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“Thanks so much,” I said. I started to drive forward and unmuted the call. “I’m back. You scared the nice In-N-Out employee.”
“Darcy never agreed to your meat ban, Deeds,” Katy pointed out, as ever the reasonable one. “You’re the one who chose to date a vegan.”
“All I promised was not to eat meat in front of you,” I reminded her. “Plus, how do you know I didn’t order a grilled cheese?”
“Did you?”
“Of course not.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Katy laughed. “Also—don’t give Darcy grief about In-N-Out. You know it’s not as available to her.”
“Thank you.”
“So,” Didi said in what, since seventh grade, had been her getting-down-to-business voice. “How are you feeling?”
“Excited. Nervous?” I glanced in the rearview mirror and played with my bangs—they were maybe a smidge too long.
“Of course you’re nervous,” Katy said. “But you’ve got this. You’ll call us the whole time, right?”
“She’s not going to Nevada to talk to us,” Didi admonished. “But that being said, we do want updates.”
“Yes,” Katy said, and I could tell that she was smiling. “Have fun! Be safe!”
I felt my cheeks get hot. “Katy. Stop.”
“What?”
The car in front of me drove forward, and I saw I’d gotten three texts while we’d been talking. “I promise I’ll drive carefully, and I’ll call when I can.”
“And let us know when you’re back,” Didi said. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Of course,” I said, pulling up to the first window. “Gotta go—I’m paying.”
“Later,” Didi said.
“Byeeee!” Katy practically yelled into the phone.
“Hi, that’ll be eight sixty-five,” the girl behind the window said as I reached her. I rifled through my wallet, and handed her a twenty. She dropped it into the register, then gave me a smile as she handed me back my change. “That’s eleven thirty-five,” she said, dropping the coins in my palm. I could hear, faintly, the In-N-Out soundtrack—Mariah Carey fading out, Kelly Clarkson starting up.
“Thanks a lot,” I said as I dropped the change into my cupholder.
“Please pull forward to the next window,” she said. I gave her a nod, but before I drove away she smiled and added, “And happy holidays!”
CHAPTER 17 Monday
9:45 A.M.
I held my hair back from where the wind was blowing it around, and looked across the car at Russell.
“I know,” he said into the phone. It was on the console between us, on speaker, since Bluetooth hadn’t even been thought of when this car was built. “I know, Dad. But—”
“I did not give you permission to drive my car to California,” Wylie huffed. “I barely like to take it to the casino! And I have my own parking spot there.”
“I’ve seen it,” Russell assured him. He had waited to call Wylie until we’d been driving on the highway for about ten minutes. When I’d first proposed a road trip—using someone else’s vehicle—it had only taken Russell a beat to process the change of plans before he grinned and told me he was in. I had wanted him to call his dad then and there, in the parking lot of the bus station, to make sure it was okay.
But Russell had shot this down. “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission,” he’d said. But now, listening to what had been a mostly one-sided conversation with a very displeased Wylie, I wasn’t so sure.
Russell looked over at me and I mouthed, Sorry. He shook his head and mouthed, It’s fine, then rolled his eyes.
