Soon it wouldn’t be his problem.
He glanced back to see her settle onto the bench a good fifty yards away then pulled out his phone. When Scazzoli hadn’t gotten an answer, he’d sent a text instead.
Scazzoli: Still on track?
Zach: Yep. Be in Miami in 12 hours.
The ping sounded less than a minute after Zach sent the text.
Scazzoli: Great. Word on the wedding is out but no one’s figured out where it is yet. Keep an eye out and stay in touch.
Great. All he needed was a horde of photographers trying to track them down the coast. He’d stay in touch all right. Although, he still hadn’t figured out how to convince Reagan to stick with him once he got her to Miami. His heart warred with his head. Could he really keep up the charade? If he wanted to protect her, how could he afford not to?
Stepping closer to the railing, he took in the view. The city of Chattanooga sprawled out in front of him. He let his gaze drift from west to east, appreciating the one-hundred-eighty-degree view. Although he’d read the altitude was just shy of three-thousand feet, the air felt cooler and slightly thinner.
He took in a deep breath and turned to check on Reagan. She’d moved from the bench to kneel in front of a little girl. Where were the kid’s parents? An older couple held hands and strolled past him to the railing. The backpackers from the train perched on the edge of a concrete planter while they consulted a map. No other adults in sight.
Reagan tucked a strand of the girl’s dark hair behind her ear and took her hand as an announcement came over the loudspeaker stating that if they wanted to catch the last train down the hill they needed to board now.
He pushed off the rail and made his way toward her. “Hey, Reagan.”
“Hey. Lily, this is my friend Zach. Lily seems to have lost her parents, and I told her we’d help her find them.” Reagan’s brow furrowed, and she gave him a look that begged him to stay calm and not freak the poor kid out.
“Um, yeah. Let’s go talk to the people at the ticket window. Maybe they know where the lost kid department is.” Zach smiled and offered his hand to Lily. “Want us to swing you while we walk?”
The little girl sniffled and wiped her nose with her hand, then slid it into his. “Okay.”
Zach tried to keep his voice low as he leaned toward Reagan over the tyke between them. Poor kid couldn’t be more than four or five. “The train is boarding. Can we hurry this up?”
“We can’t leave her here,” Reagan pursed her lips and whispered back.
“Swing me?” Lily asked, yanking their hands back and forth.
“Sure. Ready? One, two, three!” Reagan and Zach swung her hands back and forth and Lily giggled as her feet left the ground.
Another announcement blared from the speakers. There was no way they were going to make it. It’s not like they could take the kid on the train with them, and it looked like he’d have to pry the kid’s hand away from Reagan if he wanted her to let go.
“Reagan, the train.” Zach nodded toward the tracks where the last few passengers stood ready to board.
“Do you see your mom or dad anywhere, sweetie?” Reagan bent down to make eye contact with Lily.
“No. They told me to stay right by them, but I saw a puppy go by and I wanted to pet it. Did you see the puppy?”
Reagan smoothed her hand over Lily’s hair. “No, I missed it, but it must have been cute if you wanted to pet it so bad.”
“It was. White and black and fluffy, like my dog at home.”
Zach let go of Lily’s hand and looped his thumbs through his belt loops. “Let me go see if they can hold the train. You want to go check at the information desk? Hopefully someone is looking for her.”
He turned to jog toward the information booth as a woman ran toward them, yelling. “Lily! There you are. Your daddy and I were worried sick.” The woman gathered the girl into her arms.
Reagan’s gaze met his over their heads. Her eyes reflected the relief he felt inside. Thank God.
“Thank y’all so much. She was standing there and then poof—all of sudden, she was gone.”
“I wanted to pet the puppy, Mommy,” Lily whined. “But Reagan and Zach said they’d help me find you.”
“And we did.” Zach grabbed Reagan’s hand. “And now we’ve got to make the train. Lily, be more careful, okay?”
Reagan let him drag her away as she said her goodbye. “Bye, Lily. Stay safe.”
They ran to the platform—just as the train eased down the track, away from the station.
“Dammit!” Zach leaned over, putting his palms on his thighs.
Reagan panted, out of breath from the sprint. “The train. But it left without us.” She stood there, her mouth gaping.
“Yeah, it sure as hell did.” Zach slapped his hands against his thighs. “I told you it was boarding. What the fuck are we going to do now?”
“What were we supposed to do? Leave that little girl all alone? Surely they’ll send another one up for us.” Her phone rang, drawing her attention away from the problem at hand and dumping her back into wedding planner mode.
Zach tunneled his hands through his hair and looked around for an attendant or someone he could ask for help. They should have stayed on the highway and skipped over the detour to Chattanooga.
“I’ll be back,” he said in Reagan’s direction. She probably didn’t hear him since she had the damn phone pressed up against her ear again.
He wandered through the small cluster of shops and finally found someone at an info booth. Looked like everything was closing for the night.
“Excuse me,” he said to the attendant.
She popped a large bubble and smacked her gum. “What can I help you with?”
“The last train just left. Is there another way to get down the mountain?”
“Sure. You can drive down the road over there.” She pointed in the direction of a small parking lot.
“Well, I rode the train up and missed it, so I don’t have a car.”
The gum smacked. “That sucks. It’s about a two-mile walk.”
Zach tapped his fingers against the countertop. “There’s got to be a bus or something, right? I mean, people live up here. How do they get around?”
Her lips twisted into a dude-are-you-a-complete-idiot grin. “They have cars, or they don’t miss the train.”
“I’m sure it’s a great walk.”
Her head shook from side to side. “Not really. It’s steep. You could always hitch down. Lots of people leaving around now since everything kind of closes up.”
Ha. Reagan Campbell relying on the kindness of strangers? Not likely. “Uh, thanks.” He wheeled around, dreading having to share news of their predicament with Reagan.
12
Reagan ended her call as Zach ambled toward her. “One of my vendors canceled. Can you believe it? Three days before the wedding? How dare he do that to me?”
He put an arm around her shoulders and urged her to her feet. “Right now we’ve got bigger problems to worry about. We might not be getting off the mountain tonight. Let’s go.”
She shook her head and wiped a few tears off her cheeks but allowed him to half-pull, half-drag her toward the parking lot. “How am I going to tell Teddy and Cal that their photographer cancelled? I never should have hired that prima donna in the first place.”