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Stacy flicked her a knowing glance. “It’s not for you. Christopher,” she handed him a twenty-dollar bill, “you save this for when you need it. Colton.” She handed the seven-year-old a five-dollar bill. “You buy yourself some snacks for the road.” Her eyes rested on the baby. “You can’t have any money, sweetheart, but you get all of my love.”
Emma stooped so Stacy could kiss Carter’s cheek. He made another grab for her necklace, but Emma caught his little hand and straightened.
“All right, boys, off we go.” As she herded them toward the door, she glanced back to meet Stacy’s moist gaze. Her drunken father’s life had brought this one good person into her life, but it wasn’t Stacy’s job to provide her grown ex-stepdaughter shelter and stability. That had been Carl’s job, and he’d proven little better than Emma’s father. For the hundredth time, she berated herself for ever marrying him.
As she led her little family down the elevator and out into a hot parking lot toward her derelict car, Emma vowed she would never rely on anyone ever again. Carl had saved her from foster care, only to trap her into the same vicious cycle of addiction she had endured right into her teens. She could raise her sons by herself and do a darn good job of it. But first, she had to find somewhere to stay. Amos McLeod’s parting offer was her last resort.
With a long road trip before them, Emma buckled the baby and Colton into their respective seats in the back. Slipping into the front next to Christopher, she prayed for her car to make it as she took Amos’s check out of her purse and then handed it to Christopher, along with her functioning cell phone.
“Okay, navigator, plug this address into Google Maps and tell me which way to go.”
Her ten-year-old’s dark-blue eyes widened. Unlike her younger sons, he’d inherited a head of ash-brown hair that was currently in need of a trim. “I’ve never done that before.”
“It’s easy.” She adjusted the A/C, which was blowing hot air, and twisted in her seat to see out the back window. “Just open the app and start typing where it reads,Search Maps.” She backed them out of their parking spot.
“Do I put his name in?”
“Nope, just the address.” Regret bit down on her as she started them forward. Was she forcing Chris to grow up too fast? As she accelerated, she could hear a sputtering in the engine that told her she needed new spark plugs. No money for that. She pulled away from the assisted-living facility and headed toward the highway.
“Got it.” Chris showed her the blue line plotting their course. “It says nine hours and eighteen minutes to go.”
With Colton as squirmy as a worm in hot ashes, the trip would take closer to twelve hours. “Thank you.” Emma took the phone and placed it in the cupholder where she could see it. Following the auditory prompt, she turned right toward I-20 West.
Aware that Chris was studying the numbers on the check, she plucked it out of his hand and shoved it into her purse.
Her son regarded her profile in silence. “Why don’t we use that check to buy a new car?”
The question prompted a humorless laugh out of her. “’Cause it’s not our money, that’s why. Money is something you have to earn, Christopher. You can’t just take it from someone or it’s stealing.”
“I think he meant it as a gift.”
It was impossible to get angry at the gentle observation. “Well, let’s just make sure of that first.”
Colton piped up from the back seat. “How much longer? I’m hungry.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “You’re not hungry. You just want to spend the money Grandma Stacy gave you. Mercy, Colton, you’ve only had it for ten minutes. You don’t have to spend it right away.”
“But I’m hungry.”
“We’ll stop in one hour and no sooner.” Emma sighed as she accelerated onto the ramp for the highway. At this rate, they might never make it to Virginia.
* * *
With Olivia and Simon directly in front of her, Grace escorted them to the height of the wooden tower leading to the Raging Mountain. This was the first year Olivia met the height requirement for the giant water slide. Simon, who was taller than Olivia, had begged Grace to take them on it. In the past, she would have refused out of fear, but she’d taken stock of the twisting chute and decided it posed no more of a challenge than steering a houseboat over open water.
The higher they climbed, the more the sun warmed the tops of her head and shoulders. The tower took them just above the adjacent trees, allowing her to see across the park to the attraction called Flow-Rider. There she glimpsed Grayson and Cameron, who’d squeezed into her car so they could all go to the water park together. Both preteens were balancing on surfboards atop an endless wave. Good for them.
Drawing a breath of chlorine-scented air, Grace lifted her eyes to the horizon and realized she could see the ocean. Peering in the direction of Dam Neck Naval Base, she imagined Amos preparing for his upcoming trip to Colombia. It struck her as odd that he would only be gone for the weekend. Just how much training could he possibly accomplish in forty-eight hours, give or take?
As her gaze swung southward, she envisioned herself on a plane, flying toward the equator, and her heart leaped with excitement. She would see Mateo, in person, in just a few days.
“My daddy died. Do you have a daddy?”
Olivia’s question for Simon wrested Grace’s attention to the children waiting on the step directly in front of her. Both stood in their bathing suits, their hair drying in the hot breeze.
Simon studied his new playmate with sympathy. “Yep, I’ve got a daddy now. But I used to live with Auntie Em and my cousins, and I didn’t think I had a dad.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “Your daddy came back from the dead?”
