Page 57 of Run Away With Me

‘That makes sense.’

On the counter, Meredith’s incense burned out, sending a white curl of smoke to the ceiling. Brooke pulled me into a quick, hard hug. I got over my shock at the affectionategesture and tentatively wrapped my arms around her back. For a second, just a second, I rested my head on her shoulder.

Brooke’s arms tightened around my waist. ‘We’re going to make this work,’ she said confidently as she stepped back and gave me a reassuring smile.

My stomach flipped over, and I decided I could tell her how I was feeling. Well, a small part of how I was feeling.

‘Brooke, I don’t think we should stay here tonight.’

‘But you just said –’

‘I know,’ I jumped in. ‘I know. It would be good not to have to pay for a motel, but just in case someone did recognize us from last night, or if the local cops were called, or if Meredith decides to be responsible and call your parents to tell them where we are …’

Brooke sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair.

‘It might be better to be somewhere else,’ she finished for me. ‘You’re right. It’s just, you know, a nine-hour journey to get to Kansas City, and I’m getting really sick of driving through the middle of nowhere.’

‘Let’s break it down. Stop in the middle of nowhere tonight, get there tomorrow.’

‘That’s another day, though,’ she said, her voice breaking into a whine.

I shrugged. ‘I’m not in a rush, Brooke.’

‘No, I guess me neither.’

Meredith came back a few minutes later with a paper bag which she emptied out onto the counter. She’d found acouple of phones, chargers, a stack of cash and some ID cards.

‘They aren’t great,’ she said. ‘They’re old phones I never bothered to throw away. But they work, so you can use them for now.’

They were both iPhones, only one of them in a protective case, and the other with a tiny crack in one corner of the screen. They were old, but just having something to use again was going to make life easier.

‘Thank you,’ Brooke said. ‘That’s perfect.’

‘Have these, too. I don’t need them,’ Meredith said, pushing the two cards across the counter. One was her University of Denver student ID card, the other her driver’s license. In the photo, she had much longer hair, and it would take someone looking real close to realize it wasn’t Brooke. That ID put her age at twenty-one, which could help us out if we ever needed it. ‘And the cash. There’s two hundred there.’

‘Are you sure?’ Brooke asked.

Meredith waved it away. ‘It’s fine. It’s my emergency cash. Call it a birthday present or whatever.’

Brooke pulled her into a hug, and Meredith rolled her eyes and patted Brooke’s back, and said, ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m not giving you weed, though.’

‘Ugh.’ Brooke pulled out of the hug. ‘I don’t smoke.’

‘Good for you. Don’t start. You wanna hang around for a while?’

Brooke looked at me.

‘I don’t mind,’ I said with a shrug.

‘Let’s go out,’ Brooke said decisively. ‘I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you in forever.’

I personally thought it would be better to keep moving, to get out of the city before anyone started looking at us in connection with the pickpocketing at the convention last night. But Brooke had already agreed not to spend tonight with her cousin, and it was more important to me that she was happy than I eased my own paranoia.

We waited while Meredith pulled on chunky black boots and fished her keys out of another wobbly ceramic bowl-type thing.

‘How long have you lived here?’ I asked while Meredith locked the front door.

‘Three years. I’m going to have to move out in the summer, unless I enroll on an MFA or something.’

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