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Back in the car, I cranked the engine and ran the heater while I sorted out my next step. Eyeing the gas needle, I pulled my phone back out then cursed to myself. The only gas station in this town that took the ridiculous prepaid gas cards Lauren insisted we use—instead of reimbursing us like a normal company—closed over an hour ago. I should have paid closer attention to how much gas I had left before I got off the interstate.
There was no way I was going to make it to Hawks Creek. Honestly, I was kidding myself pretending I could afford to rent a room anywhere. My bank account had exactly seventeen dollars and eighty-five cents in it, and both of my credit cards were within ten dollars of being maxed out.
The pay at HypeKey wasn’t the greatest, but I got to travel, writing fluffy gossip articles was relatively easy, and they offered one of the few insurance plans my oncologist accepted. Dr. York and I had been together since I moved to New York, and I couldn’t bear the thought of starting over with a new doctor.
Sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Washington Heights with five other girls was worth it. Even dealing with Lauren was worth it, because once I got my travel arrangements sorted out, I got to visit lots of amazing places and meet interesting people. I always managed to eke out time on my assignments to indulge in sightseeing and photography. My passport was full of stamps and my cloud was full of breathtaking photos. Travel was the part of my job that spoke to my soul.
Sleeping in a bunk bed at twenty-four didn’t seem so terrible if you weren’t home half the time.
The bright red numbers at the bottom of my phone’s screen cursed at me, reminding me of the missed calls and texts from Josh’s mom. She always reached out to me this time of year, but I couldn’t deal with the walk down memory lane right now. I thumbed through the rest of my messages instead.
Ward: u make it in one piece? Didn’t get the all-clear text. I saw on the news there was a nasty accident on the turnpike.
Leave it to Ward to still be up this late. His husband was an anesthesiologist and Ward was a light sleeper, so he got woken up half the nights Mike was on call.
Sadie: Here in one piece but still working out where I’m going to sleep tonight.
My phone rang a millisecond after I hit the send button.
“What the fuck did Lauren do this time?” he asked before I could even say hello.
After I explained the whole situation, he sighed into the phone. “It’s insane Eirin hasn’t fired her yet, even if she is her cousin.”
“Never gonna happen. Remember that hostel in Bucharest she put me up in? I was shocked I didn’t wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney before I was done there. If that didn’t get her fired, this won’t even be a blip on Eirin’s radar.”
“What do you need me to do?” he asked. “Send you some money?”
“No. You can’t be bailing me out all the time.” It was reassuring to know Ward was there if I needed help, but I was usually too proud to accept it unless it was absolutely necessary. “I’ll find somewhere to park where I won’t get a ticket and sleep in the car tonight. Lauren can deal with getting a refund and booking me a new place to stay when she’s back in the office in the morning.”
“I hate this plan. But I also know that tone and you’re not going to listen to anything else I have to say, are you?”
“Nope. I don’t need you to fix it. I just needed to bitch about it a little.” I’d survived a hell of a lot in life. One night of sleeping in a car wasn’t going to do me in.
“Ugh. Fine. Some of Mike’s camping gear from when he went on his boys’ weekend with his old undergrad friends might still be in the back. Maybe there’s a sleeping bag in there.”
“Oh my god, why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Um, because I think sleeping in the car is a terrible idea.”
“I’m not sleeping in the car. I’m camping.”
“In the middle of bumfuck nowhere Michigan by yourself? No ma’am, you are not.”
“Not the middle of nowhere. I know exactly where I’m going.”
Lauren paid for a place for me to stay. If that handsome jerk didn’t want me inside his house, the least he could do was supply my campsite for the night.
