They Left Me Behind on the Road Trip, So I Got on a Better Ride novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: What Shay Saw

The pharmacist slid a box across the counter and looked between us.

"Is she with you?" he asked me.

I looked at Shay.

At the duffel bag, and the hoodie with the sleeves pulled down over her hands.

At the ginger candy wrappers sticking out of the front pocket.

"Yes," I said. "She's with me."

We sat on a bench outside the gift shop, under a television playing the weather with the sound off.

Shay held the motion sickness pills in both hands.

"After Bryce we went back to my aunt's," she said. "Brody wanted the pool again. My aunt was at work."

"And?"

"And there was a barbecue again. And Jace's brother did an impression of you on the bus. Crying at the window." She swallowed. "Everybody laughed. And I threw a plate."

I stared at her.

"You threw a plate?"

"A paper plate. With coleslaw on it. It hit Brody in the chest." She almost smiled, and then didn't. "I told them they were disgusting. I told them what they did to you was the worst thing I'd ever seen anyone do, and I said I was going to tell the foundation the photos were yours."

"What did Brody say?"

"He didn't say anything. He just smiled." She pressed her palms against her eyes. "When I woke up this morning, the driveway was empty. They took the SUV and everything. They left me a note on the kitchen counter."

She dug a crumpled napkin out of her hoodie pocket and handed it to me.

It was Jace's handwriting. I'd have known it anywhere. He used to write notes in my math book in fourth grade.

"You're tough. You'll figure it out."

I folded it back up and gave it to her.

"I'm so sorry, Shay."

"Don't." She shook her head hard. "Don't be sorry for me. You don't know yet."

"Know what?"

She looked at the floor between her sneakers for a long time.

"In March," she said. "I came over to your apartment to use your printer for a paper. You were at your critique class."

My stomach went cold.

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