Page 10 of No More Secrets

He answers after the fourth ring. “Who’s this?”

“Finn, it’s me.”

“Shy, baby?” His voice rises with surprise. “Hey, guys, it’s Shy,” he yells to the room. Shiloh hears shouts. “Did you get a new phone? This your new number?”

“I borrowed it.”

“Where’re you at? You here?”

“No, I’m still stuck in Cal City.” She cups her hand over the phone so she’s not overheard.

“That sucks.”

“We’re supposed to Zoom today. Where were you?”

He groans and slaps his forehead. She hears the smack over the line. “That’s riiiiight.” He swears. “Sorry, Shy. The guys had me. Beck wrotea new song. We had to work it out, took all afternoon. We’re playing tonight at the Silverlake. This is a big deal, Shy. This could be it, our big break. You understand?”

She understands she was supposed to see this performance. But she’s stuck in the desert, broke, starving, and hasn’t had a shower in over a week. This is not where she expected to land when she ran.

“I thought you’d take the bus, and I’d meet you at the station. You said you had enough for a ticket.”

“Someone stole my money.”

“How?”

“I left my backpack in the car when I—” She glances over her shoulder at the librarian. “It’s just gone.”

“Shyyyy...”

“I know. It was stupid of me.” She never should have trusted Irving to watch her stuff. “Can’t you borrow a car and come get me?”

“Not today. We got the thing tonight.”

“Tomorrow, then? I’ll get a job in Hollywood and pay you back for gas.”

“Babe, no.”

“Why not? Don’t you want me to move in with you? You said you loved me.” She’s trying hard to be brave and not sound as scared as she is, but she can’t help it. She’s terrified and desperate. She also can’t understand why Finn isn’t more alarmed. Why isn’t he making an effort to get her out of here?

“I do love you. Of course I want you to move in. I dream about you, Shy. The things I want to do...” He groans.

“I want to do that with you, too. But Finn,please. You have to come get me.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I’m only three hours from you. You don’t start playing until nine—”

“For fuck’s sake, Shy. I can’t drive. I don’t have a license.”

Shiloh’s hope bottoms out in her stomach. “Oh.” She didn’t expect that. This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. Why hasn’t he told her before?

“You gotta come to me, babe. You can do that, right?”

How? She needs cash. But she sucks up the tears she wants to shed and murmurs, “Okay.”

A shout comes through the phone.

“What was that?” she asks.