Rosie tilted her head and drew down her dark brows. “How did you get home? I don’t see wings on your back, and I know you didn’t walk in those shoes.”
“Didn’t you hear the tractor?” I asked.
“I had my earbuds in, listening to Caylee Hammack sing ‘Small Town Hypocrite,’” Scarlett answered. “I wouldn’t have heard a freight train.”
Rosie stood up and headed for the kitchen. “I heard something and hoped that it was a snowplow so we can hang out the Open sign in the morning. I guess I didn’t get my wish. Did a tractor bring you home, then?”
I covered a yawn with my hand. “I’m sorry. I’ve slept on a couch for two nights. But back to your question: Henry needed Jackson at the workplace, so he drove a tractor from the rig and picked us up. Jacksoncarried me to the trailer so I wouldn’t have to wade in snow up to my hip. Before that, Henry cleared a path from here to the café, which means if we can get the snow off the porch steps and what’s about two feet in front of the back door of the Tumbleweed, I won’t need wading boots.”
Scarlett looked like she was about to swoon. “That is so romantic.”
“Romantic, nothing,” Rosie huffed. “Those shoes she’s wearing didn’t cost two bucks at a thrift store.”
Scarlett went over to the door and looked out the window. “You are right. We just need to clear off the porch and a little bit at the café. That was sweet of Henry to do what he did. Next time he comes into the café, his meal is free. If it wasn’t so late, I would go start cleaning this afternoon.”
I checked the microwave clock. “It’s only a few minutes after two.”
“We’ll start fresh tomorrow morning,” Rosie said. “The ham comes out of the oven in a couple of hours, so Scarlett wouldn’t get much done in that length of time.”
Scarlett glanced over at the clock on the microwave. “You are right, Rosie—and Grady is calling in fifteen minutes to FaceTime with me.”
Rosie pointed at me. “Your eyes tell me that you need a nap between now and supper. You go get a nice warm shower and get into a real bed for a couple of hours.”
No one had bossed me since Paula came into the picture. I’d hated it when she got that look in her eyes and laid down the law. But with Rosie, it was different.
One did it because she wanted to make you miserable enough to leave. She didn’t want to deal with a teenager when she had children of her own.I didn’t recognize the voice, but it sure explained a lot.
Rosie poked me on the shoulder. “How far do you think the nearest hospital or doctor is?”
“What has that got to do with me being sleepy?”
“Over fifty miles,” Scarlett answered for me.
“That’s right,” Rosie said. “That means if you fall asleep on your way to your room and fall and crack your head wide open, I’ll have tostitch it up with a sewing needle and thread. Before that, I’ll have to shave a patch of your hair away.”
A vision of my mother lying in a pool of blood flashed through my mind and sent a shiver down my spine.
“She’s not joking,” Scarlett said.
“No, I am not,” Rosie declared. “I’ll wake you up when supper is ready.”
“Thank you,” I muttered. “But why do you think I need a shower?”
“I washed all our bedding yesterday. You are not crawling in between clean sheets in a sweat suit that you’ve probably already slept in,” Rosie answered.
“Thank you, again,” I said on my way down the hall.
I stripped out of my borrowed clothing and made a mental note to wash them the next day. The warm water flowing down over my body was so relaxing that I closed my eyes. I jerked awake when my shoulder hit the shower wall to my right. I quickly turned off the water, stepped out, and wrapped a towel around my body, then rubbed the moisture off the mirror with my palm. I leaned in and stared at my reflection in the semi-fog.
“Why am I so sleepy?”
Because the adrenaline rushing through your body has bottomed out,my mother answered.
Not once in all my traveling years had a bed felt as wonderful as mine did that afternoon. Sleep came as soon as my head hit the pillow, but it wasn’t the good kind. Jackson’s dream popped into my head in color. Only this time, I was with him. Well, not really right there beside him, but standing back behind a tree so green that it seemed surreal. Unbearable heat caused me to sweat so badly that my shirt and cargo pants stuck to my skin. Jackson was alone when he tossed what looked like carpet over the razor wire, but it could have been something made specifically for that purpose.
My heart pounded so loudly, I was sure the guard patrolling around the ramshackle building would hear it. It was then that I realized something was wrong, and I stepped out from my hiding spotto yell at Jackson: “Don’t do it. Come back to me, and let’s give us a second chance.”
He didn’t hear me and barreled over the fence. The next minute, a red haze filled the area, and a gun fired bullets so rapidly that there was no time between the shots. Had that stupid guard lost his mind? There was nothing left of Jackson to shoot. In one instant, he was dead, and I would never feel his lips on mine again.
