"Will a bus even depart today?" She wants to know with real astonishment.
"It’s not that late, so yes. One will definitely depart."
How is it possible that she doesn’t know this?
When I see the first lights of a town in the distance, Sophie straightens even more in her seat and looks out the windshield with big eyes as if she’s never seen anything like that. But I refuse to rack my brain about it any longer. After all, I will drop her off in a few minutes and then hopefully never see her again.
"We’re here," I declare needlessly after steering the pickup into the almost empty parking lot, stopping a few meters away from the ticket booth.
Sophie looks around with still widened eyes and gulps before she looks at me. Her gaze pierces me to the core, which is why I avert mine. Quickly, I reach to the right to unbuckle her before I place my hand back on the gear shift.
"Thank you," she says softly as she carefully frees herself from the seat belt.
I don’t reply to anything, but she doesn’t make any effort to get out of my car. The silence stretches for several minutes until she speaks the words I least want to hear.
"Can’t you take me with you?"
I jerk my head to the right in disbelief. She looks down again, writhing her fingers in her lap.Fuck… did she really just ask me this?
"No," I declare harshly, hoping that she finally gets out.
"Why not?"
There are so many answers to this question that my head starts spinning just thinking about it. "I can’t take you with me. End of discussion."
She surrenders and looks at the ticket booth and the few people waiting for their buses. "How much is a ticket?"
"Do you have any money?"
When she shakes her head, I sigh and reach for my wallet to pull out a few fifty-dollar bills and hold them out to her. "Here. That should be enough to get you to Timbuktu. Now get out. I don’t have all night."
The hardness in my voice makes her flinch, but she turns her head toward me and looks at the bills in my hand before lifting her gaze to my face. "I?—"
"Fucking take it," I grumble.
She flinches again, but then straightens her shoulders and takes the money. Her fingers brush mine slightly. They’re cold and shaking, but I ignore them and look ahead. Then I finally hear the sound of the passenger door opening and her getting out. She’ll be gone in a second, and I can drive back home. Not that anyone will be waiting for me there, but that doesn’t matter. It’ll be as if we never met. In three days, I’m sure I’ll have forgotten her. And that’s a good thing.
Nonetheless, I can’t repress the impulse. Before she can shut the door, I take a last look at her. "Take care of yourself, little darling."
FOUR
SOPHIE
It was foolish of me to think I could just get in the vehicle of a complete stranger and immediately be up to the life that awaits me outside. But instead of losing myself to these thoughts, I take one last look into Cole’s gray eyes and swallow hard. Then I nod and close the door.
As soon as I turn away, he drives off. I don’t turn around again. Because although he took me with him and even gave me some money, he made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want me with him.
Well, what did I expect? Did I really think I would be taken in like a stray dog? That he would take me to his home and explain this world that’s so foreign to me?
God, I’m so naive…
Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shoulders once again and then head for the tiny building with a sign over the window that saystickets. Entirely overwhelmed by the impressions crashing down on me, I crumple the bills in my hand as I look around.
A huge truck passes by on the road. People are everywhere, running around or talking to one another. It’s so loud here—quite the opposite of our garden, where there is only the soundfrom the adjoining forest. Here and there, words flash on big colored signs that are attached to the facades of houses, and I don’t even know where to look because it is allso much.
I stop and close my eyes for a moment.
They drive everywhere. You just have to think of a place you want to go to.
