AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let’s go back to the inn,” Miranda says. I nod dumbly at her, but I’m not listening to what she’s saying. I’m looking at Mr. Cowboy boots and his blue eyes and his tanned skin, and his impossibly white, slightly crooked two front teeth. She puts her arm around my shoulder. “We’ll get some sleep and get your car back and then get the fuck out of here. We’ll just pretend this town never happened, okay? Remember the plan?”
I shake my head. Of course I remember the plan. The plan is to get the hell out of Salt Gap, Texas as fast as possible and never look back on this town, this tiny blip of a mistake in our lives.
But now I kind of don’t want to leave town anymore.
Chapter 10
It’s day two of waking up in Salt Gap, Texas and I already have a morning routine.
Shower first so Miranda doesn’t use all the hot water.
Yank open the drapes and proclaim what an amazing morning it is while taking in all the beauty and wonder that nature provides.
Small talk with Sherry in the inn’s foyer; answer all of her real estate questions and politely avoid her talks about politics.
Head to the diner for breakfast.
Think about that hot cowboy.
It’s a pretty good routine. Marcus’ father left a message for me with Sherry, saying my car parts are in and they are working hard at the body shop, but it may be another day before my car is ready. I left him a reply message, on an actual memo sheet of paper, saying to take their time because I’m in no hurry to leave.
Miranda doesn’t exactly feel the same way. “Think we really could go to Hollywood?” she asks as we make our morning walk down to the diner. “I guess,” I say, kicking an acorn a few feet up the road and trying to keep up with it on our whole walk. “California is expensive. And I hear there are drugs everywhere.”
She snorts. “That’s not why I want to go. I have never been out of Texas. Eighteen years and stuck in the same big ass state my whole life. I just want to see somewhere new.”
“Yeah well we can drive a few more hours and be in New Mexico. That’s another state.”
“That state is stupid. What is it famous for?” My acorn bounces a few feet ahead of us, stopping at Miranda’s feet and she kicks it back to me. Her hair is in a ponytail today. With the back of her hair pulled up, it’s obvious that the bleached blond streak in the back hasn’t been touched up in a few months. Her roots are two inches long.
“Where exactly are we going?” I ask. An old man in a Ford truck barrels down the road, waving at us as he passes. I wave back. “We don’t have a plan, and our original plan of not having a plan hasn’t exactly worked out for us.”
“I don’t care. As long as I don’t have to go home.”
“You have to go home eventually. What about school?”
Miranda’s left thumbnail goes directly to her mouth. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Don’t know what?” I ask cautiously.
She shakes her head. “You work with my mom every day. Does she not talk about me at all?”
“She talks about you all the time,” I say in a cheerful tone, trying to get the glum look off her face. “She told me about your prom dress and NHS and everything. She tells everyone, actually. Anyone who will listen.”
“NHS?” Miranda finds an acorn of her own and kicks it. “What the hell is that?”
I give her an incredulous glance, but she doesn’t look like she’s pulling a massive joke on me. “National Honor Society. You’re a member.”
Miranda laughs, a deep belly-bellowing laugh. “Holy shit that’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s so funny?”
She takes a deep breath to quell her laughter and wipes a tear from her eye. “I dropped out of school last semester. I was failing almost everything.”
I stop dead in the road. “What?”
Miranda shrugs. “I can’t believe Mom told you that. She is so delusional.”
“Did you go to prom? Were you nominated for Prom Queen?”
