Running Away With You (Running #3)
Read Running Away With You (Running #3) Online
Authors: Suzanne Sweeney
The Running Series: Book Three
Running Away With You
By Suzanne Sweeney
Copyright © 2014 by Suzanne Sweeney
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Suzanne Sweeney
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Suzanne Sweeney
Visit my website at http://suzannesweeney.wordpress.com/
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: October 2014
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
RUNNING AWAY WITH YOU
First edition. October 30, 2014.
Copyright © 2014 Suzanne Sweeney.
Written by Suzanne Sweeney.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also by Suzanne Sweeney
The Running Series
Running Back to You
Running Home to You
Running Away With You
Watch for more at
Suzanne Sweeney’s site
.
Further Reading: Running Into His Arms
This book is dedicated to the most amazing group of women I know. They are the most devoted group of professionals I have the privilege of calling friends. Every day, they come to work, eager to share their love of learning with the young minds that sit before them one hundred and eighty-two days a year. They listen. They inspire. They teach.
—-
To the staff of Veterans Memorial Elementary School, a place that I’ve been fortunate enough to call home for the past fourteen years ... Thank you!
—-
P.S. – Thanks for keeping my secret (shhhh!)
In the Blink of an Eye
T
he world stops spinning on its axis. It stops so abruptly that I fall to my knees. Has something happened to the air? My lungs are no longer able to find oxygen. There’s a God-awful ringing in my ears. I imagine this is what it feels like just before someone passes out.
Immediately, Evan is at my side. “Juliette, look at me. Breathe, baby. Breathe.”
I focus on his face and take a few deep breaths. Evan helps me to my feet and guides me to the living room, where we all gather around the television to watch and listen.
The screen shows a map of Alaska with a dark red line beginning in Seward, Alaska. I grab my phone and check my old messages from Auggie.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
His shuttle was leaving from Seward.
Maybe they do more than one shuttle a day. Maybe. I say a silent prayer that they do.
The red line stops just short of Bear Glacier National Park. There is a yellow burst, labeled,
Crash Site
. I listen carefully to the newscaster’s voiceover.
“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this developing story. The pilot and all six passengers are feared dead after a deadly crash in Alaska earlier today. Their helicopter went down in a park on its way to Bear Glacier, transporting friends and family of a film crew to a remote location. NBC News is on the site with live coverage.”
No one says a word. We all watch, horrified. Our small group is huddled together, glued to the set.
A reporter appears, and behind him in the distance is a burning aircraft, with thick black smoke rising ominously. Emergency vehicles are in attendance, with their flashing lights and sirens blaring.
“This is Harvey Frost. I’ve just arrived at the crash site, and I flew over the horrific scene just an hour ago. The helicopter is still engulfed in flames, sending plumes of black smoke over the wreckage. The only visible part of the aircraft is the tail, which remains in tact a few hundred yards away. Investigators say it's too early to tell what may have caused the crash. As far as the possibility that weather played a role – there was no heavy rain, lightning or other severe weather. That’s all I have for now. Back to you.”
“Hey, did anyone try calling Auggie?” Emmy asks as they break for commercial. “I mean, we don’t know for sure that he was even on that helicopter.”
“You’re right, Em. Let’s not jump to any conclusions.” I want to believe that he wasn’t on that helicopter. He’s escaped death before. I need him to do it just one more time. I’m not ready to say goodbye. Not now. And not like this.
“There could be a million reasons he didn’t call. No cell reception, he caught a later flight and he’s still in the air, he’s been arrested and doesn’t know what happened ... or he could be in the hospital getting prepped for surgery,” Reese suggests.
“Jail?” Camilla asks.
“Hospital?” Callie gasps. “How is that better?”
“It would mean he’s alive. Sick is better than dead.”
“Emmy is right,” Reese admits.
“This is ridiculous,” Evan jumps in. “I’ll call.” He dials his number and we all watch, waiting. “Nope. Straight to voicemail,” he tells us as he hangs up and puts the phone back in his pocket.
Reese has an idea. “Jette, I’ll call Cynthia and you call Christina. Maybe his sisters have heard something.”
Evan’s mother Jill offers to make a call to Auggie’s mother Nancy.
Unfortunately, they are all in the dark, every bit as much as we are. None of them have heard from him either.
The boys watch the television, powerless to do anything to help. Alaska is thousands of miles away, almost halfway around the world from this little chateau at the Jersey Shore.
Not sure what else can be done, I rejoin Evan on the couch, hoping to learn something that will make me feel better.
Brian Williams is sitting at the NBC anchor desk. “We're learning more about the victims in today's Alaskan helicopter crash and the company they worked for. Special correspondent Alana Greenfield continues our team coverage from Los Angeles.”
“Thanks, Brian. I just met with a spokesperson from Studio Six. Production has immediately halted on the highly anticipated film C.O.P.S., which has been filming in Alaska. Members of the cast and crew had arranged for loved ones to join them on location in the picturesque Bear Glacier National Park. North Star Aviation, a small helicopter tour company, was chartered to transport the small group, a trip the company makes hundreds of times a year without mishap. The names of the passengers are not being released publicly until all the family members have been notified.
“A North Star Aviation spokesman says the company only hires experienced pilots, and those in the chopper were veterans in their field. This is the first crash for the small, privately owned company, but the latest in a series of crashes in what some are calling Alaska’s crash epidemic. In Alaska, more than thirty-nine mountain ranges with towering peaks and deep gorges can ensnare aviators in sometimes fierce and rapidly changing weather.”
I can’t watch anymore, so I get up and turn off the television. No one tries to stop me.
“Juliette, tell me what you want to do. I can’t stand it. I have to do something. Please, tell me what to do.” Evan looks every bit as distraught as I feel.
“I have to get out of here. I need to be with the Deegans.” I take a deep breath before admitting my darkest fear. “They said they’ve just started contacting the families. I need to be there when the call comes in.”
Reese corrects me. “Don’t you mean
if
?
If
the call comes in.”
Emmy can’t hold back. “Jette, you need to keep positive. If you put positive energy out into the Universe, it will come back to you.”
I know she’s right, but the simple fact is that his helicopter has crashed, and no one has heard from him. Auggie would never let us worry like this. Not in a million years.
I look at Evan. “Let’s go.” Auggie’s parents live just a few blocks away. When we pull up there are other cars there. I recognize them as belonging to his sisters, Cynthia and Christina. I knock on the door and let myself in.
Nancy wraps her arms around me the moment she sees me. She’s been crying. They’ve all been crying. Christina is weeping in the corner. Her husband is with her, trying in vain to console her.
“Nancy, why is everyone crying? What happened? Tell me, I can handle it.” I squeeze Evan’s hand, hoping to extract some strength from him.
“Oh Juliette, why hasn’t he called?” she cries. “James would never leave us to suffer like this. He hasn’t even called Lucas.”
