train station? What?”
“Well, I’ve been tracking her phone. I wrote my own little application to track it that will also alert me to out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, like odd times or locations or…” Damien began.
“Yeah, okay, get to the point.”
“Oh, right, well, it alerted me this morning. According to my little tracker, Josie left the house around four thirty this morning and traveled into the city, see?” he brandished his laptop with the blinking red dot.
Michael looked at the screen. “Four thirty? Seriously? Where is she going?”
“No idea, but it might be worth following her.”
“Yeah, I’d say so, let me change and we’ll head down there.”
“Okay, me too.”
The two parted ways to dress for the trip, meeting back in the
