Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
I grabbed a couple of the blankets. “You couldn’t have folded these?”
“In a hurry, right?”
“You have your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Still have minutes?”
“I’ve barely turned it on.”
“Good. Go get in the car,” I ordered. “I’ll lock up.”
I followed him out of the house, pausing only once to pull a family photo off the wall. Carefully, I pulled the nail out, too, and scrubbed my finger over the tiny hole to hide that it had ever been there.
We were driving down our street less than a minute later, the neighborhood passing outside our windows as if nothing was different, even though we knew everything was.
“Just let me fold these,” Saoirse bitched in the back seat.
“Why is mine in the trunk?” Ronan argued. “Why do you get yours?”
“They won’t all fit up here,” Saoirse snapped. “We already have the coolers up here. I can’t even put my feet down.”
“Didn’t think that through,” Cian said, glancing at the back seat.
“When we stop at my work we can rearrange it. Can one of the coolers fit in the trunk?”
“It’s gettin’ tight back there, but I’ll make it work.”
“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, baby brother,” I said softly, glancing over at Cian.
“Thanks,” he said with a sigh, his eyes on the road.
“Stop fidgeting, Ronan,” Saoirse ordered. “Why the hell aren’t you asleep?”
“I can’t sleep in the car,” Ronan grumbled.
“Since when?”
“Since always.”
“Bullshit.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Cian barked, turning to look at them. “Shut the fuck up already.”
“Cian,” I warned.
All of us were freaking exhausted. Aisling had slept for most of the drive so far, but the rest of the kids hadn’t. We’d been on the road all night, and it was so late that it was nearly morning. The sun was rising behind us, barely casting a shadow of my car out on the pavement in front of us.
“I’m hungry,” Ronan pouted.
“You’re not hungry,” I replied, looking at him in the mirror. “You’re tired. Close your eyes and try to sleep.”
He grumbled under his breath but listened. Saoirse pulled his pillow over and set it against her side so he could lean on her while she leaned on the door. For the millionth time since we’d started driving I checked to make sure all the doors were locked, and no one was going to fall out of them while they were sleeping.