Page 37 of The Hitchhikers
Had he ever said that before? Alice didn’t think so. But neither had she. She’d been so focused on what was missing. Now she’d give anything to have their life back. Broken or not.
Tom rolled his head to the side, trying to get closer. She did the same. Only their shoulders were able to touch, their heads still at too much of a distance, but it was something. Alice closed her eyes in gratitude for this moment. To touch him, to feel him beside her.
They would go home stronger. She’d focus on her husband. She’d find a purpose. She just hoped they had a chance.
CHAPTER 15JENNY
Simon’s face shifted in the shadows from the lantern. Familiar and sweet, the boy with the friendly smile who lived at the marina next door, then switching into the black eyes and hard jaw of the boy she’d run away with. They had a small fire burning. Simon didn’t want to draw attention so they couldn’t buy bundles of split wood from the office. They’d scrounged the forest floor for dry branches and twigs that Jenny now fed to the fire, the hot lick of flames against her fingertips. She held her hand out longer each time until she couldn’t stand the heat and would snap it back to safety. She liked the crackling and sudden pops of orange-red embers and sparks that sprayed out. They’d stamp on them, brush them off their bodies, moving in a jerky sort of dance. Later her hair would smell smoky, and she’d hold the strands under her nose, breathing in the scent. She’d never been camping. Not when her father was alive. Not with friends or as part of a school trip. She’d missed so many things.
“We don’t have enough cash,” Simon said. “It’s going to last a week. Two tops.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’ve got to rob a corner store. Maybe a gas station.”
“No, it’s too risky! We can get jobs. It might take longer but—”
“You can’t get a job pregnant, and people want ID.”
He was right. She couldn’t say it, though. She couldn’t make the decision. He moved closer and put his arms around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze.
“What if you get arrested? What would happen?” She imagined him being hauled away in handcuffs while she helplessly watched from the RV.
“They’d figure out who I am, then I guess I’d be sent to Kingston Penitentiary.”
“Where’s that?”
“Ontario. One of my dad’s deckhands was an ex-con. He served time there.”
“Where’s the women’s prison?”
“Don’t know. Maybe Ontario too. But we’re not going to get caught, okay?” Simon said. “You’re not going to have this baby in prison.” He leaned over from his chair and rested his hand on her belly. She placed her hand on top of his. “Don’t even think about it,” he said.
She had tried for days to make her mind believe that they wouldn’t be caught, but ever since they’d left White Cliff she kept imagining what prison might be like, visualizing gray concrete and steel bars, cruel prison nurses taking her baby away. She’d hated when Alice brought it up outside of the bank. It was the first time she had felt angry at the woman.
“Someone could get hurt.” Alice had predicted that too. Was she right?
“No one’s going to get hurt.” Simon pulled his hand away, took a sip from the wine bottle he’d found in the RV. His dad was a mean drunk, so Simon rarely touched alcohol. Maybe a few beers at the beach. She’d never seen him drink wine. She didn’t know what this meant.
“You said that when you stole from the biker.”
“He came after us.”
She lowered her head, scuffed her feet in the dirt. Her legs were aching. Her calf muscles cramped all the time since she’d gotten pregnant. It had been weeks since she’d danced. Her feet naturally wanted to settle into a turned-out position. She forced them straight. She flexed a toe, rubbed at her ankle. Simon lifted her foot up into his lap and began kneading the arch.
“I’ll make Alice do it with me,” he said. “The newspaper described you and me, so it’s better that Alice is older. She can collect the money while I stand guard.”
Jenny felt a small measure of relief that she wasn’t part of his plan. She didn’t think she could do the robbery with Simon. She’d be too scared. “What if Alice refuses?”
“I’ll threaten her.”
“I didn’t like it when you said you would kill Tom.”
“I didn’t mean it. I would have left him somewhere.”
She knew that Alice was just trying to scare her when she said that Simon enjoyed hurting people. He wasn’t evil. He only did what was necessary. Like when he hit the biker with the RV. But what if Tom and Alice tried to escape? Tom might attack Simon like when they fought over the gun. Would Simon think it was necessary then? She pushed away the bad thoughts. None of that was going to happen. Simon was too careful.
“If we get caught, tell the police everything was my idea. Say you’re scared of me.”
