A minute later, the T-shirt hits me in the back of my head. “I’m ready,” Henri whispers.
“Let’s go.” I switch off the lamp and head towards the door.
“We should go out the window,” Henri says.
“We’re on the second floor,” I reply, not waiting for her to argue.
“Asshole.” She follows me out the door.
As I start to sneak down the stairs, she whispers, “Why do you get to go first?”
I start seething. “Shut up until we’re outside.”
“You shut up,” she whispers, but after that, she keeps her mouth shut.
Once we’re outside, I lead her through the back gate to the alley. It takes everything in me not to start running. I’d leave Henri in the dust and that would be highly satisfying. At least that’s one thing I can do better than her.
After a few blocks, I turn to her. “If we’re gonna fight over everything, then we’re never gonna save your mom.”
Henri nods quickly. “Yeah. I thought that too.”
I rub my face. “So how’re we gonna do this? You’re the one who knows where she is.”
Henri looks around. “We gotta get to Reno first so maybe steal a car?”
“You’re kidding, right? I don’t know how to steal a car and I don’t know how to drive.”
“Well, maybe I do,” she retorts.
I’m kind of impressed by her and kind of jealous. “You do?”
She sighs. “No.”
I curl my fists and press them into my eyes, then glare at her. “Then why say it!”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t really know why I say the things I say.”
“You should go to a shrink,” I mutter, then return my attention to the problem at hand. “Do you think your gramma would drive us?”
Henri scrunches her face. “Maybe. Hard to tell with her sometimes. And she might be working.”
I think of something else. “We should head to your house anyway because what if dad already rescued your mom and she’s safe and sound at home.”
“Then why wouldn’t they call us?”
“You don’t have your phone and mine’s dead, so they couldn’t get through.”
“They could’ve called Red.”
I grab my head. “Why? Why? Why, do you have to argue all the time? You’re not always right! And besides, maybe they did call Red and he decided to tell us in the morning.”
“But we would’ve heard?—”
“Shut up, Henri. Please, just shut up!”
She gives me her ticked-off face. “Fine. Shutting up, your princeliness.”
Sagebrush is small compared to a lot of places, but it’s not that small. Henri’s shoulders sag as she’s trudges alongside me.
