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“Nah. I’m good. I won’t be in there long.”
Thankfully, neither follow as they have the last two times I’ve tried this.
Inside the station, I grab a basket and toss in a box of tampons, a pregnancy test, and some ginger ale. I only need two of the three items, but I’m afraid Freja will notice if there aren’t tampon wrappers in the trash at some point in time. Our cycles have always been pretty close, and her period just ended.
After I check out, I cross the street and head to the motel room. Freja is on one bed, already asleep.
“She can sleep anywhere,” I say with a small laugh, kicking off my shoes.
Flynn answers, “I wish I could do that.”
“Me, too.”
“I’m going to take a shower. Sleep tight, Anna.”
I wait until he’s gone to unpack the items in the sack. I leave the tampons out, just so they’re visible, and hide the pregnancy test in my bag. Opening the ginger ale, I take a long sip and try not to cry. I miss Odin so freaking much but missing him doesn’t change anything. Sighing, I put the bottle next to my bed and climb in next to Freja, closing my eyes.
* * *
The next day we hang around the motel room until it’s time to drive into the city for the Kings’ game. Flynn tries to explain the rules of hockey to us as we drive.
Freja finally says, “You do you, Flynn. I’m just here to see the pregame workouts.” To me, she says, “They’re all over my TikTok. It’s a huge BookTok thing.”
Flynn’s gaze narrows. “Freja. Please tell me you aren’t still using the phone on your mother’s phone plan.”
“I’m not, thank you very much. One of my friends hooked me up with a phone.” She holds the dated device up to prove her point.
Flynn is silent and I can feel the anger rolling off him. I get why he doesn’t want Freja to use the phone her mom gave her. They could track us that way. Either they don’t care where we are or Freja is telling the truth. I pause. Shit. Did I turn offmyphone when I dropped it in my bag at Odin’s house? I can’t remember, and I won’t be able to check until we get back to the motel. I wisely keep my mouth shut.
Parking is nuts, but we finally find a spot. It seems a lot of people are as excited as Flynn to be at the first game of the season. Our seats are terrible, but I end up having a lot of fun, even if I don’t know what’s happening most of the time. By the time we leave, everyone is all smiles and friends again.
Flynn throws his arm over Freja’s shoulder as we walk back to the truck. She’s wearing a Kings jersey for the new center. Flynn bought a hat. I didn’t get anything. I’m trying to be somewhat wise with the money I have left.
Freja says, “That game was exceptional. Now I want to see the Dallas team play.”
“Their tickets are a bit harder to get.”
“Well, I want to try when we get there. Are we leaving tonight? It’s only a three-hour drive.”
Something flashes in Flynn’s eyes but is gone so fast that I think I must have imagined it.
“I was thinking we could hang around here for a couple of nights. You know, just in case.”
Unease creeps through me. Why doesn’t he want to go to Texas? And why come to Oklahoma in the first place? It was out of the way. I saw the map in the truck. We were supposed to go through Arkansas, down into Mississippi, and then to Texas. I look out the window as I mull this over.
By the time we reach the motel, I’ve nearly worked myself into a panic attack. It’s weird that Flynn approached me at the bar, right? Not only that, but he went out of his way to get my number. Then he was able to break me out three times. It’s almost as if he has insider information. I glance at him. He’s strumming his hand on the steering wheel as he drives.
“Flynn, you never told me what you do for a living.” I grin. “You know our baggage, so it’s only fair we know yours.”
He smirks. “Not a lot to know, babe. I’m an only child and have no family. They all died when I was little.”
Alarms go off in the back of my head.
“Except for your uncle.”
“What?”
“You have no family except for the uncle who just passed.”
