Page 80 of Allison
My plane is leaving soon so I won’t have service for a while. I’ll be in touch when I reach Atlanta and then when I make it to San Diego. Please don’t be angry with me for leaving this way, but it’s for the best. I wasn’t completely honest with you about everything and I hope once I explain you can forgive me. It’s just this is so deeply life changing that I’m struggling with how I feel. I know you always have my best interest at heart, but I need to figure this out for myself, not let you influence my decision on the matter. I love you with all my heart!
Allison
Worm’s throat bobs up and down as he attempts to swallow the huge lump that’s formed from reading her words. All thoughts about what Abigail had said leave his mind. Only one thought plays on repeat. She’s gone. She’s left him, again.How did he let this happen?
“HACK!” Worm yells as he heads for the door. “I need your expert skills!” Worm storms down the stairs, meeting his friend at the bottom.
“What’s going on?” Hack asks. The rest of the team filing in behind him.
“Allison has taken off,” Worm informs them, noticing how Charlotte pales, placing a hand over her mouth. “I need you to track her for me and get me on an intercepting flight.” Worm turns to Hawk, his C.O., but who he’s also hoping will be his friend in this moment and understand. “I have to go after her. How difficult is it going to be for me to get leave?”
Hawk shakes his head. “You know you can’t get leave to go chase a woman across the country.” Worm can feel his face heating as his anger rises. “I understand how you’re feeling son, but my hands are tied. You were just on leave a month ago. I can’t break the rules, not without putting both of our careers in jeopardy.”
Worm grits his teeth. He knows Hawk is correct, but he needs to find Allison. He needs her to be safe above all else. He turns to Hack, “Just find her for me, please? I’ll figure the rest out when we know where she’s at.” Hack nods, heading out to the backyard where he’d left his laptop bag and supplies. Everyone else follows, clearly giving Worm a minute to himself.
Please. God, let her be safe.Worm pleads to a deity he hasn’t really relied on over the years. His parents had made sure they’d attended church when they were little, but after joining the Marines and traveling so much, he’d let his faith dwindle. Now, however, he hopes God won’t hold it against him, for Allison’s sake . He takes a step then pauses to ask for one more favor.If you have a spare miracle, let her forgive me, too.
50
ALLISON
Another wave of nausea and dizziness hits Allison as she steps out of the back of the taxi. Her hand grips the car frame to steady herself. She takes some deep breaths to keep from vomiting on the sidewalk in front of all the people walking by. Her mouth waters. She bends at the waist and heaves, yellow bile erupting from her into a puddle at her feet.Eww! Gross!
Of course, she’d have another episode when she needs to keep moving. She’s already gotten a handful of texts from Emma, Charlotte, and Russell inquiring about her whereabouts. She’d thought she’d made it plain in the letter she’d left on her bed, but maybe they hadn’t found it.
Allison hasn’t answered any of the texts yet. She isn’t sure what she would say in reply. She’s still trying to come to terms with her decision. She isn’t ready to deal with them trying to talk her out of returning to California. She has enough worries of her own without adding their concerns to the list. The nausea seems to have passed so she straightens up to see the disgusted looks from passersby.
Am I making the right decision?She worries again. Russell’s handsome face comes to mind. Her heart breaking all over again. She can’t imagine seeing him, frequently, but not having a real relationship with him. It will be too painful. She can’t handle that and all of her physical ailments, too. “Miss? Are you all right?”
Allison looks up to see her taxi driver peering at her around the raised trunk lid with concern. She nods, waving away his concerns. The dizziness is also passing along with her nausea. Straightening her spine and blowing out the breath she’s been holding, she pushes off the side of the taxi. She’d been leaning against it in an effort to calm the spinning of the world and letting her stomach settle.
The taxi driver brings her luggage around to set them down next to her on the sidewalk, avoiding the spot she’d soiled. “Well, if you’re sure that you’re alright, I’ll let you get on with your day, but I don’t mind calling 911 and waiting with you until they show up.” Allison attempts a confident smile, but knows she’s likely falling short.
“Thank you, but I’m fine,” Allison confirms. “I have a minor medical condition, but I have medication for it.” It’s all she can do to not laugh at the description of her pregnancy.A minor medical condition? Try a lifetime commitment.
The man gives her a tight smile and a nod before heading around the vehicle to slip into the driver’s seat. The light on top of the car comes on indicating he is back in service and ready to take another fare. She’d paid the man when they’d arrived and had given him a nice tip for coming to get her so quickly. She’d gotten lucky that the taxi service had had a driver already in the neighborhood dropping off a fare when she’d called to get one.
Allison heads inside the airport, hoping she’ll be able to get through security and make it to her gate in time. She’d taken the first available flight out of Jacksonville which just happened to be to Atlanta and it departs in just under an hour. She’ll be cutting it close. There will be a short layover in Atlanta before heading on to California.
Allison is grateful Russell had arranged to have the locks changed on her apartment. Dude, the man who’d flown with her on the way out here, and some of his friends, had gone to her apartment after getting the spare key from her neighbor, Amelia. They’d made sure Allison’s locks had been changed and they’d had a security system installed.
A man named Tex, who Allison has never met, had sent Dude equipment for the installation. Dude has assured her it’s a top-of-the-line system with loads of extra features you don’t get with a basic system. Allison isn’t sure how she’s going to pay for it, even though she has no idea how much it even cost, because Dude was very cagey about it. She’d asked several times, but he never gave her an answer. Even Curtis had evaded her attempts to give him money for it.
Dude has left the new keys with Amelia. Knowing this, makes going back a little easier, but she still dreads entering what had, at one time, been her sanctuary. A shot of fear shoots through her, remembering all of the strange things that had happened in her apartment before she’d fled to Denver with Russell’s friend.
Allison groans when memories of her and Russell in the hotel flash through her mind. How he’d fucked her hard and had then made slow sweet love to her.No! Stop it!He didn’t make love to you, even if it had felt that way at the time. He’d just been enjoying the sex. She lies to herself. The annoying voice of reason inside her head argues that he did care for her, but he had other obligations that kept him from acting on them.
Allison snorts, “Yeah, right, just keep telling yourself that little lie.”
“I’m sorry? What did you say?” Allison looks up at the TSA agent who is going through her carry-on bag. She’d apparently said that last bit out loud.
Shaking her head, Allison says, “Nothing, just thinking out loud.” She gives a little half-hearted chuckle, hoping the woman doesn’t decide she’s fruit loops and needs to be pulled from the flight for safety reasons. The woman nods and returns to her task. In another couple of minutes, she hands Allison her bag back and allows her to continue on to the gate where she only has a few minutes before it’s time to board her flight.
While she’s waiting, she decides she needs to put everyone’s mind at ease. She creates a group text and sends out the following texts.
Allison:Please don’t worry. I’m fine.
Allison:I made it to the airport safely, boarding my flight soon.
