Page 73 of Stand

“Nah. Matt must have gotten it from our mom.”

Sam slowed. Alyssa frowned at her. “Lyss,” Sam said. “I haven’t asked you about your mom on this trip. I didn’t want to upset you.”

“I know.” The girl looked as though Sam was stating the wildly obvious.

“Right. Well, I just wanted you to know that I do want to talk if you need to. Your dad talked about being there for you, and I want you to know that—” She glanced away as though she needed to keep track of Cairo, but that wasn’t why. She needed a moment before she made a commitment she’d always sworn she wasn’t the type to give. “I’ll always be on the end of the phone if you need me.”

“I know,” Alyssa said again, as though she’d always known she could rely on Sam, even if Sam didn’t. “And I know you’re telling me this because you don’t want to talk about your dad. That’s okay too.”

And then the rotten kid hugged her from the side, and Sam wanted to cry all over again.

♦

They helped until the road was clear and the sun touched the endless horizon. Townspeople who hadn’t lost power brought over huge pans of lasagna, and everyone ate, sitting on a cleared piece of grass. Everyone was chatting and laughing, grateful that the town had taken only a glancing blow. They told Sam that a second crew had gone with heavy machinery to help clean up the trailer park, and those who had power were housing those who’d lost their homes. The sense of community was overwhelming.

“You guys have a place to stay?” Clive, who’d come and gone several times over the afternoon, asked. Alyssa and Matt had gone back for more dessert, and Cairo was finishing up his own bowl of hamburger. “You’re welcome to come back to the farm for the night.”

“We appreciate it,” Ty said. “We’re going to keep on moving. We can get a few hours of driving in before we have to turn in.”

“If you’re sure.” Clive looked troubled. “You’ve been working hard. Don’t drive tired.”

“We won’t,” Sam said. “Ty wouldn’t allow it.”

“You two make a good team,” Clive said. “If you don’t mind my saying so, it sounds like those kids have been through some stuff. They’re lucky to have you for a stepmother.”

“I—” Sam said. “Thanks.”

She wasn’t going to tell Clive the truth. It would take too much explanation. And Ty might think she was pulling away from him and his family.

Not that she shouldn’t be doing that immediately. How could she lean into this warm comfort, this—dare she say—safety she felt around him? That wasn’t how the world worked. Not for Sam anyway.

“We should get moving,” Ty said, and they shook hands with or hugged everyone in sight, gathered up the kids and Cairo, and walked back to Sam’s car.

They talked about where they’d stay as Ty drove out of town, and Sam pulled out the map. “You know, it’s only eight hours to Taos from here.”

Ty looked over at her before turning his attention back to the road. She couldn’t read his expression. “You want to drive through?”

Sam bit her lip. She wanted to give this family to Noah. She wanted to start missing them, because it was going to hurt like fuck, and she wanted to rip off the Band-Aid quickly. She wanted to leave Ty in Taos and dream about him for a while before getting back to her normal life. Because that was the only way this could end.

“If you’re up for it,” she said. “We’ll swap the driving every two hours. I’ve done it before.” Though not since college.

Ty drove along the dead flat road. The sun was blazing as it set under the clouds to their left. He looked at it, then over to Sam’s right, as though scanning the horizon for danger. Or saying goodbye.

“Sure,” he said. “Kids, you okay with sleeping in the car? We’ll take a couple of pit stops and be with Noah by morning.”

Sam looked around. Both children had dark eyes—Matt’s black eye notwithstanding—and pale faces. They were done.

“That’s fine by me,” Alyssa said and leaned her head against a hoodie she’d positioned at the window as a pillow.

“Sure,” Matt said, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back on its rest. “Don’t crash and kill us all,” he added as if he barely cared if they did.

So they drove. The sky went from orange to purple to black. There were no streetlights, no looming hills, no nothing. Just them and the car’s lights, picking through the high plains like ants on a bedsheet.

Ty’s phone began pinging like crazy, so he and Sam swapped driving, then he listened to voicemail after voicemail. His face darkened.

“What is it?” Sam said.

“Not a problem,” he said, though he sure the hell looked like it was. He called Noah and told him they’d be there in the morning instead of the afternoon. Noah’s enthusiasm was loud enough for Sam to hear it, and she had to laugh. But as soon as Ty hung up, his face fell back into lines of worry.

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