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“Give me five minutes to grab a coffee, then we’ll go,” I say to nobody in particular.
“Okay. Did you sleep much?” Katie asks.
We’re alone in the room, so I smile at her.
“After listening to you get yourself off, you mean?” Her face flames. “I got a few hours. Did you?”
She gives me a stiff nod.
“I’ll be outside.”
She stalks outside, grabbing Darcy by the hand. Darcy narrows her eyes at me, but follows her. I shake my head and peek into the bathroom, where I can hear Lily. She’s crouched over the toilet bowl, groaning.
She looks up at me and mumbles something about putting her out of her misery, then hurls into the bowl. I wince and back out, because this is not my area of expertise. I grab my things and walk outside. Katie and Darcy look up. I wink at them.
“Think Lily needs your help.
They both rush inside, while I check my phone, ignoring the handful of responses to that fucking ad, which reminds me about the missed call I had from Julian earlier. I wander away from the room and call him back.
“Hey.” He sounds relieved to hear from me. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I say. “I’m nearly halfway. I’ll be back in time for sure.”
“Great.” He sounds relieved. “How’s your mom?”
“She’s okay,” I murmur, guilt ripping through me. “Listen, if you need me for anything urgent text or email me. I’m having phone issues.” I pause. “Alberto hasn’t said anything about me?”
He hasn’t tried calling me at all, which I have to admit, worries me.
“Not a thing.”“Adam.”
My head shoots up. Darcy waves frantically at me, while Katie helps Lily into the car. The last thing I need is him recognizing her voice. Or worse, Lily’s. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.
“Hey, I gotta go,” I mumble to Julian.
I shove my phone in my pocket, then stalk over to her.
“Are we going?” she asks impatiently.I glance longingly back at the gas station, where I’d been planning on getting my coffee. Then I sigh.
“Sure.”“Oh God. I think I’m gonna be sick.”
I glance nervously in the mirror at Lily. She’s hunched forward, moaning softly. I swerve to make the turn off for the gas station we’re passing and pull up in front of the restrooms. She stumbles out and races inside. I shake my head.
At least she had the decency to time it well.
I park the car properly and glance at Katie, then at Darcy. Both are too focused on their phones to notice me. I’m not even sure they realize we’ve stopped, or that Lily isn’t in the car.
“I thought girls were incapable of going to the bathroom alone.”
“When there’s actual bodily fluids involved, I draw the line.” Darcy looks up and smirks at me.
“And you?” I say to Katie. “Do you draw the line at bodily fluids, too?”
She glowers at me, then gets out of the car and stalks inside. I chuckle, while Darcy eyes me curiously.
“What?” I frown.
“Nothing.” She shakes her head, amused.
Katie walks out and gets back in the car. “She’s fine. She’ll be a minute.”
Ten minutes later, and there’s still no Lily.
Katie looks at Darcy, who frowns back at her.
“What?” she says. “She’s your cousin.”
“So? I went last time.”
They stare each other off for a moment, until Darcy caves. She grumbles to herself as she gets out of the car and storms toward the restrooms. Katie leans her head against the door while we wait, probably to avoid looking at me. But I’m not letting her off that easy.
“You’re awfully quiet,” I comment.
“Not much to talk about.” She shrugs.
“I was going to ask you something, but I can’t put my finger on it. What?” I add, when she glares at me.
She opens her mouth, but she’s interrupted by Darcy, who is running at the car, yelling.
“She’s gone,” she pants when she reaches us.
“Are you sure?” I demand.
“Maybe she’s getting a drink?” Katie offers.
Darcy shakes her head.
“Go check for yourself. I looked everywhere. She’s fucking done it again.”We search right through the small gas station, but there’s no sign of her. I sit down at a table and look outside. There I sigh, defeated. This is a complication I don’t need. Where the hell did she go, anyway? Katie sits down too, looking deflated.
“What now?”
“We’re going back to Vegas,” I say simply.
There’s no other option. Damn Lily for being so selfish.
“There’s an airport in Twin Falls. Would she fly?” Darcy asks, looking up from her phone.
God, I hope not.
Katie glances at me.
“It’s possible, I guess,” I mutter. “Or train. Bus. Uber …”
Maybe I should at least try and fly back.
I shake my head, dismissing the idea immediately. It’s a good idea—for anyone other than me. No matter how hard I tried, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to get on that plane. All it would achieve is wasting time. I feel sick at the thought of someone else flying. How would I be if it were me getting on the plane?
