A fresh wave of tears welled in her eyes. “You’re just trying to force me to ask my father for help.”
Dingo didn’t deny it. He just looked at her and shrugged. “I love you enough to do this, if you want me to. So now the question is: How much doyouloveme?”
Her tears escaped. “Right now I hate you.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“Let me sleep back here with you,” she said, “and I’ll do it. I’ll meet with my father and stupid Shayla in the morning.”
Dingo sighed and looked at his barrier, wondering how to make it taller.
But she knew what he was thinking. “No wall,” she demanded. “I want your arms around me.”
“Clothes stay on,” he countered. “In fact, we both take a blanket and wrap it tightly around ourselves.” Like giant body condoms. With that, he could do this. He could survive the night.
Maybe.
Maddie rolled her eyes, which was her way of giving in.
So Dingo pushed for even more. “But before we dothat,you need to send your father a text. A real one, with a real apology, confirming that we’ll meet them tomorrow. And considering that you’re about to ask him to borrow eight thousand dollars…? Try to saysomethingnice.”
It was nearly 2200—tenP.M.—when the text came in on Pete’s phone.
“I’m so sorry. I know you’ve been worried.” Shayla read it aloud as they drove slowly through the open-all-night McDonald’s parking lot, still searching for Dingo’s maroon sedan.“But I’m safe. Dingo is honorable. None of this is his fault. We will meet you and Shayla tomorrow.”
He looked at her face, lit by his phone’s screen. “Text her back. Please. Tell herI’m glad you’re safe. Let’s meet now. We’ll come to you.”
Her fingers moved as he spoke, and his phone whooshed as she hitsend.
“What does she mean—Dingo is honorable?” he wondered. “That he’s going to marry her and help raise my grandchild?”
“I’m picking up more of aThe drugs aren’t hisvibe,” Shay said. “Along withPlease don’t kill him on sight when we meet tomorrow.”
“So she’s trying to protect him,” Pete concluded as he left the McD’s. Just across the street was a Carl’s Jr. He pulled into that parking lot. “Any response?”
“Not yet.”
He was tired of waiting, and since Maddie had finally unblocked him to send that text, he used his truck’s Bluetooth to call her phone.
But it went right to voicemail.“You’ve reached Maddie. Leave a message. Or not.”
“Maddie, it’s your dad. Call me. Please. We’ve tracked you to both Sacramento and Manzanar, and I’m worried that if we could find you, the men who hurt Dingo’s friend Daryl might be able to find you, too. We’re nearby. Please call. I just want to help. I love you.” His voice fucking cracked, and as he punched the connection, he shook his head in disgust.
Shay, however, was doing her warm-eyes thing. “We should add one more thing,” she said. “Maybe in a text? I know we don’t know how far their reach is—the$12K NOWpeople who put Daryl into the hospital…? But if thisisdrug-related, well, I’ve done research and that type of criminal activity tends to be territorial, so…Maddie’sdefinitelysafer out here.”
He glanced at her. “Writing research?”
She nodded. “Yeah, so it is what it is. Although, despite what you told Maddie, I’m pretty sure that you, me, and maybe Hiroko are the only people on the planet who might’ve guessed she would go to Manzanar from Sacramento. I seriously doubt she’s in immediate danger.”
“I agree.” He paused. “Well, sheiswith Dingo. And he’s an idiot.”
“But in Maddie’s eyes, he’s an honorable one.P.S.,” she recited the words as she typed the text. “Pleasestay put. Do NOT go to San Diego. It’s not safe. Please let us come directly to you ASAP so we can help.” She looked up. “I’ll leave outDingo sounds swell, can’t wait to meet him again,and just say,Love, Dad.”
Pete laughed. “Thanks.”
She hitsend.
Pete cleared his throat. “If you were Maddie and Dingo, where would you really be?” he asked. “Right now?”
