Zoe let out a frustrated huff and ran after the girl. “Lucy, wait,” she called.
“I need to find Summer,” Lucy yelled back, not slowing her pace.
Zoe eased to a walk as she closed the distance, now trailing Lucy by a few yards and yelling after her, “And you’re just going to walk there?”
Lucy didn’t respond. She was determined, Zoe would give her that.
In that moment Zoe had to make a choice. Leave the delusional girl to her own devices or help her. This was the perfect moment to walk away, take care of herself as she’d always done, follow the promises she’d made to herself not to get involved when there was potential pain. Yet even as the thoughts washed over her, her heart was already making a different choice. A choice she would probably regret, but the reality was clear. There was no way she could bring herself to abandon this strange girl to the wolves.
“Lucy, please stop,” Zoe called. “It’s freezing out here, and dark.”
Lucy continued to ignore her.
Zoe pushed on. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said those things.”
Lucy spun around. “Is that also a lie?”
“No, it’s the truth. What I said before, it was just me being . . .” Zoe paused to find the right word.
“Mean,” Lucy finished.
Zoe exhaled and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“I have to get to Corpus Christi,” Lucy continued.
“I know, but walking there is not the way.”
“I can run. I’m pretty fast.”
Zoe chuckled. “Don’t tell me you have super speed?”
Lucy just stared at her.
“Right. That’s probably another pop-culture reference you don’t understand. Trust me, there are better ways.”
“Can I trust you?” Lucy asked for the second time. Just like before, the authenticity of it shook Zoe to her core. The teen’s eyes demanded honesty, and Zoe gave it.
“Yes. And I will help you find Summer Wallace, but tomorrow. Tonight you can stay with me, okay?”
Lucy walked toward Zoe. “Can we get more milkshakes?”
Zoe smiled. “We’ll see.”
“They’re very good,” Lucy said, reaching Zoe’s side.
Zoe chuckled as they turned together and headed back down the highway, Lucy’s delight in something as simple as milkshakes softening Zoe’s hardened shell with each step.
FIVE
LUCY PLOPPED DOWN on the end of Zoe’s double bed, her hair wrapped in a white towel. Zoe had given her a pair of sweats and an oversized T-shirt to wear while she dried her damp clothes. After a quick tour of her single-room home—consisting of a bed, two nightstands, a dresser with TV atop, a mini stackable washer/dryer set, a small kitchenette, and a writing desk with matching chair—Zoe pointed Lucy in the direction of a hot shower.
Lucy was in the shower for twenty minutes, an eternity. Zoe tried to busy herself with things around her place. Her mind ran in circles from one troubling thought to the next. Had she really brought a stray home? Armed with very little information about her and hoping for the best? She must have lost her mind.
Zoe had simple but inviolable life rules. Number one: Keep your head down, stay out of trouble, trust no one. Number two: Always refer back to rule number one. With a pair of baby-blue eyes and a dopey smile, somehow Lucy had convinced Zoe to break her life rules. She wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or terrified.
Lucy sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at Zoe, who was rinsing a coffee mug and placing it on the small shelf that contained the few dishes she owned.
“You enjoy your shower?” Zoe asked.
Lucy nodded. “It was very warm.”
“Say what you want about this place, but the hot water never seems to run out.”
“I like this place.”
Zoe turned and leaned back against the sink, crossing her arms. “It suits me fine.”
“It’s nice.”
Zoe raised her eyebrows and huffed. “You clearly haven’t been very many places.”
A confused, pondering look washed over Lucy’s face. The girl seemed to get lost inside herself, as if searching for answers in her own mind. The expression was haunting and sad. Zoe wished she had said something else.
She pushed off the sink and headed for the remote that sat on the nightstand. “You wanna watch some TV?” She grabbed the control and flicked the black screen to life. Reruns of Deal or No Deal filled the frame. The playfully charming Howie Mandel interacted with a young girl who was just getting an offer from the bank, as perfect girls in little black dresses stood in rows holding numbered silver briefcases.
“This okay?” Zoe asked. She looked to Lucy, whose eyes had gone wide with wonder.
Lucy adjusted her small frame to get a better view of the screen and became engrossed with the images as they played across the monitor as if she’d never seen a TV before. But then maybe she hadn’t? Or couldn’t remember. Another unbelievable fact to add to the list of puzzling truths about this strange girl.
Zoe’s cell phone buzzed against the small wooden desk across the room, and the screen lit up. She dropped the remote onto the bed and stepped toward the vibrating phone. She reached for it, saw it was the diner, hit ignore. She’d worked a ten-hour shift; she was not going back in.
Lucy had pulled the wrapped towel from her head, and her long hair lay in wet chunks around her shoulders. Zoe stepped into the bathroom to grab her hairbrush. The mirror was still cloudy from the steam of Lucy’s shower, and Zoe wiped it clean. Her tired reflection stared back at her. Fair skin, brown eyes, short black hair that she dyed herself. She noticed her light roots poking through. Time for a touch-up.
She left the bathroom, flicking the light off on her way out. Her phone was buzzing again. She glanced at it. The diner. Strange they’d keep calling. She tossed the brush onto the bed beside Lucy and reached for her phone. Lucy looked at the object as it landed beside her and then back up at Zoe.
Zoe pointed to her own head to indicate what the item was for and watched as Lucy carefully reached for the brush and began to run it through her hair. Zoe’s phone stopped vibrating in her hand, and she unlocked it to dial the diner back.
Jessie answered before the first ring finished. “Why aren’t you answering your phone? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but I’m not coming back in to cover for you,” Zoe started. “I don’t care who died—”
“I didn’t call about that,” Jessie snapped, then dropped her voice. “Is that girl still with you?”
“Why?”
“Look, I don’t know what kind of trouble she’s in, but two government men just showed up here lookin’ for her.”
“What?” Zoe stepped back into the bathroom and out of Lucy’s earshot. “What do you mean, government men? Like, agents?”
“Yeah. They were showin’ us pictures of her and asking if we’d seen her. They said she’s dangerous, Zoe.”
“How do you know they were really with the government?”
“They had badges, FBI.”
“And they were real?”
“Real? What kind of person asks that question after what I just told you!”