Page 43 of Steadfast

“Leave the one by Aisling’s feet. She won’t care.”

“Yeah.”

Ronan kept up a stream of excited chatter, but the rest of us were silent as we passed the scene of Mom’s accident. Everything had already been cleared away except a spray of glass that littered the highway from one side to the other. I tried to block it out, but the memory of the smashed car lingered until we got to the store.

“You want me to run in?” Cian asked, jerking his head toward the front doors.

“No, you move the cooler. I’ll be right back.”

It felt like there was a neon sign above my head telling everyone I was on the run from the state as I walked nonchalantly into the store. The bank inside wasn’t open anymore, but I stopped at the ATM and emptied my bank account. There wasn’t much in there, but between that and the cash I’d taken out to grocery shop earlier, we’d easily make it to Oregon. I made it to the pharmacy ten minutes before they closed, and the man who rang me up was frazzled from trying to close everything up, so he barely paid any attention to me.

With Aisling’s antibiotics safely in hand, I strode down the row of check stands and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Jasmine stepping out from behind hers.

“Fifteen minutes,” she told Gary.

“Have fun,” he joked.

I met her at the end of the row.

“What the heck are you doing here?” she asked, smiling. “Miss me?”

“Jas—” Now that she was in front of me, I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked, grabbing my hand to tug me partially behind a flower display.

It all poured out of me, from social services showing up at our house to Aisling’s ear infection, leaving before Richie got back, and Cian moving the cooler into the trunk.

“Shit,” she murmured, pulling me into a hug. “What do you need me to do?”

“If someone comes looking,” I said shakily.

“I think you went to your auntie’s in Oregon. Or was it Ohio? Wait…Arizona? Something like that,” she said easily. “Been planned for a while.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, deflating a little.

“Let me know when you get there safe, yeah?”

“I will.”

“What do you want me to tell that boyfriend if he shows up here?” she asked kindly.

“That I love him,” I choked out. “And this is for the best.”

“The boy’s gonna be pissed.”

“I’d rather he was mad than giving up everything he’s worked for.”

“Alright,” she replied, unconvinced. “You drive careful.”

“I will.”

I kept my steps slow and steady as I left the store. Outside, I strode past the garbage can and dropped my phone inside as I headed toward the car.

CHAPTER 7

Aoife

“Happy birthday, babybrother,” I said softly, glancing over at Cian.

---