Jessie smiled. Maybe he was maybe still there then. “Do you have a schedule of the pickup times?” Nodding, the man rummaged through his papers until he found one. Eager for some sort of information on her cousin’s whereabouts, Jessie snatched it from him. Relief hit her when she saw that the earliest departure time to Denver was 6:30am, with an arrival time a little after 8:00am. If he truly hadn’t been able to catch a cab home last night, then he’d only just left a little while ago. She hated that he’d spent the night in a grimy transfer station, but she loved the fact that he wasn’t on his way to an airport right now.
Jessie returned the brochure to the man, thanked them both for their help, then gathered her things so she could go wake up her friends. As she walked away, she heard the woman seductively murmur, “I didn’t know about that shuttle.” Then she heard him reply in a low voice, “These are the things you have to know working here.” By the flirty tone, Jessie reconsidered how oblivious he was to the fact that his coworker wanted him. They probably didn’t have the obstacles in their lives like she and Kai had; she hoped they went for it.
When Jessie got to Harmony and April’s room, she started pounding on the door. She was painfully aware that it was really early in the morning, and annoyed guests around her were going to call the front desk and complain about the noise, but Jessie had an abundance of nervous energy rushing through her and she couldn’t calm down enough to causally knock. She had to get to Kai—fast. She couldn’t let him leave town like this.
As she pounded on the door, she heard muffled cursing and what sounded like someone falling to the ground. Muttered oaths to kick someone’s ass filtered through the door, and Jessie suddenly remembered that her friends had been out late last night, flirting with boys. They might even have company in the room with them, and that might complicate things. But it didn’t matter. If the boys were there, they’d have to get up and get out. Jessie needed her friends.
Blinking in the much-brighter hallway light, Harmony appeared in the crack of the door. Her hair was wild and messy, making the redhead look like she’d been electrocuted recently. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she gazed at Jessie like she was sure she was hallucinating. “Jessie? What the…?” Letting her voice trail of, she threw the door wide open; she looked completely awake now as she studied Jessie’s face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
That was when Jessie realized that the tears she’d been holding in had started gushing down her cheeks. She brushed them away in irritation. She couldn’t lose it right now; time was ticking away from her faster and faster. Jessie took a deep breath to steady her voice. “I’m sorry, I know it’s early, but I need a huge favor.” Before she even finished speaking, Harmony was nodding and motioning her inside.
April grunted on her bed and sat up on her elbows. At seeing Jessie, she glanced at the clock on the nightstand, then back to Harmony closing the door. “Jesus, Jessie? What the hell? Is there a fire or something?” Sitting up, she flicked her eyes around the room, like she was searching for the flames. Under normal circumstances, that might have made Jessie laugh, but not today. Nothing about today was normal.
Jessie set down her stuff and sat on the edge of Harmony’s bed. Harmony sat beside her and rubbed her back. Noting that there weren’t any visiting boys in the room, Jessie exhaled a shaky breath. “It’s Kai…he left last night.” Her eyes shifted over to Harmony. “I’m sorry, I know you really wanted to spend all afternoon here, but I need to go home…” Her voice trailed off, guilt stealing it.
Biting her lip, Harmony looked over at their skis by the door. Jessie knew what she was blindly asking her friend to do was hard for her. This was Harmony’s favorite thing, and this weekend was supposed to be about the three of them enjoying it together. Now Jessie was asking her to forfeit their last few hours here to go chase after a boy. Even to Jessie, it sounded unfair.
At hearing Jessie’s pronouncement, April sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed, closer to Jessie. “Kai? He left? Is he okay?” While she and Kai might not have worked out in the romantic sense, she liked him, and the concern apparent on her tired face was genuine.
Jessie felt another tear slide down her cheek as she shrugged. She really didn’t know if he was okay or not. The last she’d seen of him, he’d been staring after her, looking to be on the verge of the same epic breakdown she’d had. Jessie had to imagine that wherever he was right now, he was anything but okay. “I’m not sure. He left while I was sleeping.”
Harmony’s eyes slid back to Jessie. “He didn’t say why he was taking off? He didn’t wake you up and say goodbye?” Her brows narrowed as she tried to reason out why he would do that. “Did you guys have a fight or something?”