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22
Bex
* * *
I could run. This is the perfect opportunity. I’ve got my handbag. I’m in a car with a full tank of gas. I don’t have to return to his house if I don’t want to. Could go join Ursula. Could even go back home. Forget about all this.
Alicia is singing along to the radio. “You ever heard of a singer called Meatloaf?” she asks. “He’s my favorite. Can you imagine being named after food, though? Like if I was called Cabbage, wouldn’t that be crazy?”
“I don’t know. My uncle was called Beet Radish the Third.”
“Was he really?”
“No, not really.”
She grins at me before frowning. “I like you. You’re funny.”
“I like you too. You look very serious all of a sudden.”
“The nannies I had before were mean. They said nasty things about Daddy. You’re nice. You can stay. I like you, and I can tell he likes you too. I can see into his heart even if he’s super grumpy in the morning.”
“Must be weird.”
“Not his real heart. I mean, even when he looks grumpy, I know he loves me. That kind of thing.”
“I get it.”
“So you can stay. He likes you. Will you stay?”
That tugs at my heartstrings. I was just thinking about running, and she’s asking me to stay.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Turn left here. We’re nearly there. It’s only a few minutes from the house to the school. I want to walk it, but Daddy says I’m not old enough yet. Did you walk to school when you were my age?”
“No, I got the bus.”
“The bus. That sounds cool.”
“It was. We ran over trolls on the way.”
She giggles. “Now I know you’re making that up.” She starts singing again. “My Daddy introduced me to Meatloaf. He loves his songs. Says he’s in a movie. The Rock Horror Show, I think, he said.
“Rocky Horror? Hunter likes that movie?”
“His favorite, but I’m apparently not old enough to see it even though I’ve asked him loads to show it to me.”
“Is it really his favorite?”
“Yeah. He loves it because it has songs in it, and he loves movies with songs in.”
“They’re called musicals.”
“Are they? I did not know that. It’s that sign there. Turn right.”
“There?”
“Yeah, just over there.”
