Page 62 of Wine, Whiskey, & Lipstick 2

“C’mon. Hurry up,” Dillyn whispered to herself.

Dillyn prayed that she didn’t get caught. The stress of it all would do her in as she realized she was not cut out for all this cloak-and-dagger stuff.

The door creaked open. Selah looked tired, as if she’d been taking a nap. “Hey, Dillyn.”

Dillyn glanced at her Fitbit. She had wasted another two minutes.

“I have a really big favor to ask, and I need you to promise you’ll keep it between us.”

“Of course.” Selah nodded, “What do you need?”

“Can I borrow your gun?”

Selah’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

“It’s a strange request, but I need to borrow it.”

“D-d-do you know how to use a 9MM?”

Dillyn had never shot a gun in her life but hoped she wouldn’t get on-the-job training. “It can’t be too hard. Point and shoot.”

Selah started to waffle, “Dillyn, I don’t know . . .”

“Please! It’s important.” She begged.

Selah began to rattle off questions, “Why are you dressed like that? Where are you going? Is Ben going with you?”

“I don’t have time to answer now, but I’ll explain later.” Dillyn was getting impatient. “Can I borrow it or not?”

It was clear from the look on Selah’s face that she didn’t want to give Dillyn her gun. “How long are you going to be gone?”

“Just long enough to get to the airport and back.”

“You’re flying out somewhere?”

Dillyn hadn’t meant to drop that bit of information. She told a little white lie. “No. Just picking up a package.”

“Oh. Okay, but you must promise to be careful.” Selah went back to the side table next to her bed to retrieve it.

She hastily returned, “It doesn’t have a safety feature per se, so be very careful.” Selah pulled it out of its case. “However, it’s easy to use. Inhale when you point and exhale when you pull the trigger.”

Dillyn paid close attention to the impromptu lesson. “Got it. I’m sure I won’t have to use it, but it’s better to have some protection as a safety precaution.”

Selah replaced the gun back into its holster and handed it to Dillyn.

Dillyn put the pistol in her pack. The stressed-out look on Selah’s face confirmed to her that she was doing the right thing. Dillyn grabbed Selah and pulled her into a bear-like hug. “I promise I’ll explain it all when I get back, and hopefully, this entire nightmare will be over.”

Quietly, Selah nodded as she watched Dillyn bolt away from her door.

Dillyn moved as quickly as she could, albeit trying to be stealthy was proving to be more difficult than it seemed in the movies, especially when the floors were so old that it whined and made a terrible creaking noise.

She held her breath as she passed by one of the guest rooms. Dillyn could hear voices inside that sounded like Palmer and Lucas. Dillyn may not have been able to figure things out with Ben, but she hoped they might make things work.

Speaking of Ben, despite being non-religious, Dillyn began to pray.God, please don’t let me run into this manas shetiptoed down the stairs. Without incident, Dillyn made it to the main door.

So far, so good. She hadn’t run into anyone.

Five minutes left.

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