Page 104 of The Hitchhikers

“Hello, can you please put me through to the police in Fernie BC?”

“That’ll be a long-distance call. Ten cents for every additional minute.”

“Okay.”

More sounds on the line, clicking.

“Fernie Police.” This woman’s voice was deeper, brisk, and important sounding. Jenny worried that maybe she was speaking to a police officer, and not a receptionist or a dispatcher. Maybe that’s how it worked in small towns. She only knew about what she saw on TV.

“Hello, I need to report…” How was she going to say this? “Um. There are some people trapped in a basement. They need help.”

“A basement?”

“In a farmhouse.”

“Do you have the address?”

“No.” She tried to think. “It’s an old farm, out of town. There was a shooting…” Maybe the woman on the phone already knew. Jenny imagined the younger police officer running through a field, desperate to get help.

“Ashooting? When did this incident occur? Are there any injuries?” The woman’s questions were so fast. She was suspicious. Could she find out where Jenny was calling from? Jenny hadn’t thought about that. She might have just messed up everything.

“I have to go.” She hung up the phone and stared at it, half expecting it to ring back, with the woman demanding more answers, but it stayed silent.

She rested her head on the glass of the booth. She hadn’t beeneating enough for the baby or sleeping enough. She felt woozy. She roused herself. She had to get back to the teepee.

When she reached their door, she slid the key into the lock, but it opened before she’d even touched the handle. Simon was standing in the doorway, his chest naked, and his eyes wild.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. “Where the hell were you?”

CHAPTER 37JENNY

He’d never gripped her so hard, his fingers digging into her skin, and it was a relief when he let her go. She dropped onto the bed, and he flicked on the lamp. She held her hand up to shade her eyes from the sudden brightness. On the other bed, Alice had her eyes squeezed shut.

Simon stood in front of Jenny. “Were you going to turn me in?” His voice was a mixture of anger and hurt. “Were you calling the cops?”

“No!”

“Then why did you sneak away?” His hands were on his hips, the gun sticking out of his pocket, and for a horrible moment she wondered if he could ever shoot her. She didn’t know what it felt like to have that cold metal up against her head. She’d believed, even when he was threatening Alice, that he would neverreallydo it. But maybe he would.

She didn’t know how to answer Simon. She looked up at him. Truth. Why should she be afraid? He had stopped listening to her, stopped hearing her. She frowned.

“I wanted to call the police so that they could find the others.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” He looked so genuinely shocked that she felt a flash of rage. Did he think she was too stupid? Did he think she never had her own thoughts? She pushed downthe anger, studied her hands. She didn’t want to yell or cry. She didn’t want those ugly feelings.

“Please stop shouting at me.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. What’s the real problem here, Jenny? Is it because I messed with your pretend family?”

Her head snapped up to look at him, but she couldn’t find any words.

“You think I didn’t know?” He was still talking with that hurt, angry sound in his voice. “You think I don’t know that you wish Alice was your mom?”

Jenny’s face heated. She didn’t look over at the other woman.

“Tom’s just like your dad, right? You wanted your mom to marry someone like him. I get it, Jenny. I wish my dad was someone like that too.”

Her face was so, so hot now. She wanted to press the pillow over her ears.