Page 2 of Maverick

I slapped a smile that I didn’t feel on my face, not yet anyway. “We’re going on an adventure. Does that sound good?”

She nodded, suddenly excited. “Yes!” She deflated slightly. “Is Daddy coming with us?”

“Not this time, sweetheart.”

“Good,” she whispered as her bony shoulders drooped with relief. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Let’s get going.” With my daughter’s hand in mine, we rushed down the stairs, grabbed our bags, and were out the front door just as the cab I ordered online arrived at the curb.

“Gerry!” Sophie froze just outside the cab. “I forgot Gerry.”

“Gerry is in your bag,” I assured her. The giraffe with the gorgeous eyelashes was her security blanket, and his absence would’ve made this adventure unnecessarily difficult. “Get in,” I told her softly, relaxing slightly when she went without a fight.

“Mommy,” she whined.

I slid in beside my daughter, but not before looking over my shoulder at the house that had been my home since I found out I was pregnant with Sophie and sighed.

Goodbye, old life.

I should’ve been sadder about leaving, but all I felt when I looked at that house was the prison it had become, the pain and terror I felt nearly every moment I spent inside those four walls. I looked left and then right, and when there was no trace of Trent, I gave the cabbie our destination. “Train station, please.”

He smiled and pulled away from the curb, eyes focused on the road.

I didn’t relax, I couldn’t. Instead, I pulled Gerry from Sophie’s bag and held her close. This adventure wasn’t going to be easy, not for me. I’d spent too many years of my life terrified and walking on eggshells to avoid setting off the bomb I had married. Now I was on my own for the first time since I was a fresh-faced college graduate armed with a marketing degree. This time with a little girl who meant the world to me in tow.

I have to do this.

“We’re here.” The cabbie’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I looked up to see that we had in fact arrived at the train station.

“Thank you.” I paid him—in cash—and helped Sophie out of the car.

There was just one final thing to do before I left my old life behind. I took the smartphone Trent had bought for me because it made it easier for him to track how long I was at the grocery store or on a walk, or even at the doctor with Sophie, muted the volume, and dropped it into the pocket behind the passenger seat.

“Have a nice evening,” I said as I got our bags.

“You too, ma’am.”

I watched the cabbie drive off and merge into traffic, keeping my gaze on his medallion until he disappeared from view.

“All right, Soph, let’s go,” I said, as we hurried past the train station to the bus station three blocks away.

***

The ride to Illinois was mostly quiet, with only about half the bus seats occupied. In Chicago, it filled up, but was empty by the time we hopped on a new bus to Topeka. I had no idea where we were headed, but Kansas felt too close to Ohio, so I bought another ticket to Flagstaff. We’d never lived anywhere warm, and it was as good a place as any to stop.

“Where are we going, Mommy?”

As I stared at the giant digital screen at the bus depot, I knew Flagstaff wasn’t the right place. And then I saw it. Las Vegas. It was a place where I could work for tips and make enough to support us until I figured the rest out, and best of all it was full of tourists, so no one would notice us. We could blend right in.

Almost eleven hours later, we stepped off the bus in Las Vegas. It was definitely the bright lights and big city promised in the movies, but it was also expensive. Incredibly expensive.

“Try the SRO over in Steel City. It’s clean, affordable, and family friendly,” the nice desk clerk at a motel off the Vegas Strip recommended.

“Thank you.”

A short cab ride later, Sophie and I were settled into a room. We were clean and fed, and safe.

Most of all, we were free.

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