“Yep. Let’s go.”
Before I change my mind, she thought, but didn’t say.
The irony wasn’t lost on her. She was furious with her mama, unwilling to even talk with her right now, all for running away. Shelby had been the one who stayed. Until now. With no destination in mind, she was taking Matt’s truck and the Airstream for an indefinite period of time, leaving Lucky and all her problems behind. Or on hold. The problems would still be there when she returned. Maybe harder to deal with. But for now, she had to stop being the girl who stayed. She had to get out.
Matt got behind the wheel and she tossed her bag into the Airstream and then they drove off down the long driveway. Her parents stood on the front porch as Shelby watched in the side mirror. Daddy put his arm around Mama and she put her head down on his shoulder. Shelby looked away.
It was all just too much.
As they made it into town near Matt’s house to drop him off, she caught sight of a car she didn’t recognize. As they neared passing it, she realized that it had been painted crazily almost like it had been tagged by graffiti artists. A custom paint job? A prank.
Then she saw Jake behind the wheel and remembered what Matt said the night before about the town being mad at Jake. Before she slunk down in the seat, she thought Jake met her eyes. Surely he would see her and turn around. He would stop her to talk, to try to explain why he did what he did, and why he just let her leave him without chasing her down.
But when she glanced in the side mirror a moment or two later and saw his car behind the reflection of the Airstream, it continued steady on, no brake lights.
How she wished that she had seen brake lights. Even now, when she was furious and hurt, she wanted nothing more than to see him coming after her.