Page 29 of Run Away With Me

While Brooke was in the shower, I fell back asleep, and she didn’t wake me until almost check-out time, so we didn’t leave the motel until later than we usually would.

Before we left the parking lot, I glanced around for the black van, and reassured myself that it was gone. I couldn’t decide who Chris and the blonde lady were, which was turning into an annoying itch in the back of my consciousness. Brooke’s parents were wealthy, so it definitely wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility that they’d paid for a private investigator to find her.

Or maybe Chris was an undercover cop who was specifically looking for us. Well, looking forme. I’d stopped checking over my shoulder every other minute, but maybe I’d become complacent as we’d gotten farther away from home. It was possible –probable –that the police were looking for me.

Or they could be career criminals – who knew? The whole thing was slightly ridiculous.

The most boring option was usually the truth, so I decided they were petty thieves, looking to rob us because we seemed vulnerable. That was scary, but we would be out of Utah soon, and we’d never see them again.

With that decision made, it was a relief not to worry about them anymore.

Neither of us knew much about the city or where was good to hang out, so Brooke followed the signs for downtown and parked in a multistory lot. It didn’t seem that busy, but I had no frame of reference for how busy downtown Salt Lake City got. The whole city was so freakingclean. It made me nervous. Like someone was going to sweep down at any second and give me a ticket for looking a mess.

‘What day is it today?’ I asked as we got out of the car.

Brooke counted on her fingers. ‘Thursday.’

She had picked me up on Monday night, and it felt like we’d been on the road for both a year and ten minutes. One moment it felt like things were easier, especially now that we were almost friends. And the next moment I was panicking about who Chris and the blonde lady were, and why they’d wanted to get into our room.

After walking for a few blocks, we found an outdoor mall with a stream running through it and plenty of chain stores where people were hanging out. We stopped to go into a bookstore to poke around and soak up the vibes, then into a few stores to look at expensive clothes neither of us was going to buy. Not having the pressure of somewhere to be or people to impress made me relax in away that really highlighted how on edge I’d been since we left Seattle.

Here, it just felt like we were two girls out shopping, but after a few hours I started to wilt.

‘I need to stop,’ I groaned. ‘My feet are killing me.’

‘We haven’t even walked that far!’

‘I know, but they still hurt. Coffee?’

‘Fine,’ Brooke said with a laugh. ‘We can get coffee.’

We only had to walk another block to find a Starbucks, and Brooke went to the counter to order for us both while I found a spot at a long, shared table. Someone had left a newspaper behind, so I pulled it over and scanned the headlines.

It was clearly a slow news day.

‘Here,’ Brooke said, holding out an iced caramel latte. ‘Don’t say I never get you anything.’

I usually drank my coffee hot, but as soon as I took a sip, I decided I’d been converted.

‘Thank you,’ I said emphatically.

Apparently my taste in coffee was the latest thing I’d learned about myself. Brooke took a seat opposite me and gently shook her cup, the ice clacking against itself, and I felt myself smile.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Nothing.’

Brooke was just so stupidly perfect, and I couldn’t quite believe that we were sitting together in Starbucks like it was nothing. This would never have happened in Seattle. I wouldn’t have ever been able to work up the courage toask her out for coffee, and even though this wasn’t adate, it felt like one. Almost. I smiled at her again and she laughed this time.

‘You’re so goofy, Mouse,’ she mumbled, ducking her head like she was embarrassed.

Like, maybe, she was flirting with me …

I let that thought wrap around me like a warm balm, and I was about to try flirting back to see how it would be received, when I spotted the blonde woman out of the corner of my eye and a switch flipped. I immediately went on high alert.

She’d done something different with her hair, and I forced myself to glance her way a few times rather than staring, in case that made her notice me. Instead of wearing her distinctive hair long and loose, she’d pulled it into a sleek bun and was wearing a blazer over skinny jeans and heels. But I’d recognize her however she dressed, even after only seeing her once through the distortion of a motel peephole.

‘Mouse?’ Brooke asked, clearly sensing something was up.

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