Of all the stupid things.
Beth looked out the cab’s back window. “There’s a car coming,” she said, her voice strained. “Maybe it’s someone who can help.”
Panic jolted through Claire at the flash of red in the rearview mirror. It could be a good Samaritan... or it could be Pete and Iris Henshaw.
chapter 31:FRANNIE
Paul pumped the brakes. “Hey, what’s that?”
Frannie ignored him and kept singing at the top of her lungs. They had turned up highway 191 and blew past the turnoff to Claire’s house. Frannie hadn’t felt a bit bad about not stopping to say hello to her sister. This night was going to be abso-poso-lutely perfect. Friends, fun, and no sisters to answer to.
Paul dialed down the volume of the radio and slowed the convertible. “Somebody’s having car trouble.”
“Aw, don’t,” Sam complained. “Let some other Goody Two-shoes help them.”
Paul pulled onto the shoulder and stopped the car.
Frannie took one look at the dusty blue Chevy truck and the woman getting out of the driver’s side and groaned. What terrible luck. Here she was having the time of her life and all of a sudden Claire is in the picture? This had to be God punishing her. Paul got out of the car and walked toward the truck. Frannie figured she better go with him. She climbed out and jogged to catch up.
Claire caught sight of Frannie and her eyes went all big and surprised. “Oh, Frannie,” Claire choked out, and then—of all things—shethrew her arms around Frannie and squeezed her hard. “I’ve never been so glad to see you in all my life.”
Frannie could barely breathe—it actually felt nice that Claire was glad to see her—but why was her sister out in the middle of nowhere all teary-eyed? Then, everything happened fast. Claire asked Paul for a ride and threw a suitcase and ice chest in Paul’s trunk, and she and some girl holding Jenny squeezed into the back seat with Sam and Ernie and Vicky.
“Where to?” Paul asked.
Frannie was about to tell him to turn around and take her back to the turnoff they just passed, when Claire blurted out, “Anywhere you’re going.”
“Huh?” Frannie twisted around in the seat to see her sister.
“I’ll explain later,” Claire said, turning to look behind them at the road like somebody was coming after her.
Frannie gave her sister a frown over the seat back. Something was hinky here. Was Claire running away and leaving Red? Her heart sank. And what was the story with the girl who looked kind of pale and not too steady on her feet? Just then Jenny opened her eyes and saw Frannie peering at her. She let out a squeal. “Hey.” Frannie got a warm kind of glow. “The little ankle biter remembered me.”
“This isn’t cool,” Sam complained. “Last I checked we were going camping, not starting a nursery.”
Frannie suddenly had just about enough of Sam. Claire was her sister and nobody got to complain about her except for Frannie. “You don’t have to stick around.” Frannie gave him a narrow-eyed stare.
Paul put on the brakes and looked in the rearview mirror at Sam, his expression as serious as a heart attack. “What she said.”
Sam’s face went from handsome to ugly. “Is that so?”
“Sure is,” Frannie said. If Sam was going to be like that, he could thumb it back to Canyon in the dark.
Sam pushed open the door and jerked himself out of the car. “Come on,” he said, looking at Ernie and Vicky and Jerrylynn. “We don’t need to hang out with these squares.”
There was a moment of silence and nobody moved.
Jerrylynn gave Vicky a look. “We’ll stick with Frannie and Paul.” Vicky didn’t seem happy about that, but she didn’t disagree.
“Come on, Ernie,” Sam huffed. “We don’t need these nerds.”
“Wait,” Ernie said. “Where are we going to—”
“Are you coming or not?” Sam barked. Ernie looked mulish, but slid out of the open door and slammed it behind him. Paul put the car in park and jumped out. He popped open the trunk and tossed two duffle bags on the gravel.
As they left Sam and Ernie in the dust, Frannie raised herself up on the seat and shouted back at them. “Goodbye and goo-ood riddance!”
chapter 32:CLAIRE
