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“Dad is out fishing with Bobby John. You’ll have to call someone else.”
“I don’t have anyone else to call,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I told you not to alienate yourself when you got back to town. People need people, Madison, and I think this proves that—”
“Can you call someone for me?”
“I don’t know of anyone who’s willing to drive to the city to help you. Do you have Triple A?”
“I had to cancel a lot of things when I left Austin, but I’m not in the city. I’m parked at the old gas station on Highway Twenty-nine just past the lake.”
“What in the world are you doing out there? You’re supposed to be in the city.” For the first time since I told her what was going on, there’s real fear in her voice.
“I left the city. I’m coming home.”
“I’ll find someone, Madison. Don’t talk to strangers.”
The line goes dead, and I huff in frustration. I’m able to sit for a few minutes longer with the door open before the heat is just unbearable. I grab my fountain drink from the console and head away from the car to find a little shade.
“Tell me they were just awful and you’re not moving,” Adalynn says instead of a hello when I call her.
“They’re awful and I’m not moving,” I say, a smile pulling up the corners of my mouth as I sit down on the picnic table under the store’s awning.
I remember my dad bringing me here to get saltwater taffy the owner had shipped in from a place in Galveston. It’s almost as good as the freeze-dried Skittles I tried at the bakery once Adalynn finally got it up and running.
I pull the phone away from my face while she squeals in delight.
“Is it bad that I spent the entire night hoping it would go that way?”
“I figured you did, but I also know that you woke up feeling guilty about it, too.”
Her laughter tells me I’m right.
“I donated a hundred dollars to the animal shelter to ease my conscience.”
Silence fills the line. I know I should probably tell her I’ll talk to her later to conserve my battery juice, but I also don’t want to be alone. I’ve spent too much time alone the last couple of years.
I open my mouth to ask if she wants a roommate, and if she would consider a platonic but legal binding marriage to me so we could adopt kids, but she interrupts that thought.
“Chase came by earlier today with the boys.”
“Did you have their favorite cupcakes?”
“Cole was drooling over the last cookies and cream.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from speaking. Her comment makes me think of kissing that very same flavor off of Chase’s mouth when we snuck down for a sweet treat one night after we caught our breaths from a very enthusiastic roll around my bedroom at the Graves Estate.
“You know I had to set him straight,” she continues. “The nerve of him to think you sold him out to that vlogger.”
“What?”
“Can you believe that? Like what happened to him in the city? That he’d think you were anything like those women he must’ve been around up there?”
Pain slashes at me.
“You’re better off without him as far as I’m concerned.”
“You may be right,” I whisper.
