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I look around Linda’s home, which is more her brother’s than hers. In all honesty, Emily, Linda, and I are a part of the fifteen percent of single women our age in this town. The typical age for getting married in Hillpike has got to be twenty-three.
“Yes. And, of course, I heard!”
“How does everybody know? I haven’t talked to Emily yet, but I’m guessing she knows.”
“She’s the one who told me.”
Fuck, of course.
“Are there pictures of me plastered around town?”
My head is dizzy, and I know I can’t leave town in Mom’s car, and I refuse to call Freddy because it’s all too much. I fucking feel like I’m going to faint, and the only person who knows I am pregnant is Flora. I will not tell Linda even though I want to.
“Do you have water?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Yes, as in there are pictures of me naked plastered around town, or yes, you have water?”
“Both.”
“Fuck! Are you serious?”
“Well, Emily had breakfast this morning with her father at “Nightingale’s,” She saw the woman come in and drop them off at the host stand. Then everything went wild because nothing really happens here in Hillpike, so… I’m sure everyone knows.”
“I need to skip town. I have to.”
I follow Linda to the kitchen as one of her Great Danes licks my exposed knee. I pet his head. He probably knows I need love.
“At least animals still love me.”
“It will take time for this town to wash its mouth clean from your drama.”
“Was Emily mad?”
Linda sighs and passes me a cold water bottle from her fridge.
“She wasn’t mad but upset that it was Freddy. Like she didn’t have much sympathy for you. That shocked me. It made me see how selfish she is, and I guess I’m different. I felt for you. My first feelings were sad and confused because I know how honest you are with us. But I get why you didn’t tell us. He is your dad’s close friend. Like, how did that happen?”
Even though I understand what Linda means by asking me this question, I don’t want to answer it. It’s weird that I have to justify seeing someone when we are both of age and aren’t related. And I bet if I were a fly on the wall during Linda’s and Emily’s conversation, Linda probably was dead silent as Emily ranted about me and my business.
My phone buzzes. I glance at it and see that it’s my mom. She wants her car back. They probably want me to hide in the garage until this all blows over. I won’t. I have no problem taking Mom’s car back home, but I have to find a way to make it to Flora’s house. I have to.
“Hey, any chance you can do me a favor?”
I’m grateful for Linda. I won’t say that I trust her, but she’s genuinely a good person. I think she lacks some fire to stand up for herself and others, but we all have shit we need to work on. Anyways, she was able to follow me back home, so I could drop the car off.
The house was dead. Like nobody was home. I wanted to text Savannah to see where they were out of curiosity. However, I’m sure they are where they go whenever we need to talk together as a family—the Hills. Dad loves to have deep family conversations up there. He says being closer to the sky is like being closer to God. I wonder if he’d think me and Freddy doing it on the thirty-third floor at the hotel in downtown Chicago made us closer to God, but I digress.
“So where to now?” Linda notices the backpack on my lap and gives me a slight frown.
“I’m not asking you to take me out of town or to any of our neighboring ones. I…this is going to sound crazy.”
I can tell by Linda’s face that she’s worried or maybe even scared of what I may suggest.
“Can you take me to the little blue shack?”
“That crazy-haired lady? Really? Why?”
