Page 25 of No More Secrets

Theo holds up a finger. “Wait here a sec.” Then he goes inside and returns with a bag of Fritos and two Lärabars. “Take these.”

Shame tangles with gratitude. Her stomach knots with hunger. But she’s near the end of her rope. She takes the handout. “Won’t you get in trouble?”

He shakes his head. “My mom owns the store. She’s always giving freebies to her friends.”

She opens a bar, resisting the urge to devour it like an animal in front of him. “Thanks.”

“I have to get back to work. See you around?” His expression is hopeful.

“Yeah, see ya,” she says, turning away, knowing they won’t. She can’t risk him knowing more about her. He’s kind, but if word gets around she’s been stealing, and he connects it to her, he’ll call the police.

She crosses the parking lot in a rush, finishing the first bar and opening the Fritos. She tips back the bag, greedily eating a mouthful as she admits to the cold, hard fact that she’s the one stalling. Has been for days. Moonstar’s advances had been unexpected and unsettling. But if she really wanted to move in with Finn, she would have used the cash she’d accumulated before it was stolen to buy a bus ticket to Lancaster. She would have reached Hollywood last week. She’d have a bed to sleep in, a roof over her head. A place to shower and wash her clothes. She would have seen Finn play last night. When it comes down to it, she’s been stuck here through no fault but her own. She’s scared. What would stop Finn from wanting the same thing from her that Ellis did? She dreams of kissing Finn, of making love with him. But is she ready?

No, she isn’t.

Not only that, but their phone call has also made her realize she’s been thinking of him as her white knight. Her only solution. Everything about her situation would go away when she moved in with him. But he’s had every excuse not to come charging to her rescue on his gallant steed. He doesn’t even own a steed or know how to ride it. And things will only get worse once she gets there if she’s looking to him for all the answers. Unless she can live fully independent of him, he’ll wantsomething in return like Ellis wants with her mom, or what he wanted from her.

Shiloh needs to live with Finn until she can afford her own place. But until then, she needs some financial independence so that she isn’t freeloading off him. Before she makes it to Hollywood, she needs more money. A lot more than a few measly bucks for a bus ride. She estimates she’ll need at least several hundred, enough for gas and groceries and some clothes.

She counts the bills in her pocket and cries with frustration. Twelve lousy dollars. She has a long way to go and a long day ahead.

Sticking to the shadows, she keeps her head down and cases the city. She picks a wallet at the grocery store and a billfold in a gym bag at the park. Her hands dip into the tip jar at Starbucks. For a town with a prison on the outskirts, people sure are trusting of their personal belongings while out in public. Lucky for her.

When the day draws to a close, the sun setting on the dry landscape where the air tastes like chalk, Shiloh is exhausted. She hasn’t been sleeping well in general. But last night when the cop showed up at McDonald’s, she couldn’t get away fast enough. She ran in the opposite direction of the encampment, so Lucas wouldn’t find her again, and ended up at the park. She slept on the grass behind some trees, only to be startled awake at five in the morning when the sprinklers went off. She made a dash for it before she got drenched.

But what about tonight? She could return to the park where she’s exposed and vulnerable and risks getting caught when the police patrol the area. Signs specifically state no overnight camping.

Or she could sneak back to the encampment after dark and slip into her car unnoticed. She’ll leave before sunup, and Ricky, Bob, and Barton would never know she was ever there. Plans made and time to kill, she starts walking, kicking pebbles and chasing lizards out of pure boredom. When she’s several hundred yards up the road from the DustyPantry, she notices Lucas’s truck is gone. The old lady will be working, and she’s betting Lucas didn’t tell her about the theft.

Thinking of theFEED THEHOMELESSjar loaded with change and the candy bars she could lift for dinner, Shiloh makes her way there only to find the market closed.

“Damn.” She shoves the bolted door then smacks the glass. Why’d they close early? She walked all this way.

A cruiser speeds past, and Shiloh slams her back to the glass on a terrified gasp, afraid it’s the same cop from last night. When the car is long gone, she slides to the ground. Knees up, she drops her head in her arms, exhausted and hungry. Her hands flop to her side, her left hand landing on a paper bag. She looks down and sees that dumb nickname Lucas gave her.Sunshine Girl.

Glancing around, double-checking his truck hasn’t returned or he isn’t watching her from who knows where, she looks inside the bag and finds a six-inch wrapped sub. Shock and wonder widen her eyes. Her stomach lets off an angry growl. The sandwich is unwrapped and in her mouth before she’s on her feet.

Shiloh crosses the parking lot, biting into the sandwich, feeling only a little weirded out that Lucas guessed she’d be back.

13

“One beer, on me.” Mike exits the truck, shutting the door.

The Lone Palm is not where Lucas wants to end the night, but Mike wanted a beer to celebrate the Train Robbers’ win over the Tucson Saguaros. And Lucas could use a drink.

He gets out of the truck as a car he swore was behind him when he pulled into the parking lot drives past the other way. His eyes narrow on the nondescript Honda, and he fists his keys, the metal teeth digging into his skin. Had that car been tailing him on the highway? How far back? Bakersfield?

“Everything cool?” Mike rounds the truck bed.

“Yeah.” Lucas pockets his keys, rubbing his palm. Whoever it was could have been at the game, made a wrong turn, and is circling back another way. But he can’t shake off the feeling he’s mistaken and that he’d been followed. He debates leaving, but Mike tugs him into the bar, Lucas’s thirst for alcohol overriding his impulse to flee.

It’s packed. Music thumps with Kacey Musgraves’s twang from speakers tucked behind photos of military planes and paraphernalia commemorating the base nearby where the sound barrier was broken. Shouldering through bodies, he tucks himself up at the bar. They sit on the same two stools at the end they did the other night.

Mike nudges him with an elbow. “I’m buying since you did the drivin’. What do you want?”

“Usual’s fine.”

Two guys man the bar, and Lucas scans the place for Val, surprised she has the night off given how busy it is. When his gaze lands on the table in the corner, he accepts how much he wished she’d be here when he sees the one person he hoped wouldn’t be. Faye.

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