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“Do you?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Because I find it curious that it hasn't made a single appearance and why you haven’t mentioned your life in D.C. one time around me.”
The leather steering wheel squeaked beneath the grip of her hands. “It hasn’t come up.”
“It’s up right now.”
“What do you want to know?” She needed that third rule locked down.
“What have you been working on recently?” Something about the way she said it made Vera feel like she was being tested. Like maybe Teddi already knew. Sweat spiked in her armpits.
“I just got out of an undercover operation and now I’m on leave.”
“How much leave do you have?”
Vera did a practiced four-count inhale. “Enough to be here for a few weeks. Is this you agreeing to all three rules?”
A glance at Teddi and she saw exactly what she feared. Curiosity. A cat locked on a field mouse in the not-so-far distance.
“I can tell when you lie, your tells are still the same.”
“I haven’t lied.” She hadn’t for that sole purpose. There was no getting away with it with her.
“You haven’t told the whole truth.”
“Holy hell. Did you and Ximena write a script for this?”
“No, but—”
“Do you agree or not?” Her patience was as thin as a thread. Reassurance, some promise—even if it was empty—was all she needed to keep her foot on the gas pedal.
Teddi leaned back in her chair. She got nothing at all and exactly what she wanted. “I agree to the first two rules. If you try to kiss me again, I’m not going to be the one to stop it.”
Vera’s brain sputtered, trying to come up with a response when just off the highway the yellows and oranges began to unfurl into a homogenous ocean of trees, blurring into a blanket as she headed northwest. She pressed a tiny bit harder on the pedal.
Vera’s face heated at the jab but she remained quiet. There was nothing to say and the job they had to do was bigger than either of them and their past. Alex deserved justice, Ximena deserved peace, and Vera… what the hell did she deserve, she wondered. Nothing good and she sure as hell didn’t deserve the way Teddi’s eyes softened when she looked at her last night. Her resolve to keep a professional distance between them doubled down.
The sky ahead looked bruised, the clouds rolling around like they were fighting over the land they drove towards. The sentiment was mutual. Flipping on the stereo, she let a pop song take up the space. Teddi backed down, Vera didn't lie, it was a tie.
They didn’t speak again until Teddi pulled out the paper directions to the only motel in Sylen, their phone GPS glitching out intermittently, as it did on their first visit.
The colors of fall fell to the wayside as they reached the bent exit sign. Forest leaves and roots rotted in front of her eyes, their verdant tones now stark black. From the lawless forest floor to the tree tops trying to tear open the sky, Sylen had swallowed it all whole and spat it out wrong.
Rolling to a stop at the bottom of the exit, the sensation of a snap of air, like a door shutting behind her, pushed against her back. Rubbing her neck, she looked at Teddi. She hadn’t seemed to notice, her brow furrowed as she stared at the directions. The skin along her scalp prickled as she looked around. Nothing but forest peered back at her. The thick, black forest that looked like night had laid down to rest on this one pocket of earth. As if someone’s sharpened nail ran down her throat, she swallowed thickly. The sensation felt personal, a hello meant for only her. The scratch felt more like a purr of wicked satisfaction than a well-meant greeting.
Adjusting in her seat, she rolled her shoulders back, forcing it down.
Taking the only left before the main road they traveled on before, a scrape of overgrown tree branches sounded on the roof of Vera’s rental SUV.
“I’m going to get charged for that,” she mumbled, trying to see around the deep curve in the road while long limbs blocked her view. “Why is this whole place overgrown? It’s like they want the town to stay hidden.”
“Maybe that’s the point,” Teddi replied noncommittally. “There.” The edge of a roof revealed itself between the trees. “Looks more like a camping lodge.”
The one-story building was coated in chipping red paint, giving it a well-worn feeling, and that was putting it kindly. The single row of outside doors each had a number while the main office jutted out in the middle of it like a thumb. The Sylen Sleeper Motel had eight rooms.
“Sounds like a serial killer, The Sylen Sleeper,” Teddi joked as her heel tapped quickly up and down.
