Page 96 of Places We've Never Been

Mom’s head turned toward Olivia; then she pulled on her bottom lip. “It’s almost eight. I need to call roadside assistance.”

“We’ll come back your way,” I heard Olivia say in the background.

“No,” Mom quickly argued. “That’s too much driving for…That’s unnecessary.”

“You’re not going to come back?” Skyler asked.

“If we need to come back, we’ll do it in the morning. Otherwise, we’ll meet you guys in Spokane. Call us when you know what’s going on.”

“Um…okay,” I said. “Can I call an Uber so I don’t have to walk back?” I had the app on my phone but it was linked to her credit card because we’d only set it up for emergencies.

“Yes, of course.”

“Thanks. And I’ll text you the location of the RV for TripleA.”

“Sounds good.”

I hung up the phone, texted her the info, and then tucked my phone away.

“We are definitely talking to them,” Skyler said, obviously thinking that was as strange of a development as I thought it was.

“Agreed.”

“Come on, let’s go pick out some snacks and then call an Uber.”

I stood first and reached out my hands to help him up. “Do you think they have Coke freezes?”

His eyes lit up with that thought. “I haven’t had one of those since Fresno.” Before I could turn to walk away, he grabbed hold of my shoulders and looked straight into my soul.

“What?” The word came out like a whisper.

“What you said earlier about me in the RV…about our friendship being irreplaceable…”

“Yeah, right, sorry, that was pretty intense. I just—”

“I feel the same way,” he said, cutting me off.

“Oh.”

He dropped his hands and moved toward the door first. My heart, which seemed to have stopped during that exchange, began beating again. I shook out my hands and followed Skyler.

***

By the time AAA came, refilled the coolant, replaced the battery, and sent us on our way, it was nearly 1:00 a.m. So Ezra drove to the closest Walmart parking lot, texted our moms, and parked for the night.

“Where are we all supposed to sleep?” Paisley asked, hands on hips, turning a circle in the middle of the RV.

“Two people can have my mom’s bed,” I said. “And the couch converts into a bed too.”

Austin did a running jump onto the big bed in the back. “I get the real bed since I’m the oldest.”

“I’ll share if we put up a pillow wall and you swear not to fart in your sleep,” Paisley said.

“I can agree to one of those two things,” Austin said.

“I guess I get the couch, then,” Skyler said.

***