Page 53 of The Fire Walker
Dee
Ididn’t knowif it was the fact I was tired or on some subconscious level, I wanted to spend more time with Jessie, but I pulled over to a roadside motel later thatafternoon.
We were somewhere between St. Louis and Indianapolis, or at least, I thought we were. If we stayed one more night, then tomorrow we would reach New York in one piece. Maybe. I hadn’t looked at the map yet, which was my usual style. Don’t worry about it until the moment you get in thecar.
When I cut the engine, Jessie didn’t say a word. She just got out and stretched her arms back over her head, making her breasts stick out. Instantly, I felt my body respond and ran a hand over my face. With a sigh, I pushed open the door and went down to the office to get a room for thenight.
The room was the same as they all were. Motel entrepreneurs seemed to have this thing about floral prints from the seventies, but at least it was a decent bed for the night. It was the epitome of cheap andcheerful.
“Are you hungry?” Jessie asked. “There was a takeout place down the street. I’ll go get something if you want meto.”
“Okay.” I shrugged, setting my bag down on the end of thebed.
“Chinese?”
“Sure.” Anything to get her out of here so I could call Zoe. My best friend had it coming, and it was a conversation that didn’t need to beoverheard.
Once Jessie was gone, the door closing behind her, I pulled out my phone and switched it on. Immediately, there were several texts from Zoe and a voicemail from Simone. The voicemail I assumed was about theRolling Stonearticle. The texts from Zoe were probably asking if I was okay. Reading through them, Igroaned.
Where are you? Youokay?
You’re not dead in a ditch, areyou?
Do I have to come over there and slap yousenseless?
Heeellllllooooooo.
No mention of Jessie, but she was obviously trying to play coy. Hitting her name in my favorites list, I pressed the phone to my ear, listening to each ring while trying to decide what I was going to say. Best to come right out withit.
“So you are alive,” Zoe declared when she pickedup.
“Barely.”
“How are you doing?” She was totally tiptoeing around the thing she knew I wanted to talkabout.
“Zoe, why the fuck would you go after Jessie? Did you get hit in the head orsomething?”
She sighed dramatically. “Took you long enough, DeeDee.”
“Why?”
“Because I could see how much it was eating youup.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but you didn’t have to go and persuade her to come findme.”
“I did what I thought wasright.”
“You didn’t go there in person didyou?”
“Maybe…” she said like she was trying to hidesomething.
“Zoe!” I exclaimed, throwing my free hand into the air inexasperation.
“Dee, she wasscared.”
“She leftme.”
“I know she did a shit thing.” Her voice was short. “She was scared. I get it. I ran, too. Maybe not so dramatically, but I ran,too.”
