“Yeah, why?”
“Did you use a discount place like Dad, or did you actually rent from one of the big companies that doesn’t nickel and dime you for everything?”
I let out a lighthearted laugh, thinking about how that’s exactly what Dad would do. “One of the big ones with the pick-your-own-car aisle.”
“Good. Give me your phone.” He holds out one of his big bear paw hands and curls his fingers at me.
“OK.” I hand him the phone and watch him open the app for the rental car company. “Why?”
He rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath. “It’s a good thing you’re the good-looking brother.” He keeps scrolling on the phone with a pleased grin. “Some of those companies have remote start and keyless entry built into their apps.”
I arch a brow at him. “I thought you hated technology in cars?”
He looks up from the phone and glares at me. “I do. That’s why I drive a fifty year old muscle car, but all that technology keeps me in business because it always craps out.”
“OK, so this helps me… how?” I start to bounce my knee, losing my patience.
He rolls his eyes again before looking back at the phone. “Well, if you would have let me finish, I was going to say maybe they also have remote tracking for idiots that forgetwhat rental car they picked and can’t find it in the parking lot.”
Hope surges in my chest. “Are you saying you can see where the car is?”
“Would you just hold on a second? God, you’re impatient.” He keeps flicking his thumb over the phone screen. A few seconds later, the corner of his mouth lifts into a smug grin. “So do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Fuck it,” I groan. “Bad news first.”
He grins back at me. “There’s no tracking in their app.”
“Great. Then what’s the fucking good news?”
I reach for my phone, but he coyly pulls it away. “Hold on. Idoknow where she is.”
“Where? I thought you just said there wasn’t any tracking.” I snatch at my phone but he holds it over his head, just out of my reach. I stand up ready to fight him for it if he’s going to insist on a childish game of keep-away.
He must know it because he relents and hands the phone out for me, pointing at the screen. “There isn’t tracking, but you got a notification.”
I look down at the screen, but instead of a text or a voicemail, there’s an automated notification from the rental car company.
Thank you for returning your rental car. We hope you enjoyed renting from National Auto Rentals at Taos International Airport.
I take my phone back and read the message again and breathe a sigh of relief. She's at the airport. She went for a drive and returned the car at the airport. That relief only lasts a moment because another realization occurs to me. She’s back at the airport. She took the car back to the airport and is going home.
Fuck.
“You OK there?” Sly asks, with a suspiciously calm expression.
I say nothing while I run through each of the possibilities of what she might be doing. One perk of flying back and forth between Jackson and Sterling Springs for the last two years is that I know the flight schedule at the tiny Taos airport as well as I know my own recipes.
If she just dropped off the car, she’s probably already through security by now. And if she was able to get onto the last flight to either Salt Lake or Denver tonight, she’ll have to connect to Jackson tomorrow morning.
I try calling her again, but slump into my chair when she doesn’t answer. My brother is still watching me with that same stupid, smug grin plastered on his face.
“No, not really. I’m not OK.” She’s probably hurt and pissed at me, or panicking and trying to get home. I’m an idiot for not dealing with this sooner. I bury my face in my palms and let out a ragged breath. “Today’s a fucking disaster.”
“So what? You’re just going to do nothing?” I peek through my fingers to see him raising his brows.
“I’ll see her tomorrow. I’m flying back on TJ’s plane with them in the morning. If she’s taking the first connection in the morning, we’ll probably get there around the same time.”
He folds his arms over his broad chest and shakes his head, clicking his tongue. “Where is the Sutton Sterling I know?”