Page 58 of North

Oh, the simple cross she wore. “Yes, I’m a believer.”

“Then you know you can be safe even when the world is in chaos around you.”

True. “Thank you for your hospitality. How should I pay you?”

“Your friend took care of it.” She got up, then glanced out the window. Her mouth opened. “Oh my. Well, I guess it’s better than an ATV.”

Selah turned and stilled as a Winnebago stopped in the driveway. James got out of the driver’s door.

“What? Where did he⁠—”

“There’s an auto shop down the street. Perhaps he found it there? They sometimes put abandoned cars up for sale.”

But an RV?

Selah went upstairs to get her backpack, and when she returned, James stood in the front hall.

Although the drizzle had dampened his dark hair, he wore clean clothing too, so maybe he’d been the one to put her clothes in the dryer. She didn’t know how she felt about that, but she met his smile with one of her own. “Morning.”

“I found us some wheels.”

“I saw that. It might be a little overkill.”

“I got a deal. Thanks, Josephine.” He held the woman’s hand, then leaned down and kissed her leathery cheek. “You’ve been a shelter in a storm. Literally.”

She laughed and stepped away. “Nice to meet you both.”

Selah gave her a hug and walked out to the RV with James. “My parents had one of these when we were kids.”

“Mine too,” he said, and she glanced at him.

He seemed almost provincial, as if he might not be so different from her.

She climbed up into the passenger seat. Tweed, and it turned on its axis to face the back. The RV’s interior was vinyl, of course—beige walls with hints of turquoise, plaid curtains, an old refrigerator. The table looked resurfaced. A curtain was pulled across the entrance to the back bedroom.

“Can you pull up the coordinates from your phone?” James was turning around in the driveway.

She shook her head. “My phone doesn’t have any signal. I don’t know why…”

“Okay, well, I sort of remember, and once we get to town, we can ask around.” He pushed in a cassette tape that had slipped out of the player, and just like that, John Denver’s smooth, easy tones filled the cabin.

Rain pattered on the windshield, and he turned the wipers on as he pulled out onto the gravel road. “Reminds me of too many road trips I took as a kid with my dad.”

She glanced over at him. He easily maneuvered the RV.

“Where did you grow up?”

He glanced at her, back at the road. “Kansas.”

Huh. Certainly someone from Kansas couldn’t be…well, whatever name she’d attached after his strange behavior last night. Thief? Spy? Villain? Probably she gave people the benefit of the doubt too much.

“How’d you go from Kansas to big-city mergers and acquisitions?”

He laughed. “Oh, that’s a long story.”

“We have time.”

He glanced at her, then shook his head. “Boring, really. Business school. Then I worked for an international company. Left abruptly and sort of had to strike out on my own.”