Page 25 of Runaway Road (Runaway 1)

She spoke of that place like she’d lived a normal, happy and blessed childhood in a junkyard. At sixteen. It wasn’t magical, but you’d think it was, looking at her face.

I shook my head. “I-I don’t even know what to say.”

“I know it seems crazy. But you have to understand, for the first time in my life, I had people who cared about me. The six of us kids and Lou, we were a family. We looked out for one another. We made sure we all had food to eat and clothes to wear.”

“What did you do for money? What about school?”

“School was forgotten. But we all worked. We put the junkyard as our address. We used each other’s names as our parents’ names. I waitressed at a pizza place.”

Waitressing was a typical job for a teenager. What had her bosses thought? Had her customers known she’d leave work to go home to a car? “I can’t wrap my head around this life.”

She laughed, the musical sound drifting out over the water. “Think of it like camping. We were a bunch of kids who camped every night of the week.”

“What did you eat?”

“Easy stuff. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Fast food if we had the money. Bananas. Canned green beans. I brought a lot of pizza back for us to share.”

“Hmm.” My mind whirled. What would that have been like? At sixteen, I’d been worried about girls and my truck. Would I have survived a runaway life at that age? Definitely not.

Londyn was one tough woman. Tougher than I ever would have guessed. She didn’t have manicured nails but she took care with her appearance. Her hair was styled. She had on makeup and though her clothes were casual, they weren’t cheap.

And she’d spent two years as a teenager living in a car.

“It’s your turn to answer the question.”

I scoffed. “Hell, I can’t compete with that.”

She laughed again, covering her lips with a hand to hide the food she’d just put in her mouth.

I grinned and took a bite, then set my fork aside. “I grew up here in Summers. Born and raised. My parents live here. My grandparents on both sides do too.”

“You’re lucky.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As a kid, I’d known I had it good. But all kids took things for granted. I hadn’t appreciated the necessities in my life like clean blankets, healthy food and nice clothes. Compared to her life, I’d lived like a king.

But that wasn’t what she was talking about, was it? She didn’t feel like she’d missed out on the material things. She knew I was lucky because I had an amazing family.

It made me feel guilty for all the shit I’d put them through.

The good thing was, we’d come out together. My dad was my best friend and my mom was a living saint.

“What happened after California?” I asked. “How’d you get from California to Boston? I’m guessing that Cadillac wasn’t in driving condition if it was in a junkyard.”

“No.” She giggled. “It was a wreck. It came later, after we all went in separate directions. My two friends, Gemma and Katherine, and I took a bus to Montana.”

“Why Montana?”

She shrugged. “Why not? We wanted to see what it was like.”

“And?” I’d always wanted to visit Montana and camp in Big Sky Country. We had the Appalachians, and they were a world of their own. Once or twice a year, I’d arrange a camping trip to get away and explore. But Montana was a bucket-list trip. “How was it?”

“Beautiful. Raw.”

I was jealous at the wonder in her voice. “How long were you there?”

“About four months. Gemma and Katherine stayed lo