He shakes his head and presses his forehead to mine. “You’re not a coward, Cara. You’re so fucking strong. You’ve survived so much and you keep coming back from it all. You’re not a quitter, and that’s how I know you can do this with me.”
He presses a soft kiss to my lips and then catches my eyes again. “We promised to have each other’s back, Cara.”
I nod, unable to come up with any more excuses. I’ll have to face my uncle.
The next week is pretty much uneventful. I go to work as if nothing has changed. Damian said he’s been in contact with his friend Jeff to get us passports.
It’s a normal Thursday at the hardware store. I’m checking to see what we need to order for the following week while wondering why Thursdays always feel so long. It’s like two days got shoved into one.
I hear voices from the front of the store, and it sounds like Damian. I slowly make my way up the aisle with the list of stock we have to order.
Sure enough, Damian is talking with Joshua. When they both look at me, I force a happy smile around my lips.
I hold the piece of paper out to Joshua, “Here’s the order for next week.”
He takes it and then looks at me with sympathy, which confuses the hell out of me. “I’m just telling Alex that it’s okay for you to take some time off.”
“Huh?” the word pops from me. Now I’m even more confused.
“Yeah, babe, so we can go to your uncle’s funeral.”
The half stunned smile drops from my face and I’m glad Joshua mistakes it for grief.
“You can go now, Nina. I’ll get the Jameson boy to come help out after school for the next week.”
I nod mutely as Damian takes my hand. He pulls me to his side and then reaches a hand out to Joshua, “Thank you so much for understanding. She’ll be back in a week.”
Joshua waves a hand at us. “Sure thing.”
I feel like a robot as Damian walks me out of the hardware store and then helps me into the truck. I look down at my hands all the way home.
When Damian parks the truck in front of the cabin, we both just sit in silence.
It’s Damian who breaks the silence. He opens his door, letting some of the stuffy heat out of the cabin. “We’ll meet Jeff tonight and then drive through to the airport. He has the tickets and passports.”
“What about visas? What about transport once we’re there? What about a place to stay? How will we get close to my uncle? How will we get back? What if we get caught?” The questions pour from me in a desperate attempt to find a reason to stay here … where we are safe.
Damian takes my hand and brings it to his mouth. His words are hot over my skin, “We won’t get caught. I’ve done my homework. South Africa has a high crime rate. Thousands of people die every day, and the killers are never found. I’ll hire a car under our fake names and we’ll stay at some cheap hotel.” He presses another kiss to the back of my fingers. “We’ll be fine. I’ll keep us safe.”
“But … but.” I swallow hard. There’s just no way for me to suppress the fear. “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be,” he whispers. “We’ll be there for three days only. Remember what I told you? We make people look the other way. Make them not notice you. You can’t look scared, because that will draw attention to us. We’re just two more people going about our business. You’ll have to get your head right, Cara. You’ll be doing all the talking. People will notice my accent but you will fit right in. I need you to have my back with this one.”
I start to nod my head as I try to focus on what he’s saying. I swallow down the fear and then frown. “I have to do the talking? What if they ask me something I can’t answer?”
“We’re going to go over every detail on our drive up to Charleston where Jeff will meet us. We’ll be flying from there. Everything is going to be fine.”
I’m not so sure, but Damian has never lied to me before so I have no choice but to trust him.
Damian~
The flight was fucking long. My legs were starting to cramp. The fact that we’re both tired from the super-long-ass flight is counting for us right now. We look the same as all the other passengers, sweaty, wrinkled and tired.
The African gentleman hardly looks at our passports, and soon we’re waiting for our luggage, which is only one bag. I didn’t bring any weapons, because … well, that would be a stupid fucking move on my part.
I got us simple names for this trip. Mike and Sonja Burgess. I grab the bag and then, holding her hand, we make our way over to Avis car hire.
As we near the small counter, Cara takes a deep breath and then smiles at the woman behind the counter. “Hi, we’d like to hire a car for a few days.”
The woman smiles professionally. “Are you here for holiday?”
Cara freezes suddenly, grabs my hand and pulls me away from the counter. When we’re out of hearing distance of the woman, she whispers, “Neither of us have a license. We can’t hire a car.” Her eyes dart around us to make sure that no one is hearing her.
I look around realizing that she’s right. I totally forgot about that part.