Rosie wrinkled her nose and bit her top lip. What if she fumbled and ended up dropping it all over herself? She took the container and secured it between her legs to remove the lid, then she tilted it toward him slightly so he could inspect the contents. She didn’t look inside. She’d seen the ashes of her friend’s dog when she was fifteen and had been shocked at the amount of bone fragments. Whenever they threw ashes in the movies, it was like a fine powder, and she had no idea whether the process was different for humans or not. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to investigate.
He shifted his head from side to side and even shone a Maglite into the urn. Did he think it had magical properties and was some sort of bottomless genie urn with a million-dollar stash of drugs held within?
Stop it. She bit her lip harder.
“I need to see the paperwork,” he said and put away his flashlight.
“Can I close this and put it back in the trunk?”
He shook his head. “Close it but leave it there for now. Paperwork.” He held out his hand.
Rosie replaced the lid on the urn, wondering what her mom would’ve thought of being pulled over by cops even in death. No doubt she’d make some sort of joke about it. And Rosie would’ve done the same if it wasn’t for the tangible terror filling the inside of the car. Maybe terror was an exaggeration. Shay seemed calm enough, just extremely tense and on high alert.
“The papers are in the pale blue leather tote bag in the trunk,” she said. “Would you like me to get them for you?”
“No,” he said and headed back to the rear of their car.
Rosie pulled down her visor and watched him rifling through what she assumed was her purse through the vanity mirror. He stayed there for a damn sight longer than she thought he needed to be, but when she shifted to call out to him, Shay shook her head, so she froze in place like a statue.
He slammed the trunk closed and came back around to her side of the car. “Everything appears to be in order.” He shifted slightly to peer back into the car and stare beyond Rosie at Shay, then he turned his attention back to her. “Sorry for your loss,” he said and waved them onward.
He didn’t seem like the kind of man who was ever sorry for anything, and his words were as hollow as his cold eyes. But she didn’t retort. She simply looked straight ahead.
“Is it okay to ask if you get pulled over a lot?” Rosie had waited until Shay had driven away before breaking the silence.
“More than you, for sure.”
“Good thing we didn’t get that duct tape, and you didn’t stuff me in the trunk,” Rosie said and nudged Shay’s shoulder lightly. Shay rewarded her with the smile she’d been hoping for, and sherelaxed her own shoulders a little.
“Don’t think that means we won’t try it in a safer environment,” Shay said and winked.
“Is that what it’s like for you every time?”
When Shay nodded, Rosie wanted to convey how awful that must be, but everything she thought of sounded trite and patronizing. “It was scary,” she said, though that word didn’t quite encapsulate her emotions. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must’ve been like for Shay.
“I try to think that they’re just as scared,” Shay said. “They don’t know who’s in the car, or how someone might react if they’re doing something illegal. The window could roll down, and they could be facing the business end of an AK-47.”
Rosie sighed and shook out her arms, trying to lose the steel wire that had wrapped around her entire torso during the encounter. “That’s very philosophical of you.”
“That’s the only thing I can be in those situations. Philosophical and docile as a drugged cow.”
Rosie looked down at the urn in her lap. “Would you mind pulling over so I can put this in the back again?”
Shay flicked a glance in the rearview mirror. “Sure, but let’s put some distance between us and the border.”
She stopped the car after a mile, and Rosie opened the trunk to discover all of their bags had been opened, and the contents were strewn everywhere. “Motherfucker,” she hissed.
Shay got out and shook her head when she joined Rosie at the back of the car. “Good job you didn’tpackpack.”
Rosie giggled. “Now I know exactly what I want to do with you when we get home.”Shit. “I mean, when you drop me at my place. You can come in. If you want. But you’ll probably be tired and just want to go home. To your home.”Stop rambling.She began to stuff all of her things back into her bags, and Shay did the same without responding, thankfully.
She’d need to play this way cooler to have any chance ofkeeping her love for Shay under wraps.
“You’re in love, aren’t you?” Lori shook her head, but her smile was gentle.
Rosie gave an exaggerated shrug to make sure Lori saw it on the screen. “It was inevitable, wasn’t it? You knew it, and I knew it. Shay’s a goddess. My heart would have to be made of stonenotto have fallen for her.”
“Does she know?”
