Page 51 of Truck Stop Titan

I lingered too long before finding the courage to leave.

I had one foot over the threshold when “Moriah,” came over my shoulder.

“Yeah?” I whispered.

“Turn around.”

I did.

Dane kissed me. A kiss I felt from the tingles on my scalp to the curling of my toes.

He stepped back, holding me captive with a glare searing enough to leave a permanent scar. “Have fun today.”

“See you tonight?” And then I added, “Please?” And then, so I didn’t sound too pathetic, I threw in, “Mim needs to say goodbye. She needs that closure.” And for the final hook, “She’s going to miss you.”

Dane turned his face away from me, gaze aimed out the window. The hard lines of his jaw worked, his muscles flexing. “Yeah. See you tonight,” he said, so strained, so quiet, my chest constricted.

The door closed with a quiet click that jolted every nerve ending, and the sting of that goodbye swelled into a sticky ache that would torture me for eternity.

I met everyone downstairs. We had a great boat ride, the sky blue, the sun hot, the company fun and carefree, and I painted on a smile that lasted the whole day.

# # #

I pressed my ear against the wall. Dane spoke to Mim, his words mostly a vibration through the barrier between us. He talked. They laughed. I cried. More talking. A few giggles. For two hours I sat on the floor, head to the wall, lulled by the tender, deep timber of his voice. My heart ached for Mim, because that was their goodbye. Their private farewell. She would always remember Dane. He would always be the hero in her eyes. The man she’d measure every other man in her life against.

The room went quiet, and my heart thump, thump, thumped in anticipation. Our goodbye would be next. Our goodbye would be painful, and bittersweet, because I too, in a sense, was ruined for any other man. Nobody would ever hold a candle to the man who made my pulse race. My skin tingle. My soul expand.

I waited on the floor until footsteps moved across the room, down the hall, and stopped outside my door.

I waited for the knock.

The floor squeaked. Heavy breathing.

Soft shuffles.

More footsteps. Retreating.

I sat on the floor another ten minutes before hauling myself into bed, where I cried myself to sleep.

At 6:00 AM, the alarm beeped. I packed my suitcase, cleaned my borrowed room, then tiptoed into Mim’s room to pack her few belongings as well. She’d awoken by the time I’d slid the last puzzle box onto the shelf in the tiny closet.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” I whispered, sliding next to her. “Are you ready to start our new adventure?”

Goop-filled eyes blinked at me, filling my heart with trepidation. We lay face to face, and I hated the distance between us. “Are you scared, Mim?”

She reached up, touched my hair, then my eyebrows, then my nose. Then she wrestled her body out of the bedding. Slid to the floor and ran into the bathroom. When she came out, she ran back to the bed, hopped up next to me, and handed me her hairbrush. Then that little girl turned her back to me and waited for me to brush her hair.

She wasn’t scared. She was ready.

The entire Slade family waited downstairs for us, gathered around the breakfast table. Tango, Rocky, and Slade were there, as well as Tito and his wife, Tuuli. Lettie held Lucia. Tucker and Aida stood at the stove. James poured a cup of coffee.

After breakfast, Tito took me aside and handed me a large, stuffed envelope. “Everything you need is in here.”

I looked inside and thumbed through the paperwork. The lies I would protect until my dying day.

“Birth records. Social Security number. Adoption records. Medical history.”

All of it fake. Every scroll of the ink meant to protect my niece.

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