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“Yeah, and neither does anybody else,” I say under my breath, but Todd hears.
“What’s a few lost friends?” Todd shrugs and looks at me through the rearview mirror, his hazel eyes full of excitement. I get the sense this might be the agent’s first solo case. “Let’s go over your story one more time now that you’re awake.”
“Do we have to?”
“You’re Clarissa now. Not Shauna. You’ve moved to Aura Creek to start over. You’re hoping to make this place your new home.”
That’s not vague at all,I think as Marshal Todd merges through traffic, humming off-key to some tune I’ve never heard.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” Todd continues.
I watch him turn the stereo dial down, and I wince. We’ve only been driving a couple of hours, but it’s enough time to realize that the captain of this jalopy I’m stuck in likes to turn around while giving speeches.
He stares back at me with his right arm resting against the empty front seat.
“I’m stuck like this forever,” he continues. “Doomed to be someone else until I die of old age. But that’s not true.” Marshal Todd taps his temple, and I grit my teeth in a smile as he continues. “Don’t think with this.” He taps his chest, then his temple again. “Think with this. It’s only until the trial.”
“Outstanding,” I reply, knowing my old life as a baker for a mob-ran donut shop is over.
Why did the Holy Rollers have to use BakeTastries to launder their money, then blame me when the delicious products I craft enchanted the authorities? Once the men and women in blue started showing up, my days were numbered.
“There ya go,” Marshal Todd replies, then finally turns his clicking turn signal off. “Just look at this like the adventure you never wanted, the experience you hoped would never come. But it has. Now. Does that make sense?”
I don’t want Marshal Todd to think I’m ungrateful for all his help. The agent took it upon himself to help me pack what little effects I planned on taking with me to Aura Creek. Only well-meaning people do that. I just wish Marshal Todd was as perceptive as he is earnest.
It might not be a modern thing to say, but a woman in danger likes the man assisting her to have a certain degree of… competence. Proficiency, maybe, or masculinity. Though Marshal Todd is certainly all man, and his frequent man-splaining proves it, he doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
And not without cause, though I generally try to hold my tongue. I don’t want to tell him he broke my suitcase when he sat on it trying to get the thing closed. It’s not like I’m in love with my luggage, but I was in love with my job.
Now, I’m going to have to start over and on a foundation of lies. My best bet is to lay low and meet no one, talk to no one. Though I am pretty sure the Holy Rollers are not wise to the fact that I survived their ridiculous hit, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I close my eyes and lean my back against the headrest as Marshal Todd veers across three lanes to the exit.
“Aura Creek, here we come,” he says for the third time.
I hear the crumpling of candy wrappers and know he’s digging back into his road snacks. I’d turned them down earlier, though now I wish I’d taken him up on a handful of gummy worms. I could use something to chew rather than my lips.
“The people here are friendly,” Marshal Todd offers, gesturing to the quaint little beach town I’ll be calling home. “Just remember that as you wave to them from afar and not much else. Have you been practicing your waves?”
I wave with my broken fingers and wrist. Marshal Todd slaps his thigh and smirks as we turn down a narrow but well-maintained road. It’s the type of single-lane strip that forces neighbors to wait for one another as they pass in each direction.
“Just act natural, Clarissa, and you’ll be alright,” Marshal Todd says as a large black car comes at us head-on.
Todd pulls to the side and waves big with one hand while pushing my head down with the other.
“That’s playing it non-existent,” I reply as his sticky hands touch the top of my trimmed brown hair. I miss my long locks but not as much as I miss being treated like an adult.
We both wave out the window despite the backseat’s tinted glass. The elderly couple in the car wave back, and Marshal Todd grins wide at them.
“Top of the morning!” he calls as they crawl by, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
The couple says something I don’t even think Marshal Todd catches, and I wonder if the agent might be more nervous than I am. What if I don’t like Aura Creek? What if Aura Creek doesn’t like me?
“Damn, damn, damn.” Marshal Todd shakes his head as we continue down the road, apparently kicking himself for something, though I don’t know what.
“What is it?”
I look behind me in a panic, half expecting to see Hudson, Reginald, and Greta on our tail. Instead, I see nothing but the rural outskirts of town, the scenery occasionally flecked with a cozy house or two.
