He froze, staring at the billboard.
DEAR J. T.,
I LIED. I NEED YOU.
Below it was a drawing of a huge and exceptionally attractive chicken, with fluffy, elegant plumage and meticulously rendered feet. Next to it was an adorable donkey, its ass pointed toward the highway, its head peering coyly over its shoulder.
The wordMewas written above them in big, bold blocky letters. And two arrows ran from that word: one pointed at the chicken, the other at the ass.
“John.” Rebecca was sure awake now. “What the hell? You just scared me to death.”
“Shush,” he said so abruptly she actually recoiled.
And then he sucked in a long, long breath.
Sighed out all that air.
And yanked the keys from the ignition and tossed them in her lap.
“Here.”
She stared at them as if he’d handed her a snake.
“What’s the matter with you? Can’t you drive? Are you having a stroke?”
“I’ll get a flight out of Sacramento or San Francisco into L.A. tonight or tomorrow. No matter what, I’ll get there somehow and I’ll meet you at the studio. I’d take you back to town and see if we could get you another ride, but if you don’t drive yourself to the airfield now you’re going to miss your flight.”
“You mean our flight.”
“I meanyourflight.”
“John, for God’s sake, what’s going on?”
“I’m going back to Hellcat Canyon. Something I have to do. I have feet. I’ll walk there.”
“It’s that waitre—”
He stopped her with a look like a hard, cold wall.
“These seats have just been Armor-Alled, Rebecca. All I have to do is open the door and give you just a little nudge and you’ll shoot out like a watermelon seed. And so help me God, if you call her ‘that waitress’ again, that’s what I’ll do. And I’ll leave you on the side of the road. Britt. Her name is Britt.”
She drew in a breath and sighed it out. “I’m sorry.”
“Good.”
“You know why I do it.”
“Yep.”
“I shouldn’t do it.”
“Nope.”
She smiled an uncertain tight smile. “I always liked you best when you called me on my B.S.”
“That’s because you’re perverse, Rebecca.”
“It’s just that... you’re... special, J. T. There’s no one like you.” She said this almost pleadingly.