Page 3 of Stowaway Whirlwind
The easiest thing to do would be to let her walk away, but my conscience is screaming at me to do something. I can’t tell exactly how old she is, but she’s too young to be out here alone. Since she clearly hasn’t gotten to wherever she’s going, seeing as how we’re out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, I know she’ll be looking for another ride. The next person might try to make herpayfor it, too, and I can’t let that happen.
I pull her heavy-as-shit backpack from her shoulder and hike it over mine. “Okay, here’s the deal. We’re gonna go inside and get you sorted. I know you were lying about having to use the restroom.” I raise my brow at her, calling her out. “We’ll grab something to eat, then get some sleep since I’ve hit my time limit. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be back on the road, and I can drop you off where you need to go if it’s between here and Texas.”
Her eyes light up. “You’re going to Texas? I need to get to Dallas.”
“Well, alright. I can get you there, no problem, since I only live about two hours outside of Dallas. Just gotta drop the truck off at the warehouse first. All you have to do is promise not to steal from me or try to attack me in my sleep. We got a deal?” She doesn’t answer right away, so I add, “I won’t make you pay for a ride.”
“And you’ll keep your hands to yourself? I don’t have to worry about you messing with me in my sleep, either?”
A vision of cuddling up next to her, my palm resting on her belly while we sleep, hits me right in the gut, but I answer, “That’s right.”
“Ok. That…that’s really nice of you, mister…”
“Davis. Davis Freeman.” My palm engulfs hers when we shake hands. “Let’s get you inside and warmed up, Marigold…” I let the statement hang, waiting to see if she’ll give me her last name. She doesn’t. “Alright. I’ll see about getting you a jacket if you don’t have one in this bag of yours.”
She chews her bottom lip and shakes her head. “The guy took off with my suitcase in the back seat.”
I grab my duffel bag, which I had stored in one of the compartments above the fold-out bed. I shake out one of my yellow and gray flannels and hold it up so she can slip her arms into it. It swallows her frame, and she’s able to button it up over her rounded stomach. I stare without blinking and press a hand to my chest, wondering if I’m truly having a heart attack or something. It sure feels like it as my heart races and my fingertips tingle, seeing her dressed in my clothes.
Did the universe send me a Dolly?
No, no. I’m being ridiculous.
I snap out of my mental whirlwind when she crosses her legs at the ankles, and I force myself to look away, motioning for her to follow me out of the truck. I don’t know how she got up into it in the first place since I have to help her out with my hands once again around her ribs so she doesn’t fall and hurt herself. She jumps down with my help from the last step and immediately crosses her legs.
I can’t help but chuckle. “Come on, Goldie. Let’s get you to the restroom before you piss yourself…if you haven’t already.”
Her whole face burns as she presses her lips together in a tight line, but she doesn’t say anything as she hurries ahead of me in her beat-up, off-brand white sneakers as fast as she can, not giving a damn that I still have her backpack. That takes considerable trust after the hell she’s already been through, and I feel a slight prick of pride at that.
I also note, in the back of my mind, that my heartburn is gone.
Chapter 2
Goldie
Oh, sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I have never felt this level of relief when I finally get to use the restroom after hours and hours of hiding in Davis’s truck. I stand in front of the large mirror after I’m done washing my hands and unbutton Davis’s flannel, then lift my shirt to just below my breasts. I rub my hands over the itchy, pink stretch marks zig-zagging across my belly, the skin thin and angry, especially around my belly button. It won’t be too much longer until the baby is here, and I hope like hell I make it to Dallas before then.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do after I give birth—how I’m going to provide for my baby without having to lean on Dad too much since I know he’s struggling to make ends meet by himself. How he’s going to take us on as well until I can find childcare and a job…I’ll just have to figure it out as I go. Try to keep a positive attitude. It’s increasingly harder to do the closer I get to giving birth, but I still have to try for my baby’s sake as much as mine.
Davis greets me just outside the restroom, and I’m momentarily struck speechless at the sight of him. He’s a western wet dream, dressed in a blue and white plaid flannel tucked into dark blue jeans with a silver belt buckle on his brownleather belt that matches his much-loved cowboy boots. Before, he was menacing, with his green eyes narrowed to slits and shadowed by the brim of his faded, blue star baseball cap, his light, golden brown hair peeking out from along the edges, with his jaw muscles rippling in his stubbly cheeks as he yelled at me. Even then, I could tell how ruggedly handsome he was. But now, with his expression more relaxed, his good looks hit me like a Mack Truck. That thought makes me want to smile for the first time in ages, but I hold it in.
Davis isn’t looking at me like I’m some unknown enemy or threat anymore, which is a comfort since he’s so much bigger than me. But his size isn’t as intimidating now that he’s shown me a glimmer of kindness.
He seemed genuinely enraged on my behalf when I told him about the scumbag who attacked me the day before, which leaves me hopeful that I can trust him to keep his word not to hurt me. I don’t like the idea of chancing my luck and safety again with yet another random man willing to let me hitch a ride. Add in the fact that Davis is going to Texas, too, and called meGoldielike my Aunt Lydia always did…maybe the universe is finally doing me a favor.
Davis’s full lips part slightly, and that’s when I realize I still have my shirt pulled up. I quickly yank it down, embarrassed at the raggedy state of myself. I did my best to wash up while I was in the surprisingly clean bathroom, but he had my backpack, so I couldn’t get changed. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway since none of the clothes I have shoved inside it are any cleaner than the ones I’ve been wearing for the last thirty-six hours. The fact that they don’t fit since I haven’t been able to afford to buy new, larger clothes in the last two months makes it that much more humiliating.
“Here,” he says, passing me an oversized yellow hoodie withNew Mexicoscreenprinted across the front. “I got the biggestsize they have, so it should keep you warmer than my flannel and cover everything.”
“Thank you.” I shrug off his flannel and hand it to him, then pull on the hoodie, smiling when the hem falls to the tops of my thighs, even leaving some wiggle room around my stomach. For the first time since I left home, I’m comfortably warm, and I swear I could fall asleep standing up now that I’m wrapped in what feels like a cozy fleece blanket.
Davis drops his eyes to the hoodie’s sleeves that hang past my hands. The corner of his lips ticks up one side with a grin. “Better?” When he looks up, I get caught up in the intensity of his green irises with flecks of gold. Beautiful.
“Yes, thank you.” My stomach growls, and I palm the side of my belly with a pained grimace. All I’ve been able to afford is a few granola bars after I ate all of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had packed when I left Nevada, and I’m starving.
“Yeah…I figured you’d be hungry. I didn’t know what you wanted, so I ordered a little bit of everything to-go at the Wendy’s next door,” Davis says as he hikes a thumb over his shoulder with the flannel he’s thrown over it.
He doesn’t hand me my backpack, which I’m weirdly ok with since it’s so heavy, though it’s a little nerve-wracking letting a stranger carry all my remaining worldly possessions. My heart aches at the fact that I’ve lost my suitcase packed with all of the newborn clothes and diapers I had brought with me. If Davis decides to take off, too, then I’ll be triple-fucked, but I don’t think he’s going to. He’s gained a little more of my trust after this exchange, as crazy as that is.
