Page 10 of On the Way to You

“I don’t have a Facebook.”

I balked, heart stopping in my chest before kicking back to life. “What do youmeanyou don’t have a Facebook? Everyone has a Facebook.” My nerves sparked to life again, head shaking of its own accord. “Oh, my God, you really are going to kill me, aren’t you? Oh my God, oh my God.”

Suddenly, the car veered to the right and a scream ripped through my throat, Emery riding the tail of a semi-truck and cutting off an old van before pulling off onto the shoulder, stopping us altogether with enough force to send me flying forward before I was jerked back against the seat again.

“We almost wrecked!” I panicked, checking the backseat to make sure Kalo was okay. She just stared up at me goofily from her bed likeIwas the crazy one.

“Hey,” Emery said, calling my attention back to him. “Are we doing this?”

Cars and trucks zoomed by behind him, each one rocking our car with awhooshas I tried to calm my racing heart. He wasn’t annoyed, his face wasn’t screwed up with impatience, his eyes weren’t accusing or judging. He was simply watching me. He was simply waiting. I knew that look, because I’d been waiting my entire life.

“Are we doing this,” he asked again, voice even steadier than before. “Or not?”

And in perhaps the most chaotic moment of my life, on the shoulder of I-10, with cars zipping by and a stranger waiting to drive me to my new life, I closed my eyes, pressed my head into the warm leather seat, and took my first breath.

“We’re doing this,” I whispered, eyes still closed.

“Okay,” he said, and then I felt a hand on my knee.

My eyes shot open, heart back in my throat.

“Seatbelt,” he said, squeezing my leg before reaching into the center console for his sunglasses. He slid the frames into place. “And I hope you like The Black Keys.”

His hand reached for the knob, cranking up the volume, and then he pulled back onto the highway, effectively ending my freakout.

Kalo popped her head between our seats, nudging my elbow with her wet nose. I looked down at her, still in a daze, numbly petting her head to assure her I was okay.

Then, with one more deep inhale, I shook the negative thoughts from my mind, choosing instead to embrace the moment.

I was leaving Alabama.

I was going to Washington.

Everything I’d always wanted was finally happening, even if it wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined it, and the next breath that left my lungs also left a sense of peace behind it, one that filled me from the inside out.

I think I knew, even then, that the greatest adventure of my life was about to begin.

I didn’t know who I was, or who I’d become, or where I’d go when we got to Washington. I didn’t know where we’d stop on the way, or how we’d get along, or how I’d feel when we hit our final destination, when we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

I didn’t know any of that.

But I did know something about that day, and that boy, and that car felt right.

I knew as the sun warmed my skin and the wind blew through my hair that I wasnevercoming back to Alabama.

And ten minutes later, when we crossed the state line, I smiled.

I smiled, and I didn’t look back.

My dad used to hit my mom.

I was nine years old the first time I saw it happen, though I couldn’t be sure it was the first time it’d happenedeveror just the first time I’d witnessed it. That memory was burned into my brain, the image of Daryl winding up and smacking Cindy square across the cheek, sending her flying back into the wall, where there’s still a hole today.

I thought Daryl was evil then.

I thought Cindy and I would become closer, that we’d run away, but we didn’t.

Because she was evil, too.